Breeding Aseels

[Florida Bullfrog]

Sorry for the rambling. I just don't realise before it's too late.

I like the information. I asked because I wanted to know.

I am on the north part of the Florida peninsula. Summer temps will regularly reach 95F with several days exceeding 100F in the shade not counting heat index. Humidity is almost always near 100% most of the year. Winter temperatures will drop below 32F about a dozen times or so

There is a world-famous aseel breeder West of me on the Florida panhandle where the winter temperatures regularly drop to 20F a few times a year. He is semi-retired now but he is a friend of some of my family. Both his stock and the stock I am raising from North Carolina have been in the US for decades so like Centrachid said, the US stock alive today we’re playing with should be reasonably cold-adapted.

 

[Kabootar]

I am on the north part of the Florida peninsula. Summer temps will regularly reach 95F with several days exceeding 100F in the shade not counting heat index. Humidity is almost always near 100% most of the year. Winter temperatures will drop below 32F about a dozen times or so

I am not going to bother translating F into C, but I assume it's pretty hot. I think since Florida is a peninsula surrounded by warm water seas , that's why it's hot and humid. I also think with proper housing keeping Aseels should not be a problem. Because you see if you make Aseel cold hardy, it will not perform well in the pit.

 

[centrarchid]

I am not going to bother translating F into C, but I assume it's pretty hot. I think since Florida is a peninsula surrounded by warm water seas , that's why it's hot and humid. I also think with proper housing keeping Aseels should not be a problem. Because you see if you make Aseel cold hardy, it will not perform well in the pit.

Will not perform well in pit when it get really hot. I think I see why Aseels look so different from other chickens, and it is very much related to heat tolerance during periods of exertion.

 

[Kabootar]

Will not perform well in pit when it get really hot. I think I see why Aseels look so different from other chickens, and it is very much related to heat tolerance during periods of exertion.

You are correct. It's difficult to compete in a marathon wearing a sable jacket.

 

[centrarchid]

You are correct. It's difficult to compete in a marathon wearing a sable jacket.

The Aseel I have are reputably derived from stock that did not do the Marathon thing in local of origin, at least during their more recent selection. They were not used naked-heel. They are more gracile (ligher build) and quicker than those used naked heel. Still, compared to American Games, they are endurance birds.

They also retain serious capacity to deliver and resist serious bites to head. That is why I think they have the odd head appearance. Some of the hard feathering is also an adaption to how the birds are confined. The have issue related to heat dumping and external parasites that the more openly kept bankovid types do not contend with as much. The Aseel's docile nature is because they are consistently reared in extremely confined environments where flightiness would be stressfull and no impress keeper that lives in such close association with the birds.

The selection pressure is not purely related to the pit is what I think.

 

[nicalandia]

So Aseels performed Bad in Hot summers and Bad in cold Winters?

 

[Kabootar]

So Aseels performed Bad in Hot summers and Bad in cold Winters?

No, I haven't noticed that. We don't experience cold winters though, but the summers can be extremely hot. They just need shade in summer afternoons and shelter in winter, just like any other chicken.

 

[nicalandia]

No, I haven't noticed that. We don't experience cold winters though, but the summers can be extremely hot. They just need shade in summer afternoons and shelter in winter, just like any other chicken.

No, India can't be hotter nor more humid than Louisiana or South Florida. Aseels have a hard time in summer there

 

[nicalandia]

To give some perspective, Miami hottest day ever recorded was 38.8 degrees Celcious and The Average temperature on the hottest month(August) is 32.7 C and India Can't possibly be hotter than that and that is why Aseels do poorly in hot Summers

 

[Kabootar]

No, India can't be hotter nor more humid than Louisiana or South Florida. Aseels have a hard time in summer there

Well the heat is not well distributed here on the indo-gangetic plains. It's very hot in summer 30-45°C, hot during monsoon 25-35°C and cool in winters 0-20° C. We don't have the moderating factor of the sea like it is in coastal Louisiana and Florida. The winters are mild because the mountain ranges of Himalayas blocks the cold winds coming from Central Asia and Siberia.

I don't see summers as a hindrance in keeping Aseels. Frankly I don't breed or fight them. I just keep them because I like them. In my experience Aseels are very hardy, healthy and long lived breed. Don't take it otherwise, but most of the birds sold as "Aseels" in the States are infact not even Aseels. See how different they look.