The fair, which has started from January 18 at Giang Vo Exhibition Centre, includes many rare animals brought by people across the country.

Ho Thanh Dung, from Phu Tho Province, owner of a flock of nine-spur chickens, said this type of chicken is usually raised to wander freely so that they can peck food outside. Breeders only give them a little bit of maize and rice. The meat of this kind is much sought after and.

A chicken weighing 2.5 kilogrammes takes eight months to a year to raise. One kilogramme of this type of chicken meat costs VND450,000 (USD21.4).

Tran Thi Van from Bac Ninh Province, owner of a flock of pheasant, said this kind of bird used to live in the wild. Now they are raised on farms. They are fed on rice, and weigh an average of 1.2 – 1.3 kg.

Every year, the pheasant lays around 90 eggs, but most do not hatch eggs, one reason they risk extinction.

Many people put the eggs in incubators for rearing. In 2006, the pheasant was removed from the Vietnamese Red List. One kilogramme of the pheasant meat is priced at VND320,000.