The Giri Raja - Film and B-roll

Welfare groups have been saying for years that modern farming should give up the use of finely-tuned specialist chickens, split into meat and egg producing flocks, just as they should move away from high-yielding Holstein dairy cows and massive Belgian Blue beef cattle and go instead for hardier, dual-purpose animals, which produce both meat and eggs/milk.

Now the Veterinary College in Bangalore has come up with one such solution: the Forest King or Giri Raja. This is a magnificent-looking chicken which has been bred to be dual-purpose. It thrives on a scavenging diet, grows to a good weight and the females are useful egg producers. It is totally unsuitable for the hot-house conditions of the factory farm.

Now the local small farmers around Bangalore are queuing up for the chicks. In fact the university is having trouble meeting demand.