Mr. Tran Huu Vinh in Tam Hiep Commune, Chau Thanh District, Tien Giang Province graduated from university with a degree in construction engineering. Vinh has a stable job with a high salary as a construction engineer in HCM City.

Having a passion playing with ornamental birds from a very young age, he came across mutant crested bulbuls and immediately fell in love with them.

"Raising mutant crested bulbuls both satisfies my passion and helps me have the opportunity to earn more money, so in 2019, I decided to quit my job in Hồ Chí Minh City to return to Tiền Giang to start this profession," Mr. Vinh said.

Mr. Vinh's mutant crested bulbul farm is considered one of the first and largest in the West. This farm is more than 1,500 square meters wide.

Mr. Vinh said, at first, he spent more than 600 million VND to buy 20 pairs of mutant crested bulbuls, mainly beautiful and high value birds with white or light yellow feathers. "The mutated crested bulbul is a very rare species that is difficult to find in the wild," Mr. Vinh added.

After three years of hunting and breeding, Mr. Vinh has had hundreds of rare mutant crested bulbuls of many different species. Among those birds, Mr. Vinh has nearly 120 pairs of breeding mutant crested bulbuls.

“Currently I am raising mutant crested crested birds such as: albino bulbul, white gray bulbul, light gray bulbul; Indo bulbul... All of them are extremely rare," said Mr. Vinh.

According to Mr. Vinh, the mutant crested bulbul has a dazzling, distinctive appearance, and beautiful chirps. “The crested bulbul has many factors to evaluate such as mutation color, appearance, chirping… but the most precious one is the color. The more gorgeous the color, the higher the bird's value," Mr. Vinh said.

Mr. Vinh said that cages for raising crested bulbuls are divided into 2 types. One is made of wire mesh to keep adult birds, placed in a cool place, with the suitable amount of wind and light. In the cage, there are food tray, bowl for birds to bathe and horizontal and vertical poles for birds to perch.

The second barn is a brick barn, built into cells with a width of about 1.2m, a length of 2.5m and a height of about 3m. Roof and doors are made of wire mesh for ventilation. One male and one female will be put into these cages to breed. In addition to tree branches for birds to perch, bowls and food trays, Mr. Vinh arranged more ready-made bird nests ..., and all were monitored by cameras.

Mr. Vinh also said that the mutant crested bulbuls have to be raised for 8-10 months before they start to reproduce. Each year, a pair of birds give birth from 5-10 litters (depending on living conditions). While each litter normally lays 2-3 eggs, and in many cases lay 4 eggs.

Mutant crested bulbuls mainly eat worms, bran, locusts, fruit… “The average price per pair of mutant bulbuls I sell on the market ranges from 30-70 million VND/ pair. At my farm, there are also mutant crested bulbuls worth more than 200 million VND.” 

Mr. Vinh revealed that the total value of his mutant crested bulbul farm was more than 7 billion VND.

“With more than 100 breeding cages, I have an annual revenue of about 3 billion VND,” Mr. Vinh said.

Mr. Vinh said the most important step in raising mutant crested bulbuls is to monitor breeding birds to take care of their young. "Because they are mutant birds, the health of the young must be closely monitored," Mr. Vinh said.

Mr. Vinh assessed that the mutant crested bulbul market is quite active, so in the near future, he will expand the farming scale and cooperate with others to open more farms and branches to earn more money.

Hoai Thanh