The Indian Game is a British

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable 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 seve ...

of game chicken, now reared either for

meat Meat is animal Tissue (biology), tissue, often muscle, that is eaten as food. Humans have hunted and farmed other animals for meat since prehistory. The Neolithic Revolution allowed the domestication of vertebrates, including chickens, sheep, ...

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 purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

and

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

in south-west England. It is a heavy, muscular bird with an unusually broad breast; the eggs are light 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 to produce hybrid

broiler Breed 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 slaug ...

s, or to produce fast-growing " game hens".

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 in the United Kingdom, and by the Entente Européenne 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 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 may be so short-legged and broad-breasted that they are incapable of reproducing. 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 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'' 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, but vulnerable to

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

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 cross-breeding with established meat breeds such as the

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England about south-west 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 ro ...

Orpington Orpington is a town in Greater 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 Mary Cray, sou ...

and

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

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

References

Chicken breeds Chicken breeds originating in the United Kingdom Animal breeds on the RBST Watchlist {{bots, deny=Citation bot