Chicks

One of the more exciting moments on our farm is when baby chicks begin to hatch. However, there are many steps to complete in the brooder barns before hatching begins, to prepare for the 500,000 chicks we hatch each year. Planning Ahead Set up a master schedule of when we [...]

In an average year, MacFarlane Pheasants ships over a million chicks to its customers. Great precision and planning goes into boxing and shipping our chicks to ensure that they arrive healthy and ready to be raised. There are usually only two people counting and packing the chicks but when we [...]

Over the 2014 hatching season 1.17 million pheasant chicks went to customers all over the U.S., Canada, and internationally. The majority of these went by U.S. postal service and air freight. The remainder of the chicks were either picked up at the hatchery or delivered in our chick trucks by experienced [...]

At MacFarlane Farms we believe the best way to have strong healthy birds is to start out with the best brooder barn you can set up. We can't emphasize enough how important it is that the structure you are using is draft -free, clean and that it has the appropriate [...]

We've been trying out GroGel on some of our hatchlings to see if that extra little boost can cut down on mortality rates, and we’ve been seeing some good success. Right now we use it with the Hungarian Partridges because the chicks start out on tables and the white pheasants. [...]

We’ve got a month or two left of our international shipping window for chicks and eggs. Space has to be booked with the airlines three to four weeks in advance to guarantee room and to make airlines aware we are shipping live cargo. Live cargo – eggs or chicks – [...]

Partridges can pile plenty, and that’s a fact, Jack. MacFarlane Pheasants raises a number of partridge varieties every year, including French Redleg, Hungarian, Chukar, and Chukar/Redleg Cross partridges. And we raise a lot: up to 12,000 at a time. But these small birds have their own host of issues that [...]

After three weeks in the “A” room and four weeks in the “B” room, the former MacFarlane Pheasant chicks are now juveniles and ready to be transferred to outdoor pens. There’s no gentle transition; the birds are loaded into crates and plopped into the outdoor pens. But before we do [...]

Once a chick hatches, it is vital to get them to begin feeding as soon as possible. Not only does it give their bodies the proper nutrients required, but it also gets them into the habit of feeding. This is crucial in preventing any potential starve-out. Beginning when they are [...]

At MacFarlane Pheasants, we’re proud to be the largest day-old pheasant chick and game bird supplier in the U.S.  What goes into delivering pheasant chicks? Hatchery Manager and Propagation Coordinator Ben Lawton sat down with GameBirdExpert to talk about it. “My role here at the hatchery is to get chicks [...]

Do not hesitate to call any of us here at MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc.; part of our everyday job is making sure our customers are satisfied. It is safe to say that all captive game bird flocks are exposed to one or more species of Mycoplasma. Mycoplasma are bacteria-like organisms that [...]

By Ron Willmore Natural Resources Site Manager INTRODUCTION The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) owns and operates the James C. Helfrich Wildlife Propagation Center (WPC) in central Illinois near Lincoln Illinois.  The facility, which is the only pheasant hatchery operated by the State of Illinois, was constructed in the late [...]