Game chickens???

josh

Songster
11 Years
Mar 22, 2008
399
5
149
Western Kentucky
What is the differance in the American Game and The old English ? I have four game hens and am trying to find a rooster for them but not shure what I have . I will try to get pictures later.
 
There are several differences but it's hard to say without knowing. American games usually have pea combs but there are some lines of Old English games that also have pea combs. I believe leg color is one indicator, but just like combs, different lines have different colors.

One things almost certain though, if you have straight-combed game hens they are most likely Old English.
 
Quote:
See, Feathersite says that 'Hatch' is an american game line and it's not, it's a pea-combed Old English game line.

No it's not, hatch fowl arrived from the (I believe Michael Kearney was the first, but have to brush up on that) brown red and whitehackle fowl. Which were Irish gamefowl.. But they were graded with a little Old English and other stuff along the way, they are American gamefowl. In the US it is real simple- Old english will have white legs, and a single comb. American gamefowl can have yellow, white, blue, green, single or pea combed (my whitehackle fowl are straight combed white legged. But they are not Old English.)

Another easy way to tell, most US Old English aren't game anymore AND they are not found very commonly. They are around- but not commonly found. Most of the birds you see called "old english" around are just american gamefowl, even the Old English from show stock you see a lot are birds people either made out of American birds, or they have crossed American gamefowl in and bred back to Old English.

The UK, American birds are larger.. American's don't really have a set weight, but I'd say most are between 4.5-6 pounds (some bigger, some maybe smaller), Old English are usually a little smaller if I remember. In the UK Old English still "shouldn't" have pea combs, but I'm not going to say in the Oxford's it is impossible. American's also usually have fuller tails than the UK bird's, and the American's are rather hard to find over there from what I gather.

-Daniel
 
Quote:
See, Feathersite says that 'Hatch' is an american game line and it's not, it's a pea-combed Old English game line.

No it's not, hatch fowl arrived from the (I believe Michael Kearney was the first, but have to brush up on that) brown red and whitehackle fowl. Which were Irish gamefowl.. But they were graded with a little Old English and other stuff along the way, they are American gamefowl. In the US it is real simple- Old english will have white legs, and a single comb. American gamefowl can have yellow, white, blue, green, single or pea combed (my whitehackle fowl are straight combed white legged. But they are not Old English.)

Another easy way to tell, most US Old English aren't game anymore AND they are not found very commonly. They are around- but not commonly found. Most of the birds you see called "old english" around are just american gamefowl, even the Old English from show stock you see a lot are birds people either made out of American birds, or they have crossed American gamefowl in and bred back to Old English.

The UK, American birds are larger.. American's don't really have a set weight, but I'd say most are between 4.5-6 pounds (some bigger, some maybe smaller), Old English are usually a little smaller if I remember. In the UK Old English still "shouldn't" have pea combs, but I'm not going to say in the Oxford's it is impossible. American's also usually have fuller tails than the UK bird's, and the American's are rather hard to find over there from what I gather.

-Daniel

When I bought my Hatch hen people on here had told me she was an OEG...guess you learn something new every day.
 
Quote:
No it's not, hatch fowl arrived from the (I believe Michael Kearney was the first, but have to brush up on that) brown red and whitehackle fowl. Which were Irish gamefowl.. But they were graded with a little Old English and other stuff along the way, they are American gamefowl. In the US it is real simple- Old english will have white legs, and a single comb. American gamefowl can have yellow, white, blue, green, single or pea combed (my whitehackle fowl are straight combed white legged. But they are not Old English.)

Another easy way to tell, most US Old English aren't game anymore AND they are not found very commonly. They are around- but not commonly found. Most of the birds you see called "old english" around are just american gamefowl, even the Old English from show stock you see a lot are birds people either made out of American birds, or they have crossed American gamefowl in and bred back to Old English.

The UK, American birds are larger.. American's don't really have a set weight, but I'd say most are between 4.5-6 pounds (some bigger, some maybe smaller), Old English are usually a little smaller if I remember. In the UK Old English still "shouldn't" have pea combs, but I'm not going to say in the Oxford's it is impossible. American's also usually have fuller tails than the UK bird's, and the American's are rather hard to find over there from what I gather.

-Daniel

When I bought my Hatch hen people on here had told me she was an OEG...guess you learn something new every day.

The thing is 90% of the people on here don't know game breeds. Like Daniel (DT) said Hatch are a American Gamefowl and I include All Lines of Hatch.
Bates, Blueface, Gilmore, Ruble, Penny, Doc Robinson etc. are all Hatch and are all American Gamefowl.


Chris
 
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Games seem to be the endemic chicken around here, they run around feral. Our games came from ferals that wandered onto the property here and we fed them and they stayed and thrived.
 

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