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My dad contracted polio in 1946 and though
he recovered enough to be able to manage the
business end of the farm – he was a paraplegic
the rest of his life and could not accomplish
the physical aspects of running a pheasant
At the end of each chick season I find myself
sitting at my desk taking a deep breath and
taking notes for the upcoming season. I look
back at the previous season’s successes and
failures and compile a list of new ideas that I
want to implement with the hope of increasing
efficiency and decreasing chick mortality.
With a crew of five starting over 300,000
chicks, efficiency is vital. Each member of the
team has their own responsibilities. Three
members start each morning doing barn chores.
This includes walking each barn for dead,
observing bird health, cleaning waters, feeding,
making ventilation changes and record keeping.
While these three are working with the chicks
the remaining two members are performing
other tasks such as cleaning out/washing/setting
up barns, working in the partridge pens and so
forth. As chores are finished members of the
team either help with larger projects or start
working on their daily to do list. At morning
and lunch break I see how everyone is
progressing with their lists and make
adjustments as needed to ensure projects that
need to completed that day are. At the end of
the day I make a list of tasks for the next day
assigning people to each. Then before the start
of each day I go over each person’s tasks with
them answering any questions that may arise.
From early March till the end of August, chick
season is a continual cycle of cleaning out
Summer 2011
IN THIS ISSUE
The New “Bird” on the Block . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
New Delivery Truck . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Basic Guidlelines for Small Incubators . . . . . 4
Pen Mangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
8th Biannual Pheasant Management Seminar. . 5
New Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Looking Back A Half Century . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Navigating The Commodity Market . . . . . . . . 7
Changing Times at the Hatchery . . . . . . . . . . 8
Increasing Efficiency in Food Products . . . . . 8
Breeding Second Year Hens . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Update on 2011 Chick Season. . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Our Pen Crews New Toy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
The Newest Attraction on I-90 . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Wisconsin Restaurant Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
New Drug in the UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Our Feed Insurance Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Jim Adamson’s Legacy
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Bill MacFarlane -
Effective Brooder Management
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Troy Cisewski -
farm. My mom’s younger brother Jim
Adamson and Jim’s wife Dot came to work for
my dad in 1946. My dad ran the office and
Jim and Dot managed the farm and the
hatchery for the next 35 years.
Jim grew up in western Pennsylvania and then
went on to serve in the U.S. Navy. He then
moved to Wisconsin to work for my dad. I
have lots of memories of my uncle Jim and my
aunt Dot as I grew up living directly across the
street from them and saw them virtually every
day from the time I was a little boy until I
went to college when I was 18.
Jim knew how to do things. Jim’s dad was an
electrician and Jim could wire just about
anything. Jim taught me all about electricity
when I was young. Jim was an innovator – he
came up with all kinds of new ways and
methods to be more efficient in raising
pheasants.
If you will read Dave Lennox’s article in this
newsletter – you will read about the labor
intensive methods used to raise birds here in
the 1960’s. From outside runs on the brooder
houses requiring the pheasants to be driven
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back in daily to the beak trimming, wing
trimming, wing stubbing and brailing – it was
a lot of work. Jim started eliminating the use
of brails, and instead oversaw the construction
of many acres of covered pens here – where
the birds were placed at 6 weeks of age.
Jim Adamson in the 50’s
Dorothy “Dot” Adamson (left) and
Goldie Gittins, Dot’s mom in the 60’s
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