TOP BREED
Desi
دیسی مرغی
LOCAL & DESI BREEDS
The traditional village bird. Low output, minimal input, and a meat and egg premium that commercial birds do not command.
Best for
Household flocks and buyers paying a premium for desi meat and eggs.
What it is called, and how common it is
Asked for in the mandi as
Desi murghi · desi murgha
دیسی مرغی
At a glance
- Purpose
- Dual, subsistence scale
- Broodiness
- Good sitter — hatches and rears its own chicks
- Comb
- Smaller than Golden Misri
- Feed
- Largely scavenged
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Reproduces without an incubator — a self-sustaining flock
- Almost no feed cost when scavenging
- Desi eggs and meat sell at a clear premium
Trade-offs
- Low egg numbers and slow growth
- High chick losses without protection from predators and weather
In Pakistan
Kept by around 80% of rural households. The single biggest difference between desi and Golden Misri in practice: the desi hen will sit on her eggs, and the Golden Misri will not.
Other local & desi breeds
Sources
- Comparison of performance, meat quality and profitability of Cobb, Hubbard and Ross broiler strains
- Comparative growth and meat yield of Arbor Acres, Cobb 500 and Lohmann broiler strains
- Laying characteristics and egg geometry of four varieties of indigenous Aseel chicken in Pakistan
- Poultry Research Institute, Punjab — conservation and improvement of poultry breeds
- ZTBL — financing for Golden/Misri chicken poultry farming
- Comparative performance of Naked Neck, Black Australorp and their crossbreds