A farm of Kadaknath black chickens has been set up at Majlishpur in Shibpur upazila, Narsingdi. Young entrepreneur Kamrul Islam Masud has collected these birds, black from beak and feathers to meat and even bones, and begun commercial rearing and chick production.

Black has rarely been prized, but jet-black chickens are now in the highest demand. The Ayam Cemani of Java, Indonesia, made a stir as an expensive chicken, and a breeder in Florida, USA, priced the black bird at up to 2,500 dollars.

Such a chicken is now in Bangladesh, becoming known as Kadaknath, the "Kalimasi" of Madhya Pradesh, India.

Masud says Kadaknath is commercially profitable because production costs are low and disease resistance is high. Not relying on hearsay, he had the bird's organs and meat tested and learned that Kadaknath meat is more nutritious than any other chicken breed. Chicks are hatched from eggs on the farm, and the birds are raised stage by stage.

Source: Shykh Seraj, Hridoye Mati O Manush. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.