Modern Game birds
Modern Game birds are great pets with a stunning appearance. They are friendly, curious towards people and are easily tamed.
Modern Game rank among the most visually distinctive of breeds. Long legs and snake-like necks, combined with tight feathering and minimal tails create an appearance that, while maybe not to everyone's taste, is undeniable striking.
The Modern Game bird is a breed of a chicken originating in England between 1850 and 1900.
Despite being classified as a cockfighting derivation in breed standards, Modern Game chickens were not bred to fight.
Modern Game is purely an exhibition bird developed to be aesthetically pleasing and to epitomize the visual appeal of the gamecock. The Modern Game is all about image and is consciously honed to perfection for the show pen.
After the outlawing of cockfights in the U.K. in the mid 19th century, many cockfighting enthusiasts turned to breeding for shows as an alternative poultry hobby.
As the competition became more serious, many Game breeders began looking at ways in which they could develop the appearance and type of their birds. The Modern Game was developed from crosses of Old English Game and Malays.
The Modern Game breed comes in several colour variations. The most common being black red, birchen, brown red, duckwing and pyle. There are 15 standarised colours, all of which are available in bantam form, although the choice is more limited for large fowl.
The colours can be broadly divided into two groups: those with willow-coloured legs and red eyes; and, those with black legs and dark eyes. Leg colour varies dramatically according to plumage pattern.
Modern Game birds are neither good egg layers nor are they valued for meat production. Modern Game can be regarded as an easy breed to own, with no specialist dietary or health-related requirements. The close-feathering also means that they are not particulary susceptable to mites or lice, and this is not a breed that suffers characteristically with Marek's disease or Coccidiosis.