The Old English Game is a British

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

of domestic

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

. It was probably originally bred for

cockfight Cockfighting is a blood sport involving domesticated roosters as the combatants. The first documented use of the word gamecock, denoting use of the cock as to a "game", a sport, pastime or entertainment, was recorded in 1634, after the term ...

ing. Two different standards are recognised by the

Poultry Club of Great Britain The Poultry Club of Great Britain is a registered charity founded in 1877. Its stated purpose is to "safeguard the interests of all pure and traditional breeds of poultry including chickens, bantams, ducks, geese and turkeys". The club main ...

: Carlisle Old English Game and Oxford Old English Game. There is also an Old English Game bantam.

Characteristics

The Old English Game has many colour variants. Twenty-eight are recognised by the

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in North America. It was founded in 1873, and incorporated in Indiana in 1932. The first American poultry show was held in 1849, and the APA was later formed in respons ...

, while the Entente Européenne d’Aviculture et de Cuniculture lists thirty-three. In Britain, thirteen colours are recognised for the Carlisle type, and thirty for the Oxford type.

Use

Since the abolition of cock-fighting in 1849, the Old English Game has been kept primarily for show. Old English Game hens may lay about forty small tinted eggs in a year.

References

{{British livestock, R.4 Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in the United Kingdom Animal breeds on the RBST Watchlist