Pheasant.com Blog

A few weeks ago, we updated you about the 76 new flight pens we built on a new property we purchased. We are happy to say that our pens are currently full of our birds for the upcoming mature pheasant season. Hatchery Plans Ronnie Viljoen, our Hatchery Manager, reported that we have been planning for months to expand and modernize our hatchery with new technology because the demand for day-old chicks is very high. We have identified our new incubators. They are the Jamesway Platinum 3 Incubators. These incubators use intelligent software, conserve energy, increase efficiency in hatch rates, and are less labor intensive! We will be the first in the pheasant industry to use these incubators, and with the extra hatching space we are planning, we expect to raise 100’s of thousands more chicks. Our Chick and Egg Sales Manager, Tassia Gonzalez, shared more powerful news for our customers. We will open the chick ordering system sometime in October this year, a month earlier than usual! We expect to have all breeds available and do not expect to need a waiting list because of our new and improved hatchery! Read More »

Did you know our pheasant chicks are shipped the same day they hatch? We started our chick shipments on March 14, 2023, and continued through August 15, 2023. This season, we shipped 1,809,632 chicks! It was an outstanding chick season for us at MacFarlane Pheasants, and we expect 2024 to be even busier. Our shipping success is one of the reasons why our customers keep returning to order chicks each year. Our pheasants are shipped by priority USPS mail in well-vented boxes, with fine wood wool and a grow gel that gives the chicks nutrients during shipping. Chicks do very well using this shipping method. Chicks can survive for three days without food and water because they get their nutrients from absorbing their yolk sacs. Customers also receive an extra 5% off their chick order to ensure that a complete order is received. Our chicks were shipped to all fifty states and Canada this year, which is typical. Chicks arrived at the post office selected by our customers within three days. We send a tracking number to the customers on the night the chicks are shipped so customers can prepare for new chicks. We provide rearing tips that customers can access on our website. We want everyone who purchases chicks from MacFarlane Pheasants to be prepared and satisfied, so don’t hesitate to email us with any questions. Read More »

The QR Code portrayed in this article, developed by our receptionist, Emily Richter, is a real game-changer. We are looking forward to showing you how to access our websites and social media sites to make purchases easily, find out about events, and sign up for events like our Bi-Annual International Pheasant Management Seminars. You can scan the code directly from this article, which allows you to open all of your choices for exploration in Chrome! Read More »

Flight Pens The ground cover either doesn’t grow or gets burned up by the heat and lack of rain. This week we had significant rainfall in Janesville, WI, which was very helpful! Pens with poor cover need to be irrigated daily, increasing the cost of electricity, fuel, and machinery use. Pheasants in poor cover flight pens must be placed at half density to reduce fighting and picking (no place to hide from aggressive birds). Excessive heat decreases birds’ appetites resulting in slower growth and possible tail loss. Algae grow on plassons (waterers in pens), so plassons need to cleaned regularly. Roosters will fight and become aggressive to other roosters and hens in pens, leading to damaged tails and possible death. Droughts and excessive heat will attract predators looking for food and a water source. Pushing birds in extreme heat will cause birds to get overheated, stressed, and possibly die. We minimize this movement to the morning hours when it is cooler for this reason. During shipments, once pheasants are placed in crates, we have a driver drive the birds around to keep airflow to the birds until they are ready to leave for delivery. Read More »

Our MacFarlane Pheasants’ Retail Store has been open since 1986 in our current location. After much thought and consideration, we decided not to continue our retail store. We sold the property where we are currently located and will move our office to our new property on September 1, 2023. Currently, our retail store is connected to our main office. Finding a retail location adjacent to our office proved challenging without moving too far from the main farm. In addition, the traffic throughout the year varies greatly, and we decided we could still provide the public with their favorite pheasant items and needs by designating a local pick-up spot. We are still working out the details, so if you want to stay informed about our plans, we urge you to sign up for our e-mail campaign at www.pheasantfordinner.com. Read More »

"We do the best we can to keep our white birds as happy and healthy as possible, but sometimes mother nature doesn’t make that easy," says our White Bird Flock supervisor, Trudy Deremer. Extended heat in the summer has various effects on our birds that staff must combat. White birds are like us when it is super hot. They want to drink water but not eat. The decreased appetite can decrease weight gain for the processing birds and negatively affect our breeders. If it is hot for extended periods of time, and the breeders are not eating as they should, the males’ semen may not be as potent, resulting in fertility issues. If the hens don’t eat as much as they should, they can go out of production, meaning they stop laying eggs. Artificial insemination is not a good experience for birds that have had too much water and not enough food. It can cause the hens to vomit during the process, causing a messy situation for the birds and staff. Read More »

Why would a pet owner want to purchase MacFarlane Pheasant’s Pure Pheasant Pet Food? The answer, simply put, is that pheasant is filled with nutritional value! Our pheasant is sourced right here on our farm, and there is no intermediary. You can count on our pheasant to be humanely raised without antibiotics or hormones. The most significant benefit is that pheasant meat is low in fat and high in several minerals, including phosphorus and manganese. These minerals support strong bone growth and healing. You can find out more about our pet products by visiting our Pure Pheasant website. But first, let me tell you how to stay informed and benefit from sales of Pure Pheasant products. Read More »

The pheasants and other game birds we raise are an important asset to our farm. Virtually all of our expenses are related to their care and protection! Locking all our facilities and flight pens daily gives us peace of mind at the end of the day. Importance of Locking Gates and Doors Protection from human and animal predators trying to get into barns, pens, or buildings. Barn doors, pens, or gates can blow open, birds can escape, or brooder barns can chill, causing brooders to run constantly. Access is limited from people that shouldn’t be there, going into buildings. This is, among other concerns, a biosecurity problem. Locked doors protect expensive equipment in case of attempted break-ins. Read More »