The aseel thread!!!

[Florida Bullfrog]

I’m in love with Oriental gamefowl generally and aseels more especially because they have a tendency to carry what bankivoid traits I wish more orientals had such as full feathering, long tails, and better flight capability. My wife likes them too because of their personalities. They seem more genuinely interested in our doings besides looking for treats or scraps.

I have been offered a trio of high end aseel directly from a famous breeder who is friends with a family member, but I have declined up to this point because I don’t feel I can do them justice. If I wrap up my other projects in a couple of years, I made use coop space for a trio to both propagate them and begin a new cross project.

I do prefer crosses of different oriental breeds. I understand the need to keep the pure for preservation purposes but I think they’re generally more vigorous as chickens when crossed. I got into having aseels primarily as crossing agents to confer their game drive and physique on other breeds.

 

[Beegfood]

Hey, I'm new here and wanted to share a few pictures of my Aseel!

 

[Red Mangrove]

My one and only Asil hen just hatched her first clutch of eggs. 21 chicks. She is an absolutely ferocious mother and won't allow other birds within six feet of her babies

She went broody on an old egg dump underneath my house, so she probably has a huge assortment of chicken breeds following her around right now

 

[keblow]

Hey everyone. I just got back on a few days ago after quite a while without internet access, and realized there were also a few replies to me the last time I was in the thread. My apologies if it seemed like I dropped off the face of the earth and ignored responses. I just figured I'd drop a few pics of some of Cackle's Aseels for interest. Too young to judge well yet (3 months) but I can say one hen is actually a decent specimen so far.

This guy seems to have a short body and high tail, no pearl eye, legs too far forward even though the pic angle doesn't reveal it. Not particularly wide or prominently shouldered either. High station, relatively good bone, long neck and pretty good comb are his positives.

I like this girl a lot so far. Nice head and beak shape, wider, prominent shoulders, better leg placement, pearl eye, straight legs and feet. Not quite as big as some of the others, tail not as tight as I like, but a pretty balanced specimen. She might be able to give better type to that stag above.

The other pullet I'm favoring. High station, long neck, long tight tail, straight legs, wings held high. Her head is all right, body a little narrow. I think she might pair well with a solid cock to take advantage of her height and widen the body in the offspring.

This guy is really wide but has a prominent breastbone at the moment. Pearl eye is developing, very peppy fellow (I had him on life support after he took on two other boys and took a beating at 6 weeks - he still is quite aggressive), legs aren't so straight, and his tail is the second worst of the bunch behind the stag up above even though it looks ok here.

The goals I've put together are for the tallest bird I can get out of the genetics I have to work with, medium body size, relatively high stance. Eventually I might blend in some Sumatra on the side for gypsy face and the lacing gene, and at that point I'll be out of this thread and into the Oriental game thread. Actually, I think my original musings may have been there?

These four were the only ones that gave me a good opportunity to picture them, but I have one more hen who shows better type so far. I'm still far from a final assessment for the first year pairings (I'm thinking March). I know breeding to pullets and stags isn't good practice, and after the first year matings i will discontinue it. Also, there will be no culls until 18 months so I don't inadvertently lose a decent bird. Anybody feels like picking these guys apart or sees me making a poor assessment, feel free to comment.

Thanks, and glad to be back on here!

 

[NatJ]

Big question here is what's the difference between them. I know Dark Cornish have game fowl in them. The picks of a lot these roo's are identical (minus some build) to Cornish and it seems that the hens are a game fowl color, instead of the darker double lacing???

I don't know which exact genes are making the color difference in the birds you see, but obviously there are some differences. I assume the differences in the Cornish came from the same ancestors that caused the change in body shape.

Chicken color genes can be confusing.

Sometimes the same genes will make chickens that look different than each other (example: wheaten roosters vs. wheaten hens).

Sometimes different genes will make chickens that look alike (example: wheaten roosters vs. duckwing roosters.)

Sometimes different genes will make chickens that look different (example: wheaten hens vs. duckwing hens, which is part of how we know that wheaten and duckwing are actually caused by different genes.)

So for now I'll just say "genetic differences" account for the color differences.

I don't understand the genetic talk here or in some of the other post. Not going back to the beginning to quote kanoid???? etc genetics just saying I don't understand before asking my question.

Many chicken genes have been studied and given names. Some of the other posts were discussing specific genes by name, or by the abbreviations for their names. But if you don't already know the names or abbreviations, it just looks like a bunch of nonsense

Some people find it useful to learn about the color genetics, and some find it just plain fun, but other people don't need to learn it if they don't find it fun or useful. (I think the people who actually do enjoy genetics are pretty rare )

 

[keblow]

I'm clear that Aseels have tons of variation. What I'm looking for is the proper body shape, not the entire package. Shear off the legs, neck and tail and look at what's left. If it's got a big fluffy butt and soft, deep abdomen, I think all of us would agree it's not an Aseel at all. How does that bird function if it's got a laying hen's body with some Aseel-like appendages? Same with a flat, skinny body. Where are the lungs, heart and other organs? Crammed up inside and likely less efficient. Maybe breeding purely based on performance eliminates those outliers, but I won't be actually fighting my birds to find out. So where do I go from there? I think gameness can be determined outside the pit, and even conditioned birds surprise their owners sometimes.

Hopefully this isn't considered promoting illegal activity, which I am not intending. If you think it's pushing it I'll delete it. Games are difficult because staying true to their nature necessitates pondering things like this, and I wish people didn't jump to conclusions about those who own them.

 

[keblow]

Really nice coloring, great body conformation, Sturdy body and legs.

He's not as wide as I would like, and I think his neck is weak. But I think I'll start with him because the other stags have weird short bodies, with oddly indented breasts. Let me tell you, this hatchery stuff is a right mess, but I like the challenge.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

 

[LTAY1946]

I have some Dark Cornish that I've hatched and enough of them should be pullets for my Handsome Indio Gigante x Aseel Rooster to keep happy by the time they are starting to lay. That's the best I can do for him at the moment. If I get a chance to get 3-4 Black Jersey Giant pullets I'll add those to his harem.

 

[LTAY1946]

A few more like this one and it will be worth the cost of getting the printer repaired.