Biosecurity

I agree 100%, terrie. Too many people have unknowingly compromised their entire flock by binging in 1 little chick that turned out to be sick.

Don't let the saddness and heartache we have been seeing lately come home with you from the next swap meet.

Please also read this thread -

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=30851

I've been a BYC member for a short amount of time (only a few months), but the amount of posts I've seen regarding people losing substantial amounts of their flock because of a swap or buy of someone else's birds is astounding!

Even with quarantining birds, why would anyone participate in the practices of swapping birds?

It seems like the risks of flock mixing far outweigh the benefits unless you are 100% sure that the source is trusted.

Or am I just reading in to this too much?  This post is not meant to be judgemental.  I just have been scared to bejesus by people's sad stories and they appear to be pretty common.

I can't stress this enough to anyone.  If you absolutely must buy, trade, or swap with someone, QUARANTINE!  QUARANTINE!  QUARANTINE!  Even chicks can carry illness and disease.  I've learned this the hard way.  Do not trust that the chick or chicken that you come home with isn't sick.  Even if they come from trusted persons, you just never know.  The heartache that comes with learning this lesson the hard way is just not worth it.  QUARANTINE!

Absolutely, QUARANTINE! It is not perfect, but it's the least you can do to keep your flock safe. Better yet, never take in started birds from a swap, flea market, show, individual, etc. Yes, it limits you, but it actually frees you, IMO. Free from so much worry and heartache. Even if you buy birds from me, I want you to quarantine them! I have only bought birds from a hatchery or hatched them from my flock, with the exception of one, Hawkeye, my Barred Rock rooster. He was in quarantine for over a month and at one point, I thought he had a certain disease. Luckily, he did not, but even when you quarantine birds, that is still no guarantee. SO many diseases make recovered birds carriers for life, meaning they can make your healthy birds ill even when they dont have symptoms. If they make it through quarantine with no signs of illness, you are still not entirely out of the woods. So, please, please, please quarantine your birds for a minimum of 30 days, not allowing them to breathe the same air as your birds. Disinfect thoroughly everywhere they go and dont go directly to your birds from caring for the quarantined one(s) without changing clothes and washing up well. I just hate to see so much heartache and expense incurred from not following these guidelines, inconvenient though they may seem.

Great post.  I am so sorry for anyone who has had the heartache of unknowingly introducing a sick bird into their flock.

heck I get nervous when going to horse shows that I might touch another horse that is somehow contagious with something. When we hit the fairs this fall I will be making the family change clothes before visiting our own flock when we get home. And I ABSOLUTELY quarantine!  I am not a germ phob. But hell.. parents that send sick kids to daycare, playgroup and school annoy the day lights out of me. No way am I risking exposing my girls to something potentially deadly

I am not a germophobe either but I am not willing to risk the investment I have in my chickens.

That was a great post, and i need it too! I'm getting 12 new chicks on Saturday[not from a hatchery just from a chicken farmer] and if i didn't see that who knows what would of happened

Very usefull post. I had no idea.