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Old English Game Bantam

The Old English Game bantam is a delightful breed of chicken. It is a small, pugnacious, and...
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General Information

Breed Purpose
Ornamental
Comb
Single
Broodiness
Frequent
Climate Tolerance
All Climates
Egg Productivity
Medium
Egg Size
Small
Egg Color
White
Breed Temperament
Friendly, Easily handled, Calm, Bears confinement well, Docile
Breed Size
Bantam
APA/ABA Class
Single Comb Clean Leg
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The Old English Game bantam is a delightful breed of chicken. It is a small, pugnacious, and charming little chicken that embodies the idea of pride and “chickenhood.” Their larger counterparts are the direct descendants of the jungle fowl, but the bantams are the end result of careful selective breeding of various backyard bantams.

The first variety accepted to the American Standard of Perfection was Black Breasted Red (BBR), gaining recognition in 1925. Since their acceptance, they have become the most popular breed of exhibition chicken, easily reaching class sizes of over 300 birds in medium sized shows. Males are required to be dubbed in order to be shown, but unlike the Modern Game bantam part of the comb should be left, leaving a rounded nub. Old English have two distinct types, “American” and “English,” with the American type having a fanned tail and the English type having a “whip” tail. This breed is known for living a long and fruitful life; it is not uncommon for hens to reach 15 years of age.

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Old English Game Bantam eggs hatching

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Old English Game rooster

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Old English Game hen
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Reactions: Yard Farmer, Henny Penney, bantamsrmyfav and 8 others

Latest reviews

Yard Farmer
My favorite breed.
Pros: They're so pretty, and unique.
Cons: Since they are a type of fighting breed, the males can be quite aggressive towards each other.
My absolute favorite breed of all time.
I love their personalities, and colors. I like to mix up the different colors and see what the off spring look like.

But I also do a lot more serious breeding with my bb reds. Currently looking to make my own line of show quality bb red's.
Purchase Price
$50
Bigtom Turkey
Great little birds
Pros: Sweet, smart, great fliers, lots of attitude.
Cons: Very small.
Love my OEGBs. Very wild like,
Purchase Price
50$
Henny Penney
Pros: Easy to care for, hardy, friendly, can be tamed, good in all weather, fun for children and elderly.
Cons: For some, small eggs and their love of flying are cons
I raised Old English Game Bantams 45+ yrs, after a 6 yr hiatus have started again with a rescued pair. For everything I read people write about them I can think of exceptions because their personalities vary, and they DO have personalities! Constant characteristics are: Hens are good moms, roosters are good with their hens, never had an aggressive rooster towards people or hens.

Some roosters get along, some don't.

The pair we have now are VERY talkative! I find most of them are talktive but some less so. The roosters crow is not as loud or deep as larger breeds.

Only a few chickens over the yrs had serious health problems other than occasional mites.

Their love of flying can be an asset to get away from danger.

If you don't mind small eggs (for most uses the ratio of 2=1 works fine), I find them to be good layers, our current hen lays an egg every other day, occasionally every day, once 2 in one day!

They are an attractive, entertaining, easy breed to raise. I miss the beautiful red/gray/gold/black roosters I had, but the dusty gray "Self-blue" color rooster I have now is a handsome guy.

First picture: our current pair, Hazel and Mr. Sage. Second picture: Little Red Hen, whose eggs were too big to pass but she was very tame, a therapy chicken at times, third picture: Studdly, our last rooster, a knight in shining armor. Fourth picture: showing all the colors hens can be and Studdly's father.
Purchase Price
I don't remember what I paid for the first ones
Purchase Date
first ones 1976

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Last edited:
Henny Penney
Henny Penney
PS The exception to my comments.....the little rescue rooster we got became aggressive toward me after 3 months, he went to live elsewhere and was replaced by a friendlier rooster.
Mo_fawaazzz
Mo_fawaazzz
are your hens loud? do they sing the egg song?
Read more…

Comments

Chickgirl201040
wow. we are going to get some this spring and we were given a roo a few months ago. he does fight with people but he never fights with the big roo they usally chase him and he runs not fights but if you take him inside he will jump on my bed and proceed to fall asleep on my leg.
 
dlgd
I only had one a perky little Roo who LOVED the girls! He was a beautiful, sweet little guy who actually "sang" to the ladies to "woo" them, and "woo" them he did! We actually named him Casanova for his "tendencies"!
Our little guy was abandoned by his original owner and he was blinded in one eye by a MUCH larger Roo fighting over, you guessed it, a "woman"!
They DO have an extremely high pitched crow, one that my neighbors objected to, so we had to find him a new home that had plenty of room (yes, they do fly!) and lots of ladies. Needless to say, he's now a very happy camper, but my girls were "crying" when he left! :)
 
wooklet
So sorry to hear what hapenned to Georgia. I have game birds,not OEG but Malays , Bantam Australian game and Modern Game Bantams(sparrows on stilts) , I agree with you they are super protective Mums,and yes,I think that the game birds are far smarter than your average chickens. Good luck wih the crele,I have a Crele Malay,such a beautiful colour.
 
Kalista
The Old English Game was originally bred for Cockfighting that is why they fight. Its usually the other way around, they cull the ones that are not "game" enough. Love their personalities!
 
CrzyChcknLady
I am so excited for people that discover the joy of chickens!! They are great entertainment, and serve a purpose. As a plus, they each have their own personality. I have around 70 chickens of all different breeds (not including that we hatch around 30 eggs every 3-4 days). I prefer having the chickens around as opposed to having (most) people around!!
 

Item information

Category
Chicken Breeds
Added by
Super Admin
Views
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Watchers
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Comments
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Reviews
86
Last update
Rating
4.42 star(s) 90 ratings

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