Aseel cock from Prakasam dist wins 3rd prize in beauty pageant

Giddalur (Prakasam district): An Aseel Parla breed cock from Rajupalem village of Komarole mandal received accolades for its muscular body and style, and won the third prize in the national level beauty pageant held in Tamil Nadu recently.

Syed Basha, who is an amateur ornithologist from the Rajupalem village is a breeder of the award-winning cock. From his teenage, he has been breeding pigeons, costly and colourful birds as a passion, and explains their origin, features and history of them to the students and other children.

Basha used to work as a two-wheeler mechanic in the village but was not able to recover completely after contracting Covid-19 three years ago. Due to the lengthy lockdown and unable to do heavy work, he sold out the pigeons and birds. "I don't breed them for sale but do it out of my interest and satisfaction. But, due to the harsh conditions during and after Covid, those birds whom I looked after, took care of me. I received more than Rs 7 lakh by selling them away," he said.

Basha started rearing the parrot beak Parla variety of Aseel breed for the last three years, and prepared the birds for beauty pageants, instead of cockfights. He said that he was against the fights between the birds, as one of them should die in the arena. A lot of great breed birds were lost in the last few decades, as most of the rearers in the state are doing it for the win in the fight.

He said that many breeders from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and other states are rearing the Andhra variety of Parla in the Aseel breed, for its royal look and style. He said that many rich people are feeling it is a status symbol to rear the rich breed cocks and are spending about Rs 25 lakh to buy each bird.

Elaborating on the cock that won third place in the national level beauty pageant held in Udumalpet near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on April 4, he said that the same bird stood in fourth place in the Parrot Beak Aseel Breed Competition held in Agriculture Market Yard in Dharmavaram of Sri Sathyasai district in January. He said that he maintains a protein and fibre-rich diet for his birds. He explained that the diet contains millets, boiled eggs, seasonal fruits, sliced dry fruits, bits of groundnuts, and even dry fish to build a tall and masculine body, high stamina, and strong and hard feathers.

Basha said that the breeders in Tamil Nadu are developing prestigious lineages of the Aseel breed with the help of researchers. He said that it takes about 10 years to develop a respected breed variety like Koolagoundar's lineage, Kovilpatti lineage, Karimangalam lineage, Udumalai Rajkumar lineage, etc., to make them free from diseases like Chronic Respiratory Disease and other issues.

He said that there are a variety of birds with distinctive features like parrot noses, ring noses, long noses, long tails, peacock tails in the Aseel breed, and he is also trying to develop one by using the best breeds in the coming years.