Pros: Aseels go broody often and the hens make good mothers. The cocks are very attractive.
Cons: These birds do NOT bear confinement well. They seem to want to free range all day and if restricted get VERY noisy and loud. Very aggressive to each other.
I have kept males and females and find them highly demanding birds. The males fight to the death even as young as six weeks.
The females demand attention or to free range very vociferously. They are very intelligent chickens and sensitive to dangers, which means they are safer from predators but spend much of the day stressed about potential threats (on the other hand, I have seen even the hens go TOWARD a fox with neck feathers ruffled to fight, so take from that about their intelligence what you will).
They are extremely aggressive birds, even the females. Mother hens will fight to the death to protect chicks without intervention. The hens are not very aggressive toward people except when raising chicks when caution is needed. Moderately friendly, the hens will eat treats from my hand but hate to be handled.
They lay more eggs than some sites will say. My large hen lays 6 a week in summer and 4 a week even in winter.
Pros: No better broody hen out there, naturally friendly
Cons: Need their own individual penning arrangements
I can pick any random chicken out of my asil flock and take it to a agro-tourism event, educational function or a petting zoo, etc. and sit it on a perch or in my lap where hundreds of people walk by and pet it and it will set there and beg to be petted, with zero prior conditioning, any bird in the flock. Perfectly content to be the only chicken there. Love human interaction. They are game, they need their own pen, even the hens. Excellent broody hens that lay more eggs than some sources would have you believe. While slow growing, they are very meaty and taste excellent. It is surprising how heavy they are. Easy to see where the Cornish got their breast if you ever look at a dressed asil. Very special birds.
Pros: Hens are great mothers , roosters Are tame if handled enough . protective of your flock!
Cons: Roosters will fight to the death and hens will fight too
Ive had asils for a long time and i love the chickens, the roosters are docile if held frequently and will wardoff predators but will fight other roosters to the death. The hens you cant beat a being great mothers and are a great adition top a gamefarm or regular coop.
I've only ever gotten Aseel hens. I've currently got one, but had two a while back. These hens are extremely tough, so I don't have to worry so much about things getting into the coop, but that also means that I need to be careful.
My current Aseel hen goes broody fairly frequently, and she doesn't take kindly to interference. I have to catch her off the nest to see how the eggs are doing, because the last time I messed with her, she managed to draw blood (not much, but some). She is a determined broody, and doesn't switch nests like all my other birds, but I haven't gotten chicks out of her yet, so I don't know how she does with chicks (she's gone broody twice so far, and last time didn't go very well, but it was probably my fault.)
Aseels are extremely intelligent, in my experience, as my hen knows how to do some damage when she feels she needs to, and will twist her head away when she pecks, trying to tear the skin. She has also managed to peck my hand when I tried to distract her with a piece of straw (I wanted to candle her eggs). I waved the straw in front of her head, and she attacked the hand holding the straw instead. I see her intelligence as a mixed blessing. On the one hand, I can't really mess with her, but on the other hand, she should be able to keep some of my other birds safe, and, hopefully, her chicks.
I've always had a mixed relationship with my Aseels, as I love their broody/protective nature, but I wish they'd be a bit more sociable...
Pros: game, very tame around humans, natural hatching ability, intelligent, hardy, a rare and ancient breed
Cons: game, you can never keep very many together, they don't lay an abundance of eggs
if you noticed that i used the word 'game' for pro and con, i have my reasons. the asil or aseel was imported from the middle east and india because their gameness was used for fighting and grading into american and english games. cockfighting is illegal now and there is not much demand for game chickens that don't lay very many eggs. that being said they are a worthy breed to keep and more breeders should keep a pair or so on their place. i am using them for a grading project with my cubalayas and also using thai gamefowl.
I purchased two Tuzo type Aseel hens last fall. They have integrated well with our cubalayas. We love watching their athletic antics. They are strong fliers and in winter we make a game of hanging a suet block or other treat in a new tree, just to watch them figure out how to get it. Ours are laying better than expected, and I look forward to letting them brood. In Kentucky their seemingly thin, tight feathering has been no problem. I personally know of one amazing survival story of this breed- a hen was stolen, survived wild in the forest and returned to her owners nearly a year later.
Cons: Most often has to be kept in pairs, poor layers, slow to mature
I am new to these and only have a pair at the moment. But they are very tame, let me pick them up and eat out of my hand with no "training". Very broody, among the best, better than silkies. Not at all people aggressive, but should idealy be kept in pairs. Have been integrated into non-gamefowl flocks when young and preferably free-ranging, no other cocks. Intelligent. And good rangers. Poor layers. and slow to mature.
If you raise chickens for the joy of it and for reasons other than just eggs and meat than these are great.