American gamefowl is a breed of poultry which were once bred for cockfighting, they played a big role in American history as they were bred, fought, and raised by many of our political leaders in the past. And contributed to Abraham Lincoln's nickname honest Abe as he was a cockfighting referee.
Most American gamefowl lines (or strains) consist of Irish Game|Irish, Old English, and Oriental Gamefowl. However many others contain Spanish, along with gamefowl from other places including the Sumatra breed. The American gamefowl is now becoming popular as a show breed since cockfighting has been outlawed.
The American gamefowl are truly an amazing breed, they're some of the most beautiful birds you will ever see and are extremely cold and heat resistant, they are intelligent, and can survive on their own if given the chance. Many places have gamefowl crosses running among the streets/woods, Key west, Guam, and Hawaii are some of the main places known for Spanish crosses running around (some being Americans as well. Along with various places throughout the states have American games running the yards because of escaping from or being let out by the owners.
There is also a bantam variety of this breed, they were bred down from the large fowl. However like the Old English Game bantams they are not game, and have been crossed with a few other breeds to add feather length and kill gameness. One breed known in this cross is Jungle fowl. American game bantam should not be confused with miniature gamefowl which are pit (game) quality as well as exhibition quality since being selected and not being crossed with other breeds.















