Old English Game

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Old English Game Fowl is a breed of chicken. Pure English Game Fowls are prized among poultry breeders and thus fetch a high sale price. English Game cocks are known for their aggressive nature and attractive appearance. They were originally bred for cockfighting.

1 Characteristics
2 Domestication
3 History
4 Current Status
5 References & External Links

[edit] Characteristics

There are a few varieties of the English Game, however many pure breeds have died out. Purebred English Game Fowl tend to have long legs, be muscular and full breasted. The male cocks are colourful and have many long tail feathers. The female hens look similar to the males except they don't have the large tail feathers and typically show less colour.

Old English Game Fowl were bred as active birds. They need plenty of room or space. Although the females are less aggressive than the males, they are more aggressive than other counterpart breeds. The females will become Broody and according to poultry breeders make excellent mothers.

The Old English Game tends to have a long lifespan of 12 years, which is more than most other chicken breeds.

[edit] Domestication

The English game fowl is an aggressive bird. It is only recommended for experienced poultry keepers and enthusiasts. The males do not make good pets and are not recommended around children. Novice keepers should learn how to properly handle and care for English Game Cocks. Keepers should always separate the males; roosters should never be able to have contact or even see each other.

Mostly the breed is not suitable for integration with other flocks, both the males and females are more aggressive than their counterpart breeds and will attack. It is suitable to keep Old English game fowl separate from other breeds, with a few females for each male. Making sure that flocks can not see each other is also important as Old English game will fight with other chickens even through wire. They are an active bird and need plenty of space and should not be kept in crowded areas.

English Game Cocks will attack if their flock is threatened and they do not take exception to humans. The breed is aggressive and not timid, the birds will peck and spur humans.

The Old English Game are not laying birds, hens only lay ~130 eggs a year. They are a reasonable eating bird, being culled at about 5 months old. However, because of their high value (US$:40-250) per bird, many choose not to eat them.

NOTE: Old English Game Bantam Chickens have been bred over the past 100 years to be a very small bantam chicken and come in over 43 recognized color varieties. The breeding of the Bantam variety over the last 100 years has been very different from that of the Standard size breed. The Bantams have been bred to be very tame and non-aggressive as compared to the Large Old English Game birds. These very tame Old English Game Bantams are raised specifically for showing of the fine aspects of the bird's size, build, coloring, feather quality and temperament. The Old English Game Bantam Club of America (OEGBCA) maintains the standards of show for the wonderful Old English Game Bantam chicken. The Bantam varieties are not raised for egg production or meat because the bird is so small. The bantam variety eggs and birds from some of the leading breeders with great show records can bring in hefty prices. Nice, show quality birds can easily sell for $200 to $500 USD. Eggs can sell for as much as $3 each and up to $10 each for top quality show lines. It is known that the Old English Game Bantam chicken is very often the most popular breed of chicken raised by hobbiest breeders in the USA.

[edit] History

The English Game Fowl is one of the oldest strains of poultry breeds that have been used for fighting purposes. It is said that English Game Cocks were used to provoke Romans entering battle. Through the middle ages the breed was developed by the English Nobility into many varying colours, traits desirable for cockfighting were chosen by breeders. Cockfighting became illegal in Britain and Australia in the 1850s and English game fowl are usually kept just by poultry enthusiasts. Many of the original strains have died out, however many varieties remain.

[edit] Current Status

Because cockfighting is illegal in many countries, the Old English game have little use and are not kept by many people. Their aggressive nature means that most backyard chicken keepers are put off.

Today the breeds are used at Poultry Exhibitions and breeders try to develop stock that will win prizes. Exhibition bred cocks can fetch amounts over US$ 600. Breeders aim to preserve the present strains of this species, as many have already died out.

There is also an Old English Game Bantam.