In India the Asil is distributed particularly in the Khammamdistrict of Andhra Pradesh, in the Bastar and Dantiwara districts of Chhattisgarh, and in the Koraput and Malkanagiri districts of Odisha.[2] It is also present in Bangladesh and Pakistan, which were part of British India until Partition, and is found in other countries including Australia, Guatemala, Honduras, Ireland, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, the United States and Uruguay.[12]
An Asil bantam was created in the late nineteenth century by the British breeder William Flamank Entwisle;[13]: 47 it became popular in Britain and in Holland, but later died out.[9] In the 1980s it was re-created in Belgium by Willy Coppens, using Shamo, Indian Game and Reza Asil; it is bred in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Hungary and the United Kingdom, in a variety of colours.[9]
In 2005 the Asil was the only Indian breed of chicken not in need of conservation.[14]: 17 In 2007 its global conservation status was listed by the FAO as "not at risk".[1]: 151 In 2021 its status was reported to DAD-IS as "unknown";[2] the Livestock Conservancy in the United States listed it as "threatened".[15]
Asil hens are not good layers, but sit well.[citation needed] They may lay about 70 eggs per year; the eggs vary from cream-coloured to brownish, and weigh approximately 40 g.[2]
^Transboundary breed: Aseel. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed April 2022.
^William Flamank Entwisle (1894). Bantams. Wakefield: Edith H. Entwisle.