Photo by Nhu Hung December 2006 PRESERVATION OF GÀ NÒI From tuoitre.com.vn To raise, preserve and fight ga noi - a very rare camp in Central Viet Nam does just that. The gà nòi farm owned by Mr. Lê Văn Đấu (Quy Nhơn) was chosen by the National Institute of Animal Husbandry of Viet Nam as a research center since 2000 to preserve two rare bloodlines of ga noi. As of today, there are 200 hens and 15 broodcocks. As a sport, cockfighter don't just buy fowl that fight good, they also want to know about the bloodline or the "fighting gene". Yes, two cocks can fight equally good, but the one that came from well known bloodline will cost twice as much to buy. The 200 hen that Mr. Đấu has belong to two bloodlines, "Bảy Quéo" and Ngân Hàng. Bảy Quéo's bloodline dated back to the Tây Sơn period (1770). It's the pride of the people of Bình Định. The Ngân Hàng (the bank) bloodline was named for its many win and trips to the bank (by its owners). Mr. Đấu only keep these two bloodlines. He fears that keeping too many bloodlines will overwhelmed him with works. He keeps the bloodline of the hen pure. Broodcocks do not have to be pure, they can be cross. The unproven stags from Bảy Quéo bloodline that spar good can cost up to 200 dollars each. In 2005, the camp sold over 40 stag and Bảy Quéo's bloodline always cost more than Ngân Hàng's due to its famous name. The government is supporting Mr. Đấu with 28,000 dong per year per hen (less than 2 dollar) and 100,000 dong or about 7 dollar per year for each cock maintained. Mr. Đấu only sell a limited amount of fowls. The ga noi farm is carefully separated to avoid bird flu epidemic. No household chicken are allowed to enter the farm. He maintains a fixed population and sells off the extra fowls. The perfect pit The government not only support Mr. Đấu's ga noi's farm, the Office of Culture and Information of Quy Nhơn also issued him a permit to establish and operate a pit. The pit has two rings and opens on the weekend. It is a joy to watch when two champions clash, each kick are wonderful. The 1000 square meters of land become too small on such date. Entrance tickets goes for about 3 thousand dong (less than 25 U.S. cents). The cost of parking rooster is just over $1 U.S. dollar. Betting are from one to 10, 20 bottle of beer. People bring their fowl here to compete in taped fight, unlike those from Saigon who attached gaff to fowl in the blood sport. These cockers are poor but they have class, cheating are look down upon and cheater could be banned for life. The pit offers a practical testing ground essential for the preservation of the rare bloodlines. Hooked with ga noi since he was young, Mr. Đấu thought that he is happy to have witnessed many fame cockfight that has true sportmanship as appose to games that are darkened by gambling. An ideal or good fights are said to be not too short (less than 20 minutes) or too long (over 7 rounds). These are more satisfying to everyone because short fight where one fowl run early or die and long fight where both fowls are tired take away the excitement. The Tây Sơn's fowl however will fight to the death. The fight is most exciting when a struggling fowl turn the tide by changing to a style that its owner are not even aware it possessed. Such moment are happiness beyond words. Cockfighting is a "cultural tradition but has its own complication", someone said. Mr. Lê Văn Đấu is aware of it and he is cautious. He allows his eldest son Lê Hoài Thanh to care for the farm but prohibit him from cockfighting. Cockfighting not only require knowledge to appreciate the art but also the ability to stay away from temptation to do bad thing. Mr. Dau is currently collecting data to establish a family tree of all the famous ga noi bloodline in VN from past to present. Original article written in Vietnamese was posted on tuoitre.com.vn Forum Note Ranking The ranking title under member's name measure their posting activity at ganoi.com 1. Chick.= Ấu Kê. Minimum battles = 1 2. Battle fowl = Chiến Kê. Minimum battles = 1000 3. Crazy fowl = Cuồng Kê. Minimum battles = 2000 4. Vicious fowl = Hung Kê. Minimum battles = 3000 5. Evil fowl = Tà Kê. Minimum battles = 4000 6. Lethal fowl = Độc Kê. Minimum battles =5000 7. Divine fowl = Thần Kê. Minimum battles = 6000 Notice All material relating to ga noi on this website is applicable to ga noi only. It may or may not hold true for other type of fowl. Scale reading is the study of the legs of gà nòi as recorded in Kê Kinh. The word "nòi" means bloodline so their bloodline must be fully known. The examination of fowl include: Head, body, tail, and legs. Scale reading is only part of the art and therefore must be examined in consideration of other factors. This include the conditioning of the cocks, their diet, age...etc. It is unwise to rely on special scale to pit cock in bad condition expecting to win. A rule of thumb is: Given everything being equal, a cock with special scale indicate special talent.

Asian Gamefowl Society The Asil - King of Gamefowl The logo for Asian Gamefowl Society website maintained by Willem van Ballekom will now be displayed on our home page. Members interested in Asil may also visit Braveheart's Aseel World Willem's book on Asil, "The Asil - King of Gamefowl" will probably be available later this year.

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