Flight Pens

At MacFarlane Pheasants, we pride ourselves on growth and innovation. Recently, we completed a significant expansion with the construction of 16 acres of new pheasant pens. This project is not just a testament to our commitment to improving our facilities but also a celebration of the incredible expertise and dedication [...]

At MacFarlane Pheasant Farm, the arrival of each new season brings with it a fresh set of challenges and opportunities as we prepare our barns and pens for the incoming batches of pheasants. We're committed to keeping things safe, clean, and running smoothly. This post details our carefully crafted process [...]

Flight Pens 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, [...]

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. [...]

New Pen Construction Project Timeline We announced in an earlier post that we sold the 175 acres that currently contain about 20% of our flight pens. We also have barns, offices, and a maintenance shop on this site that will be at a new location by December 31, 2023. We [...]

Protecting flight birds after we place them in outdoor pens is essential. There are several dangers to flight birds as they are moved from the barns to flight pens at six weeks, and being aware of those dangers is how they are protected. If we experience flight bird mortality, it [...]

Ground cover in our flight pens at MacFarlane Pheasants is needed to provide shade in the summer from the sun, protect our birds from storms, and provide something to pick at so birds don't pick at each other. Pheasants can be injured if they don't have enough space or cover [...]

  What does Milton Farm Manager, Lodewyk Davis, have to say about the success of the Milton Farm? He proudly attributes the success to excellent communication between himself and his four co-workers who are at the farm full time and his colleagues at the main farm. The Milton Farm crew [...]

 Raising pheasants and other wild birds requires considerable timing and upkeep. The flight pens, where our birds live and grow to maturity, are an essential resource to the lives of our birds, so we pre-plan our upkeep. Each step we take is to benefit them. Fall Tilling The benefit of [...]

At six to seven weeks of age, pheasants get moved from the brooder barn into flight pens. They will get raised in flight pens until they are mature, around 22 weeks of age. Properly managing the cover in flight pens is an essential step to producing a quality pheasant. Understanding [...]

The main purpose of flight pens is to keep our pheasants safe and keep predators out. Rain, snow, wind, and heat are weather events that affect the flight pens at MacFarlane Pheasants. We deal with these events in the following ways: In the spring and summer, after storms and rains, [...]

Ground cover in flight pens is critically important to protect pheasants and other wild birds at MacFarlane Pheasants. It requires time and energy to plan and manage the cover, but it is well worth it. Ground cover in the pens is needed to provide shade in the summer from the [...]

Feeding gamebirds is a science.  Making sure you are offering your birds the correct protein percentage will help you raise the highest quality game birds.  Gamebirds need the right protein content and an abundant supply of fresh water. Accessibility to quality feed is also an important consideration. When necessary, we [...]

The main purpose of the time and money put into flight pens is to keep game birds in and predators out. It sounds very simple, but in addition to building the pens, the process isn’t complete until you learn how to manage the ground cover that must be provided in [...]

We call birds that escape from our outside pens strays. Though we do everything we can to prevent the birds from escaping, it does happen. When it does, it is an all-out emergency! Why Are Escaped Birds an Emergency? 1.  The obvious reason is that if they are not captured right [...]

MacFarlane Pheasants’ employees have a goal to have all your pheasants moved to flight pens by October 31 of each year. The importance of this goal is that the longer birds stay in the barns the greater the risk of picking and tail damage. Buyers want beautiful birds and pheasants [...]

Flight pens are an investment in the protection of game birds. The main purpose for the time and money put into flight pens is to keep game birds in and predators out. It sounds very simple, but in addition to building the pens, the process isn't complete until you learn [...]

Our managers and employees at MacFarlane Pheasants are highly trained and experienced with all facets of pheasants care. They all contribute information, used by our customers, to care for game birds they purchase for their own game bird operations. This information comes to you in the form of manuals and [...]

Brian Klein oversees the Milton Farm for MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. I recently asked him how ground cover did this year. He gave me some detailed information about how he plans ground cover to best benefit the pheasants kept in Milton. The crew decides which of the 6 covered pens on [...]

Predators The protection of our pheasants and the other game birds we raise is a high priority at MacFarlane Pheasants, Inc. Wild birds are a hazard we can’t afford to ignore! Birds of prey, such as red-tailed hawks, turkey vultures, and even bald eagles, prey on our pheasants.  Starlings populations [...]