Old English Game fowl

Old English Game
Traits
Bantam cock and hen
Conservation status	Secure^[1]
Country of origin	England
Egg color	White
Comb type	Single
Classification
APA	All Other Standard Breeds^[2]
PCGB	Hard Feather^[3]
Chicken Gallus gallus domesticus

The Old English Game is a breed of chicken. Old English Game fowl are prized among poultry breeders and thus fetch a high sale price. Standard Old English Game cocks were originally bred for cockfighting.

History

The Old English Game fowl is one of the oldest strains of poultry. 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. 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 well as trying to keep the colour and traits for poultry showing and exhibits.

Bantam version

It should be noted that the body styles of US- and UK-bred OEG bantams differ noticeably. The Old English Game bantam is the bantam version of this breed; it is one of the smallest chicken breeds, weighing about 650 grams when fully grown. The Old English Game Bantam is one of the most popular bantam breeds. This is especially the case in the United Kingdom, where it has its own specialist shows. The Old English Bantam is similar to the Old English Game in that it has long legs and it is fairly muscular. They are a great pet for children. The bantam was not developed from the larger sized old English but rather from other barnyard bantams of the same area. This explains their lack of length in the sickle feathers that is seen in the standard sized OEG. The American old English game bantams contain blood from Dutch, and Rosecombs plus other breeds to add feather length and more colours, such as the silver-laced varieties developed from Sebrights.

References

↑ Breed data sheet: Old English Game/United Kingdom. Domestic Animal Diversity Information System of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Accessed July 2014.
↑ APA Recognized Breeds and Varieties As of 1 January 2012. American Poultry Association. Accessed August 2014.
↑ Breed Classification. Poultry Club of Great Britain. Accessed August 2014.

External links

- Old English Game Bantam Society

Livestock breeds of the British Isles

Cattle

Beef cattle	Angus Belted Galloway Devon Dexter English Longhorn Hereford Highland Luing Shorthorn South Devon Sussex Welsh Black

Dairy cattle	Ayrshire Guernsey Jersey Milking Shorthorn

Dual purpose	British White Gloucester Pembroke Red Poll

Primitive	Chillingham wild cattle Vaynol White Park cattle

Sheep

Extant	Beulah Speckled Face Bluefaced Leicester Border Leicester British Milk Cheviot Clun Forest Cotswold Dalesbred Derbyshire Gritstone Devon Closewool Devon Longwoolled Dorset Down English Leicester Exmoor Horn Galway Greyface Dartmoor Hampshire Herdwick Hill Radnor Kerry Hill Lincoln Llanwenog Lleyn Lonk Norfolk Horn Oxford Down Portland Romney Rough Fell Ryeland Scottish Blackface Shetland Shropshire Southdown sheep Suffolk Swaledale Teeswater Welsh Mountain Wensleydale Whitefaced Woodland Wiltshire Horn

Primitive	Boreray Castlemilk Moorit Hebridean Jacob Manx Loaghtan North Ronaldsay Soay

Extinct	Scottish Dunface

Pigs

Extant	Berkshire British Landrace British Lop British Saddleback Essex Gloucestershire Old Spots Hampshire Large Black Large White Middle White Oxford Sandy and Black Tamworth Welsh Wessex Saddleback

Extinct	Cumberland Grice Lincolnshire Curly-coated Small Black Small White Yorkshire Blue and White

Goats

Anglo-Nubian Bilberry British Alpine Golden Guernsey Irish

Poultry

Chickens	Burford Brown Cornish Derbyshire Redcap Dorking Ixworth Marsh Daisy Modern Game Modern Langshan Norfolk Grey Old English Game Old English Pheasant Fowl Orpington Rosecomb Scots Dumpy Scots Grey Sebright Sussex

Ducks	Abacot Ranger Aylesbury Orpington Khaki Campbell Magpie Shetland Welsh harlequin

Geese	Brecon Buff Shetland

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