Egyptian Kushk

The Egyptian Kushk (also Kushki) — one of Egypt's best known ornamental breeds, admired for its striking looks and for the many attractive colours and forms it comes in. Some keepers call the whole breed the Anbari, after its best-known strain. Note that the Kushk is not one of the Ghuzar houses: keepers distinguish the two explicitly by name, saying "red Ghuzar" as against "red Kushk" for two different breeds. Origin: the defining trait of the Kushk is its low stature, and the breed is held to descend from the Kucak pigeon — kucuk in Turkish meaning a short-statured pigeon. Accounts circulating among keepers place the breed's origin in Turkey, from where it reached many countries during the Islamic conquests and finally settled in Egypt, where the word Kucak was shortened into Kushk. A rule of valuation among keepers: the shorter the bird, the dearer it is — small size adds to the Kushk's beauty and raises its price. Standard: body markedly short; head rounded to oval, covered by a dense reversed crest opening like a rose, called the dabbous or the crown; eyes wide, ringed by fine eyelids; beak short and thick, white in colour; tail short, its colour varying with the strain; legs heavily feathered in what keepers call the stocking, running down to the tips of the toes. The Kushk is treated as a single breed containing colour strains (atwab) that branch from it like members of one family. As to price, pigeons are not fixed-price: a pair starts around 100 EGP and may exceed 1500 EGP depending on breeding and standard — the smaller and finer the bird, the higher the price.