Old English Game Bantams – Lemon Blue

$90.00 – $125.00

SKU: N/A Category: Old English Game Bantams

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Old English Game Bantams – Lemon BlueGeneral 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

The Old English Game bantams 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.

Old English Game Bantam eggs hatching

Old English Game rooster

Old English Game hen

We can imagine that the first Black-Red and Partridge bantams to come to Britain were the Red Jungle Fowl (the ancestors of all domestic chicken breeds). It was these became the common backyard fowl that was found in the English countryside that were later developed into various strains suited to cock-fighting which at this time was popular as entertainment.

As time went on, the Red Jungle Fowl was developed into several different breeds around Europe (for example, the Dutch Bantam in the Netherlands), and in England, the Old English Game BantamsAlbino Isopods came about.

In the early days of poultry shows, only the fancier, exotic-looking breeds were of interest, so many game bantams did not get entered. The Old English Game Bantam really made its entrance into the show scene during the late 1890s, and by the early 1900s, there were 40-50 entries in the larger poultry shows of the day.

The Old English Game Club was formed in 1926 with an Oxford Old English Game standard, by which time entries to shows had risen to well over a hundred. The birds looked very different to the birds of today, though.