How do you prepare for winter weather at your house? We have been cutting wood, bringing the lawn furniture inside, placing deterrents for mice around our exterior, changing furnace filters, etc. Winter in Wisconsin can be bitterly cold and snowy, and preparation for the weather is essential for Wisconsin homeowners and businesses. Trudy DeRemer, our Research Manager at MacFarlane Pheasants, agreed to share her process for preparing our Research barns for winter in Wisconsin.
Winter Barn Prepping Process
- Set the fans so they turn on for 30 seconds every 5 minutes, just enough to bring in fresh air but not so much that the heaters kick on!
- Check over the entire barn to look for holes and repair them.
- Increase the number of mouse traps in the barn. Mice get cold, too!
- Monitor the bait stations outside the building to assist us in eliminating mouse problems.
- Bring the foot-bath sanitizer inside so it doesn't freeze. We place a "disinfect mat" on the floor to catch the water. We don't want an ice skating rink at the front door!
- Put ice melt by the four manure gutters so we can regularly place ice melt in the channels.
- Heater temperatures are set according to the age of the birds. The adult rooms are set at 55 degrees, the “teenage” bird rooms are set at 60 degrees and our chick room stays at 98 degrees.
Pheasant life is a good life, even in the winter! Happy Holidays, friends!