Let me tell you what...we had the TOUGHEST time just figuring out what our chicken was! For the first few weeks i truly thought she was a bird or a quail lol! We have a silver duckwing hen(Popcorn) and she's the smallest chicken in our coop. Popcorn tries not to be at the bottom of the pecking order...but being small has its ups and downs. She can drink underneath all the others plus she gets the little treats runs runs fast to hide from the big girls.
Nobody can turn as ordinary occurence in to a five alarm emergency like an OEGB. Those who have some know what I mean. The ARE noisy, but that is part of the fun. They are great and protective moms. If I could have only one breed of chickens, these would probably not be the ones (I do have to consider egg production), but they would certainly be number two. I never want to be without them.
I have had these for about a Month and got them from a guy who had them for about a year. They are hard to keep in a large pen if it doesnt have a net or roof of somesort. I have found them 15' and higher in trees.
I have some that are 6 weeks old that were hatched by the mother hen in mid december in eastern Ky weather that isnt really all that warm. The guy I got them from said he had a hen hatch some when snow was on the ground.
My OEGs have been very vocal, friendly, and fearless. One got a little too bossy for me, and had to move to another coop. No problem with the others. Willingly fly up to me to be petted and loved on.
Of all the chickens I've ever had I love my OEG the most. Absolutely the smartest breed I've had. Best mother too. My cochin was also a sweet mother but was to timid to protect her chicks from other hens. The tiny OEG would stand her ground! Mine was a Silver duck wing. Her name was Georgia and I miss her dearly. A small hawk swooped down and scooped her up right in front of me! I have to say she was great at getting away from any other type of preditor she was very alert and would fly up out of the reach of dogs ect.. She was great at foraging and loved my attention. She seemed to pose for pictures! I have 5 OEG crele on the way now and hope I can find one with a similar personality.
Oh! and everyone loves the tiny eggs hard boiled!
Until I met Marans, this was my all time favorite breed. I had every color at one point. Great foragers, great pets. Most of the roosters were sweet as could be, and that seemed to be hereditary.
The hens were reasonable layers of white eggs and excellent mothers. Boys and girls alike can fly well. They handle confinement well, but only if there is a roof! They tend to tame easily and lead by example, hen raised chicks learning the human means no harm. The broodies take their job seriously, being diligent and sometimes aggressive. Some will even steal eggs from other nests, more than they can handle, and they will set until something hatches, even if they're setting golf balls.
Fun little birds with likable personalities.
I love these little guys although I do not own any at present Im very interested in owning some. So someone plz contact me at charleshatten@gmail.com as I am interested in the Old English Game!
These are very colorful, boisterous, and proud little birds! The hens make the best mothers, and the roosters are too cute to watch strut their stuff. I had a breeding group that consisted of four hens and one rooster, and Travis (the roo) would help feed the chicks, and the hens!. I often had more than one clutch of eggs hatch out, and it was a group effort on thier part raising all the chicks--none of my hens pecked on each others babies. AND they make really good free range birds--these babies can run! And because of their light build FLY--far!
We have bought two of these from the assorted bantams section at TSC and ours are still very young but right away they want to try flying out of the brooder when they see us walking up to them. They are also very vocal and loud and at times 'peep' non-stop, lol! From all I've been reading in reviews however, they make wonderful birds so we'll post updates as ours grow.
i like all animals like for example chickens and i am looking for 5 rhode islands.
I had 2 pair of very sweet Old English Game Bantams! The roosters were even more tame and personable than the hens! The hens are happy to be on the nest (and are often sharing it with a larger hen) to the point that I would take them off the nest to check for eggs and not reach under them! They do not like that! They are very protective of their eggs! I have never let them set so I can not speak from experience for them as mothers, but I feel confident they would be very good, protective mothers as well. They are very charming, curious chickens and I would love to always have some in my flock!!
I believe I bought them in the middle of the summer of 2010 and I bought them at 1-3 days old so I only paid $1.00/ea.
Some of the most beautiful birds in all of Chickendom. I enjoyed them but only as ornamentals..little too flighty for my tastes.
I've had on little hen who I absolutely adored. Instead of clucking, she'd have this dinosaur like squeak/roar. She was very mild tempered. Didn't mind being picked up and held. Unfortunately, she was light enough to get a little "lift" in her flight, so was able to get over the fence of their pen. Because of that, she was snatched away by a hawk 
. I would definitely love to own one again.
