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Emma

pheasant in the garden!!

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When I got home from shopping today I had half the neighbours kids run up to me in excitement exclaiming "a pheasant jumped over your gate out of your garden". :!::!:

My girls were in their run but my rabbit was free ranging- everybody seemed to be ok, but my Jasper was a bit nervy when I tried to pick him up.

Anybody have any experience with pheasants and chickens/rabbits :?: Do they get on or are they mortal enermies :twisted:

Not sure where it could have come from. We have a main road and a railway line/station separating us from the South Downs and the nearest farm :!:

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yes we used to have a pheasant come in all the time, until we properly chicken proofed all the garden. it used 2 be pretty happy, stealing chicken food and the girls didnt mind! it probably thought it was 'one of them' somehow cos it used to stay with them for ages! i still hear it all the time from a few gardens away squarking away, but it cant get in now.

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hey emma :) :)

i live next to a pheasant farm :shock::? and its never been a problem as they come in all the time and my chooks dont seem to mind! i do think its best not to let the pheasent near their house though as i have heard pheasants carry some diseases that could be dangerous to chickens :x

my dog sophie used to keep them out but she died lasst spring :cry::cry::cry: so now they come in my garden most days

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I'll take that as a 'yes'.

 

Take a selection of game - venison, pheasant, rabbit, grouse, pigeon, road kill etc. Chop into chunks. If you can get hold of any, get some venison and port sausages. If not then a good meaty, herby sausage will do. (I get venison ones from Wallington Farm Shop, Northumberland) Chop sausages into about 3-4 pieces. Brown everything. Chop and brown whatever you have filched from where-ever or lovingly picked from your garden - onions, carrots, leeks etc. Stick everything into large casserole dish. Now the ecxiting bit - add vast quantity of cider or red wine :D:D . You can add some passata (posh sieved tomatos) as well. Bung in some herbs - bouquet garni type, whatever available. Make sure you do the fancy thing with a bit of wine in the browning pan to get all the yummy bits into the casserole. Bring it all to the boil and season. If you want a bit of zing, add some Lee & Perrins or mushroom ketchup. Put into oven for about 3 hours at a lowish heat (150 - 160 celsius). Meat should be very tender and it avoids the dryness you can get with game of questionable age.

 

Wonderful with buttery mashed potatos. Use serious amounts of butter and creamy milk :lol:

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wow a pheasant farm! what are they bred for? are they bred for meat?

 

yea i think so, although we never hear them being shot :?

i used to take my dog 4 walks up on the pheasent farm as she loved all the smells and in spring there are little babies everywhere

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The only problem with game, speaking from painful experience, is that a stray bit of lead shot can crack bits off molars :cry: This means an extra visit to dentist and wielding of drill :evil::evil:

 

Should have added in recipe to check for shot while cutting up meat.

 

Also re amount of alcohol - open bottle and what doesn't get drunk straight away (cooks perk) gets put in casserole :D

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:lol::lol:

Take a selection of game - venison, pheasant, rabbit, grouse, pigeon, road kill etc.
... Jane, are you suggesting instead of shooting, I should just drive over them :?::lol::lol: . I suppose a road kill saves on the tenderising with a wooden mallet stage of preparation. :wink: .

 

Also re amount of alcohol - open bottle and what doesn't get drunk straight away (cooks perk) gets put in casserole
.. ahh, now theres the VERY important bit, thanks Jane.

 

 

:lol::lol::lol::lol:

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I love the thought of the pheasant casserole. Would have to get hubby to cook it though as I'm not that great at culinary delights :roll: If we spot the pheasant again I'm going to try catching it(Licking my lips at the thought of eating it :!: )

I know that sounds a bit mean but that's what they are bred for.

Has anyone got a recipe for fox pie :?::!::lol::lol::lol::lol:

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An easy way to catch a pheasant is to put some mixed corn in a plastic cup with some honey in the bottom in theory the cup sticks to the pheasants beak and the pheasnt thinks it is night time and like the chickens becomes docile and you can catch it............ :lol: Not sure if it works because I havent tried it, but a farmer friend said it works and you don't get shot in the bird, not sure how you go about killing it though, I don't think I could pull it's neck.

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the last time i had pheasant was when some friends brought one round that they had shot themselves. but there was still one pellet left in that no one knew was there, and i got the bit with the pellet - didnt realise until i bit into the meat, jarred my teeth on the lead and there was a pellet rattling around in my mouth :shock: it wasnt nice at all!

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Don't fancy the wringing it's neck part :shock::(

Maybe I'll just buy a peasant sometime to try the recipe and shoo the one in the garden away to live somewhere else.

 

My hubby says I'd probably end up catching it and making it into a pet :wink: I think he's right.

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the last time i had pheasant was when some friends brought one round that they had shot themselves. but there was still one pellet left in that no one knew was there, and i got the bit with the pellet - didnt realise until i bit into the meat, jarred my teeth on the lead and there was a pellet rattling around in my mouth :shock: it wasnt nice at all!

 

about two years ago i had to have an operation on my neck as there was something stuck in it :shock::?:D

when the surgeon got it out he said it was an airgun pellet or something like that!!

well i've never knowingly been shot in the neck so have blamed it on eating some pheasant and the pellet getting logded in my neck!!!

:D:D:D:D

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