The Indian Game is a British

breed A breed is a specific group of domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist several slig ...

of game chicken, now reared either for

meat Meat is animal flesh that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted, farmed, and scavenged animals for meat since prehistoric times. The establishment of settlements in the Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of animals such as chic ...

or show. It originated in the early nineteenth century in the

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

and

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

in south-west England. It is a heavy, muscular bird with an unusually broad breast; the eggs are brown. In the United States the name was changed in the early twentieth century to Cornish. A white variant, the White Cornish, was developed there at about the same time, and is much used in modern industrial chicken meat production in many parts of the world, either for

cross-breeding A crossbreed is an organism with purebred parents of two different breeds, varieties, or populations. ''Crossbreeding'', sometimes called "designer crossbreeding", is the process of breeding such an organism, While crossbreeding is used to main ...

to produce hybrid

broiler A broiler is any chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') that is bred and raised specifically for meat production. Most commercial broilers reach slaughter weight between four and six weeks of age, although slower growing breeds reach slaugh ...

s, or to produce fast-growing "

game hen Cornish game hen (also Rock Cornish game hen) is the USDA-approved name for a particular variety of broiler chicken, produced from a cross between the Cornish and White Plymouth Rock chicken breeds, that is served young and immature, weighing ...

s".

History

The breed was developed by Sir Walter Gilbert, of

Bodmin Bodmin () is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated south-west of Bodmin Moor. The extent of the civil parish corresponds fairly closely to that of the town so is mostly urban in character. It is bordered ...

, in about 1820. It was intended to be a gamecock, but had no aptitude for cockfighting. It is recognised as "Indian Game" in Australia, by the

Poultry Club of Great Britain The Poultry Club of Great Britain is a registered charity founded in 1877. Its stated purpose is to "safeguard the interests of all pure and traditional breeds of poultry including chickens, bantams, ducks, geese and turkeys". The club mai ...

in the United Kingdom, and by the

Entente Européenne Entente, meaning a diplomatic "understanding", may refer to a number of agreements: History * Entente (alliance), a type of treaty or military alliance where the signatories promise to consult each other or to cooperate with each other in case o ...

in Europe. In the United States the name was changed in 1905 to "Cornish Indian Game", and then in 1910 to "Cornish". It was accepted by the

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in the North America. It was founded in 1873, and incorporated in Indiana in 1932. The first American poultry show was held in 1849, and the APA was later formed in resp ...

in 1893.

Characteristics

The Indian Game is a large and stocky bird, short in the legs and unusually broad and deep in the breast. Some cock birds bred for showing may be so short-legged and broad-breasted, that they are incapable of reproducing, although its domestic counterparts do not tend to have this issue and have a more standard posture and gait. Three colour variants are recognised in the United Kingdom: the dark, the original colour; the Jubilee; and the double-laced blue, which is rare. The

Entente Européenne d'Aviculture et de Cuniculture The , usually known as the or simply EE, is a European organisation of breeders of poultry, pigeons, rabbits, guinea-pigs and cage-birds. It was founded in Brussels on 18 June 1938 as the ; the founding members were from Belgium, France, Luxembo ...

and some European countries recognise the white variant in addition to these three. In the United States, the Cornish is recognised in four colours: the original dark, added to the ''

Standard of Perfection The ''American Standard of Perfection'' is the official breed standard for the poultry fancy in North America. First published in 1874 by the American Poultry Association, the ''Standard of Perfection'' (commonly referred to as "the ''Standard ...

'' in 1893; the white, added in 1898; the white-laced red, added in 1909; and the buff, added in 1938. It is resistant to most common

diseases of poultry Poultry diseases occur in poultry, which are domesticated birds kept for their meat, eggs or feathers. Poultry species include the chicken, turkey, duck, goose and ostrich. Viral diseases * Avian infectious bronchitis, caused by a strain of Avi ...

, but vulnerable to

parasite Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson h ...

s. The feathers are thin and hard, without down; this may render the birds susceptible to cold, which may delay breeding in early Spring.

Use

The Indian Game was bred as a gamecock, but was not successful as a fighting bird. It was found to be a good meat breed, and was much used for

with established meat breeds such as the

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley, Mole Valley District and the non-metropolitan district, council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughl ...

Orpington Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St ...

and

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

. It is a poor layer: the eggs are small and light brown; hens may lay about 80 per year.

References

{{British livestock, R.4 Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in the United Kingdom Animal breeds on the RBST Watchlist