Old English Game | |
Status: | Breed association (2002): secure |
Country: | England |
Apa: | All other standard breeds |
Pcgb: | Hard feather |
Maleweight: | Carlisle: up to 2.94 kg Oxford: 1.8–2.5 kg Bantam: 620–740 g |
Femaleweight: | Carlisle: up to 2.50 kg Oxford: 0.9–1.36 kg Bantam: 510–620 g |
Eggcolor: | white tinted |
Comb: | Single |
Type: | Chicken |
Latin: | Gallus gallus domesticus |
The Old English Game is a British breed of domestic chicken. It was probably originally bred for cockfighting. Two different standards are recognised by the Poultry Club of Great Britain: Carlisle Old English Game and Oxford Old English Game. There is also an Old English Game bantam.
The Old English Game has many colour variants. Twenty-eight are recognised by the American Poultry Association, 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.
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.