Shooting UK is your complete shooting resource. From gun reviews to shotgun licence and firearms certificate information, to clay pigeon shooting, game shooting, shooting lessons and gundog training.
By David Tomlinson
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Q) I can recall once seeing a photograph of a “phantam” — a cross between a bantam hen and a cock pheasant — on the letters page of Shooting Times. How unusual is this cross-breed, and are the offspring fertile? P. ACTON By email
A) Your query prompted me to try and find out as much as I could about phantams. It is, I discovered, a subject that has long fascinated poultry keepers. Charles Darwin mentions hybrids between domestic fowl and pheasants in his book The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, and a number of 19th century poultry keepers managed to achieve such hybrids. The resulting offspring are described as both wild and sterile.
I’ve kept free-range bantams for several years, and wild cock pheasants feed alongside my hens every day, but I have never seen a pheasant display any interest in the hens. My bantam cockerel ignores the pheasants completely, as there is clearly no rivalry between the two. I suspect that a cock pheasant confi ned in a pen might take more interest in his female companions.
Subsonic .22LR ammunition review: The .22 rimfire is a great vermin ri... Read more
The Gamekeeper Welfare Network calls on shoots this Christmas to contr... Read more
Don't miss this week's issue (on sale Wednesday 16th May). FREE PRIZE DRAW: Win a Browning T-bolt.22 and Winchester ammo. Graham Downing gives his tips on where to find the best foreign sport! For all this and a whole lot more buy your copy today!
Save up to 31% on a subscription to Shooting Times & Country Magazine, subscribe today and perfect gift this Christmas.
Comments