His 150-year-old ancestral house at Revidi village of Padmanabham mandal in Visakhapatnam district gives a look of an aviary. On the terrace, piegons, rosters and hens flock together, pecking at grains of maize. A stairway that leads to the terrace is almost taken over by another flock, cooing. Some pairs cosy up in their enclosures while the others are busy taking short flights, flapping their wings.

Meet Bhupatiraju Visweswara Rama Venkatapathy Raju who has taken up his childhood penchant for birds as his profession. Now, he owns around 200 pigeons, many of them are exotic breeds, apart from a good number of exotic fowls.

“My ancestors used to collect taxes for the Vizianagaram royals. After my Intermediate and degree education from Bheemunipatnam Government College and post graduation from Andhra University, I got a job in a private firm, only to relise that my calling was somewhere else. I called it quits, returned to my native village and started rearing the birds,” Mr. Venkatapathy Raju says.

And the passion for birds it seems is paying him well.

Thriving trade

“Some of the exotic birds command a price of ₹10,000 or more. The American Shield in black and brown colours sells at ₹11,000 each,” Mr. Venkatapathy Raju says, while showing around the other breeds including Beauty Homer, Jacobin, Spanish Carora, Chinese Howl, Indian Fantail, Bokaro, King, Rant and Indian Homer.

But, the birds go about their activities, oblivious to the approaching footsteps of his owner.

These pigeons do not need any specialised feed, Mr. Venkatapathy Raju says. “They eat the regular ‘gantelu’ and maize grains like the country fowls. However, I make it a point that the brids are supplied enough feed at least twice a day and the water bowls are not overturned,” he explains.

Summer care

Referring to the birds, he says some of the breed may face problems such as neck twisting in the summer. When they suffer from this problem, they need to be hand-fed. There is no special treatment or medicine for this as it subsides automatically, Mr. Venkatapathy Raju says.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / by B. Madhu Gopal / Revidi (Visakhapatnam District) , April 16th, 2019