Old English Game

The Old English Game is a heritage fowl that traces back to England, though these days you will find small flocks scratching around smallholdings and back gardens right across South Africa, from the Highveld to the coast. It is hard feathered and medium in size, built compact and muscular, and it carries itself with an upright, chest-out stance that keepers have recognised for centuries.

The breed is spirited and never sits still for long. Birds keep one eye on their surroundings at all times, move quickly, and hold their ground in open space. Cocks especially carry a bold, almost swaggering confidence, and breeders have valued that character as much as the bird's looks.

In South Africa the Old English Game is kept mostly by hobbyists and show breeders rather than production farmers. It copes well with heat, cold snaps, and rough forage, and it handles the odd mongoose or hawk scare better than a docile hybrid would, but it is not a heavy layer. It suits a keeper after an ornamental heritage bird rather than a flock kept purely for eggs.

Who it suits

The Old English Game suits a keeper with room to let birds range and an appetite for a characterful heritage breed. Its strong personality and tendency to squabble with other birds of the same sex mean it does better in experienced hands than as a first chicken for someone after a placid backyard hen.

The Old English Game descends from the game fowl that English keepers bred for hundreds of years. These were pit birds, and selection favoured courage, stamina, and a tight, hard feather that gave an opponent little to grab hold of.

Cockfighting was common across England for generations, and it shaped the breed's temperament long before anyone wrote down a formal standard. Keepers held onto regional strains and family lines, breeding for performance rather than a uniform look.

England banned blood sport in 1849. Once the original purpose fell away, breeders kept the fowl going as a show and ornamental bird. The type moved into the poultry show circuit of the late nineteenth century, where judges began to focus on type, colour, and condition rather than fighting ability.

From there the breed has been kept for its looks and its heritage value. Fanciers developed two broad styles that differ in build and proportion, and the Old English Game remains one of the oldest recognised English chicken breeds still kept today; a handful of dedicated breeders keep the type going here in South Africa as well.

The Old English Game is a medium bird with a short, broad, muscular body and feathering that sits close and firm against the skin. The stance is upright and the chest full, which gives the bird a ready, alert outline. The legs are clean and well placed, and the whole impression is of strength packed into a small frame.

The head is small and neat, and most strains carry a single comb. The plumage is hard and tight rather than soft or fluffy, a trait that carries straight through from the breed's fighting-fowl origins.

Coat and colours

The breed comes in a long list of recognised colours. Black-breasted red is the one most keepers see, but spangled, blue, brown-red, pile, and several other varieties turn up in South African flocks too. The hard feather lies flat against the body and asks for very little upkeep, which suits a bird that spends its day foraging in the open.

The Old English Game is an active, alert bird with plenty of confidence. It notices movement fast, forages with real energy, and rarely stands around doing nothing. Many birds settle down and grow tame with a keeper who handles them often, and individual birds can become genuinely friendly once they know you.

Boldness is the breed's defining trait. Roosters are courageous and fiercely territorial, and two males kept together will almost always end up fighting. Hens can hold their own in the flock too. Around other poultry the breed needs careful management, since its fighting-fowl ancestry leaves it far less tolerant of crowding or competition than a calmer breed would be.

With people the breed is generally easy enough to manage and naturally curious. Keep an eye on interactions with small children and unfamiliar animals, mainly because a rooster defending his patch reacts fast, not because the breed is aggressive toward keepers without reason.

The Old English Game is a tough breed that shrugs off cold snaps and shifting weather thanks to its tight feathering, though keepers on the Highveld should still watch for hard frost and those in humid coastal areas for damp bedding. Its main needs are space, secure housing, and management that takes its active, territorial nature into account.

Grooming

• The hard, close coat needs very little grooming and stays clean with regular dust-bathing.
• Check feet and legs often for scaly leg mite and injury.
• Trim spurs on older roosters if they grow too long.
• Check for external parasites whenever you handle a bird.

Exercise

• Give the flock a large run or free-range ground; this is an active forager that hates being cooped up.
• Let birds out onto open ground daily to scratch and forage.
• Add perches and varied terrain so birds stay occupied.

Environment

House roosters apart, or keep just one male per group, to stop fighting before it starts. The coop should be dry, well ventilated, and predator-proof against mongoose and birds of prey, with enough room to ease competition between birds.

The Old English Game does well on a balanced commercial poultry ration matched to its life stage, topped up by whatever it finds while foraging. As an active breed it makes good use of its feed, but it still needs a steady base diet with the right protein level for its age.

Treats and supplements

Provide insoluble grit so foraging birds can grind their food properly, and offer crushed oyster shell to laying hens for stronger shells. Keep treats such as greens and grain to a small part of the daily ration so they do not throw the main feed out of balance. Fresh, clean water needs to be available at all times.

The Old English Game is a tough, long-established breed with few inherited health problems. It suits outdoor life well and typically lives 7 to 10 years under good management. Most health issues are the everyday poultry concerns that affect any free-ranging flock, not faults specific to the breed.

Preventive care

• Keep housing dry, clean, and well ventilated.
• Run a regular parasite-control programme for worms, mites, and lice.
• Provide a dust-bathing area to help birds manage external parasites.
• Quarantine new birds before adding them to the flock.
• Watch for fighting injuries in any group that includes mature males.

The Old English Game is built for an active life outdoors. It is at its best with room to range and forage, and it copes well with cold, but it still needs a dry, secure coop to shelter in and roost. Because the breed is territorial, housing should give birds enough space to spread out and stay off each other's patch.

Setup checklist

• Predator-proof coop with secure latches and a covered or fenced run.
• Raised perches and clean, dry bedding.
• Dust-bathing area in the run.
• Shade and shelter from wind and rain.
• Separate housing or partitions for extra roosters.

Old English Game eggs follow the usual chicken incubation pattern and hatch in about 21 days. The breed keeps a strong broody instinct, and hens make reliable natural setters and attentive mothers. Eggs can also go into an incubator when you need more controlled conditions.

Hatching steps

1. Choose clean, well-formed, fertile eggs and let them come up to room temperature.
2. Set the incubator to 37.5 C and let temperature and humidity settle before adding eggs.
3. Turn the eggs regularly through day 18 to keep the embryo positioned correctly.
4. Stop turning on day 18 (lockdown) and raise the humidity for hatching.
5. Let chicks hatch and dry out fully before moving them to a warm brooder.