MacFarlane Pheasants Precision Process

MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. handles the transportation of our chicks to our customers in two different ways. The first is delivering chicks directly to the customer, while the second is delivering the chicks to the Minneapolis Post Office for priority mail shipment. As most of you know the vehicle of choice to deliver chicks to our customers directly or to the Post Office is one of our fleet of three FL60's with temperature-controlled boxes. The temperature controlled boxes, insulated to maintain temperatures, have heating and cooling options, fresh air intake vents, and two exhaust fans to move stale air out of the box. The heating and cooling of the unit is one of the best tools we have to keep chicks at a desired temperature range of 73 to 76 degrees.

We added a Dodge Sprinter with a capacity larger than a cargo van but smaller than the Freightliner's. The Sprinter has exhaust fans like the Freightliners, but relies on the vehicle’s air conditioning and heating supplies for temperature control. The van fits our needs extremely well.

The process from hatchery to customer is very precise. We address all bio-security issues by disinfecting every vehicle upon its return from a delivery. We load a maximum of 186 boxes of chicks from our hatchery into a truck. The drivers take extreme care in temperature monitoring and airflow while on the road. The delivery is very time sensitive and the Post Office in Minneapolis is very good with our chicks. The receiving crew promptly takes the chicks from the receiving dock to check-in, and then downstairs to be sorted for final destination air or ground routes. The Minneapolis crew handles large numbers of birds from us and other hatcheries, and does a wonderful job of getting the chicks on the earliest flight possible to the destination. Most postal Priority Mail deliveries arrive at the customers the next day or on the second day.

We are continually looking for ways to improve the shipping and delivery processes but feel very comfortable and confident with our current procedures.