Have you ever heard of the hobby of keeping a game cock?

While most people would prefer to keep animals like dogs, cats or fish, in recent years, a number of young Vietnamese have adopted game cock as pets.

The Vietnamese Bantams, or “Ga Tre” as they call them in Vietnam, which are very shy and are hardly considered significant in home animal production, have suddenly become beloved pets and are handled with extra tender and loving care. This makes them worth up to thousands of dollars.

And now, the community of those who share this hobby are getting together to organize a beauty contest for their game cocks.

We are now at one of those contests to determine the most beautiful bird. This special event takes place in the town of Di An, Binh Duong province, and attracts a big number of game cock lovers from western and southeastern provinces of Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh City, of course.

All of the participating birds are given different numbers.

In addition to the top 3 prizes, the organizing committee is going to award special prizes for ‘the most potential’, ‘the most voted’ game cocks, and so on.

I have been raising game cocks for 2 years now. This bird I am holding is now over 6 months old. It has an impeccable shape. I brought it to the competition and it won first prize today! I am very excited!

It is no coincidence that thousands of years ago our ancestors learned to domesticate these wild birds. Chickens provide a good source of meat; their eggs are rich in nutrition, and their crow has long been considered the morning alarm of nature for human beings. The sound of a hen squawking  after giving an egg or its ‘cluck cluck’ as it is feeding its babies are variations that have become too familiar for those who live in the quiet and peaceful countryside of Vietnam.

To those who fall in love with the Vietnamese countryside, an occasional rooster’s crow echoing in the city would always come as a refreshing surprise.

This somewhat explains why the hobby of keeping a pet cock is getting a lot of attention from young Vietnamese who live in urban areas.

This hobby quickly became more and more refined as people started to look for fancier breeds of chicken with flashier and more exotic feather colors.  The trend of keeping pet cocks is growing stronger and stronger, especially once the avian influenza pandemic was eradicated.

One of the major obstacles that we are facing is the fact that this form of ‘sport’ has not been approved officially. We have actually submitted a request to our municipality for their approval. However, due to the hazard of avian influenza pandemics, keeping live poultry in the city is still prohibited.

Game cocks are harmless and raising them is a pretty refined kind of hobby. That is why it is widely supported by numerous fans in many provinces and has quickly spread in Binh Duong, Vinh Long, and Tan Chau. On most important holidays, people often organize beauty contests for game cocks.

Hopefully, this form of entertainment will soon be approved by the related authorities and will become popular not only in the provinces but also in the city. We want to keep the cocks legally. We are willing to commit to all quarantine measures required by the authorities.

Chickens have always been an important part of life for Vietnamese people. But never have they been kept as pets as they are now.

In the past, foreign breeds of chicken such as the Malay, the Yokohama, and the Shamo, etc., were often chosen to be kept. They were very popular because they always have very beautiful feathers and shapes. However, since these are pure breeds, their second generation will grow up to look exactly the same as they are.

This makes growing the chickens too easy, while Vietnamese cock enthusiasts really expect it to be more of a challenge.

In fact, cock keepers have to cross-breed chickens to produce the desired second generation. This makes growing a chicken to become a top-notch Ga Tre with stunning feathers a much more time-consuming, challenging and, therefore, interesting job.

A typical fully-grown Ga Tre has a smaller body, covered by a thick layer of smooth and shiny feathers. It would also have a smaller head and a neat tail. Its crow would be rather short and not very resonant.

In terms of weight, an ideal cock should not be heavier than 1 kilogram. It shouldn’t be too big. Its back feathers should be long enough so that you could see them trembling as the rooster is standing.

The most important criterion for assessing the beauty of a cock is the feathers. Generally speaking, all of the rooster’s feathers should form a continuous line parallel with the surface on which it is standing. If the line is broken in the middle by an “A” shape like this, the cock will be considered imperfect. The wings should be long enough to fully cover the legs, ideally revealing only the toes and claws. Another part that should be long is the hackles. For a real nice rooster, the hackles shouldn’t only be long enough to cover its back, but they should also be thick enough to form a bloating shape around the neck. If the neck, especially the front part of it, is not fully covered by the hackles, the rooster will definitely lose points.

People also judge a cock based on its face and especially its comb. Most people would appreciate a neat comb. Another thing that keepers should pay attention to is avoiding the use of sharp tools. Keep your roosters away from knives or scissors.

The greatest fun of keeping a Vietnamese chicken lies in the cross-breeding part. You create your own chicken.

Unlike many other pure breeds such as the very popular  Shamos which come from a stable gene pool, there is no standardized criteria for evaluating Vietnamese bantams in terms of comb, wattles, or face, etc., because they come from an unstable gene pool.

Generally speaking, the Vietnamese bantams are judged based on one’s personal taste. Of course in most contests we try to develop a standardized evaluation scale. This scale will then be announced and those who agree with it may sign up for the contest.

This gives cock lovers the opportunity to show off the beautiful roosters that they have spent all year long taking care of, to be admired by others for their fine ‘work of art’ and to be proud when their beloved pet is chosen. It is not about money at all.

But the competition could make the winning cock worth up to thousands of dollars.

Vietnamese bantams, or Ga Tre, are popular not only because their image has become synonymous with the Vietnamese countryside but also because they come in numerous colors and sizes. Based on their colors, they are given different names such as Ga Chuoi, Ga Dieu, Ga Khet, Ga Nhan, etc..

Depending on their tastes, cock fanciers could choose for themselves a pet cock from this diversity. Since these chickens are kept as pets, their feather colors and shapes are most important to keepers. Meat quality is not relevant!

To keep their cocks beautiful and in good shape requires a lot of efforts. In addition to rice grains and bran, some also feed their cocks a balanced treat of crickets, worms, vegetables and tomatoes in combination with a rich source of vitamin supplements. Some even spend their time on manicures for their beloved pets!

My rooster is very precious to me! I took very good care of it. To keep it from cold conditions, I put up a shade around its coop and even installed a heat lamp inside the coop.

The Vietnamese Ga Tre is often referred to as Ga Tan Chau. However, it is not really the name of the cock.

It is only a common way to differentiate the two purposes for keeping a cock, either for fighting or for a pet. A fighting game cock should have longer legs which optimize their moves as they attack or dodge an attack. They need to be highly flexible so their wings need be neat and short enough that their legs are revealed. Their saddle feathers should also be as short as possible.

Members of the game cock community share their joy intertwined with a little bit of excitement to see their beloved cock every day. Although the cocks are not the kind of pet that they would give a kiss or a cuddle, as they would with other kinds of pets such as a puppy or a kitty, owning a multi-thousand-dollars cock that won first prize in a beauty contest gives its owner such a special sense of pride.

Nowadays, with the fast development of society, a number of Vietnamese have started following new and more sophisticated hobbies such as keeping pets, considering them as new members of the family.

The trend of keeping cocks as pets is being adopted by a large number of young Vietnamese, but at the same time, is also a focus of significant public criticism, considering the fact that one could spend thousands of dollars on a prized cock.

However, if given the opportunity to meet one of these finer cocks to admire them as they flaunt the colorful feathers covering their little cute figures, you will probably find that keeping a pet cock delivers its own exotic kind of delight, too.