Feeding maize to gamebirds

Does cracked maize actually work? And if so, how do you advise using it?

Marc says: Yes. It’s best combined with wheat to make it go further. It’s no good with spirals when used in hoppers, but I would only use a hopper to feed partridges, not pheasants. On my pheasant shoot I spin feed wheat/maize mix — 80:20 ratio pre-shooting, then 60:40 during the season — down feed rides where there are hoppers (these just have straight wheat in them) once a week. Some start feeding maize early while others wait until November or December. My preferred approach over the past three years has been to feed maize from October, but next year I have budgeted to start a month earlier. I intend to mix some cut maize with wheat/pellet in the release pens just before the birds get out and about, so they are accustomed to it before spin feeding. Where possible I always opt for aniseed inclusion.