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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

Chicken Girls
I have never had any Old English Game but I am always interested in different breeds. I live in Spokane, Wash. and I need to have chickens that are also hardy due to the cold, snowy winters that can happen in my area. So far, Black Sex Links have been able to tolerate the cold. The Sex Links have been the best layers I have ever had.
 
TJsTwinzz
My Old English roo is the best. He is the most loyal and laid-back fellow. He's non-aggressive and he has a natural paternal instinct. He loves to hang out with all our new peeps and he acts like a daddy to them. I will often find him down by the chicks' pen, walking back and forth and watching them. He is also the best of friends with our other bantam rooster, our Cochin named Triple, and he kept him company when he was being separated from the flock while he was being attacked by our biggest rooster on a daily basis. They were the last in the coop at night; they always patrol together, every night before bed. He is my favorite rooster that we own right now, and my second favorite of all time.
 
ellend
After having several other breeds (as pets) my family demanded that we stick with Old English Game Bantams because of their intelligence and personality. Smart chickens that can fly well are trouble, but endearing. And so very pretty. I'll never move anywhere where backyard chickens are banned.
 
ellend
Oh, my goodness! You must have the only quiet OEGB's in the universe!!! Mine (no roos-we're in the city) start "talking" the second they wake up, and I sometimes worry the neighbors will get really fed up...
 
ellend
They are unbelieveable mothers...foraging machines, who teach their babies foraging and predator avoidance like they are at gunpoint! Soooo sweet the noises that they make to chicks...
 
drumstick diva
Free ranging how many do you lose to predators? Do they attack or fight with other breeds of chicken? If you just have hens/pullets will they get along well?
 
Abronsyth
Drumstick diva, in total for all of our birds we have lost two to predators, but have not lost any of our OEG bantams to predators. When we introduced them to the older flock (all golden comets and mixes) they bickered a bit, as usual when introducing new birds, but have already settled down and they all do well together. Yes, if you only have hens or pullets they'll get along just fine.
 
coopscritters
We just had one hatch under our new pigeons. Imagine their surprise and ours. We thought the egg was a bit big... The chick is about the size of a dollar coin
 
ellend
bet those poor pigeons were confused when the little bit started pecking instead of gaping!
 
chickengeorgeto
Did your boyfriend catch that hen in view of your rooster? Roosters don't like strange men catching their hens because roosters doesn't like competition.
 
Coko
You can try ordering though the internet. Check out Ideal Poultry, where I got mine. They seem to have the largest selection of colors.
 
HenriettasMom
I had one of these wonderful OEGH (silver duckwing like yours) too. She was 7 yo and continued to lay eggs almost daily. We found her dead in the barn loft late last fall. Don't know what happened as she was fine the day before and there were no visible injuries. She was the only chicken on this horse farm for many years as according to the farm owner, all of the rest had been taken by predators. We (all of the other hrose owners) miss our barn mascot very much! Would love to have another but they're hard to find.
 

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
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Last update
Rating
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