A bird in the hand

It’s safe to say the majority of shoots nowadays release birds bought in from a reliable game farmer at six to eight weeks of age. Some estates do, of course, maintain laying pens and collect eggs from the stock therein before incubating, hatching and rearing their own but they are, I venture to suggest, in the minority.

It’s usual practice for gamekeepers and/or shoot captains to place their order with the game farm as soon as the shooting season has finished. There are several advantages in this; some obvious, some not.

The game farmer has to have some indication of how many poults are likely to be required by their clients – and approximate delivery dates – so as to ensure sufficient eggs are hatched and there is an adequate amount of young birds on