Thai Game Fowl

                   

The thai gamefowl is a breed of domesticated fowl - ie chicken - belonging to the asian, or oriental, gamefowl group, which also includes the ga noi don breed of Vietnam, the burmese (aka. pama) of Burma, the asil of the Middle East and India (arguably the oldest of all asiatic gamefowl breeds), and the shamo of Japan.

As its name suggests, the thai gamefowl originated in Thailand. Given Thailand's native name of Siam, the thai gamefowl is also sometimes referred to as the siamese fowl. The Thais, however, prefer their native term for this breed: "Gaichon."

This breed is relatively common in Thailand and small flocks of these birds can be found on most Thai rural farms, where they are usually allowed to free range or to live as semi-feral birds. These farmyard gaichon are often treated no differently from the average egg or meat-breeds of chicken, both in terms of their uses and their value. At the other, much smaller end of this spectrum are the hyper-specialized game farms that breed highly exclusive, pedigreed lineages of these birds. As they are the product of many long years of careful breeding and selection, these gaichon tend to be far more highly valued than their farmyard cousins, with each young bird easily capable of fetching prices of ten thousand baht or more.