Well-Heeled Thais Find New Hobby in Poultry Contests.

Jul. 28--It's best to keep it simple, as the saying goes, and for the fancy chicken industry, the smallest is probably the most appealing.

With their unique characteristics and weight as low as 300 grammes, the indigenous Malay fancy fowl known as Ayam Serama or Serama Chicken is becoming a new toy for well-heeled Thai fanciers, at prices more than 200,000 baht.

The Serama has short legs, with two long feathers pointing straight up. By stroking them with the index or middle finger, males are trained to "front" their chest. Competition contestants who repeatedly "front" their chest score high marks. The winning fowls in the contests, held only in Malaysia, are offered for over 700,000 baht.

"As the Serama is becoming popular not only in Malaysia but also in Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, China, Brunei, India, Australia and Europe, the fowl has huge business potential not only in Thailand but also for export," said Somkid Apiruckwattakul, a Serama raiser. "Thai Serama may be much more competitive for export in the future, given our long experience in the poultry industry, and lower costs than our Malaysian counterparts."

Mr Somkid claims to own the most expensive Serama in the country, with his fowls costing at least 100,000 baht each. The growing popularity has prompted Mr Somkid to consider expanding his farm to 1,000 rai of land owned by his mother-in-law at Phanat Nikhom, Chon Buri, from a small farm at Charan Sanitwong in Bangkok. However, he is now at loggerheads with a group of powerful Thai bantam raisers who accuse him of trying to destroy the local industry with the imported Serama.

"The price is likely to be exaggerated," claims Anucha Promsri of Anucha farm at Soi Udomsuk, Bangkok.

Not only focusing on breeding Serama, he has been working to develop a cross between Serama and Thai bantams, aiming to produce the lightest "toy bantam" weighing 200 grammes. "I will make a world record, producing the smallest fancy bantam weighing as little as a singing mynah."