Questions about having parrots and getting chickens

[karenw]

Hi. I have 2 parrots, an African Grey and a Greencheek conure (Bubba and Chi). I have always wanted to have a small flock of chickens (3 or 4) as pets and for eggs. I am probably being majorly paranoid here

but the parrots are like my children so I want to make sure of this before I go to get chickens. Will I be endangering either the parrots or the chickens by keeping both? The parrots are inside and the chickens outside but I am wondering how easy it is to transfer disease between the two. I have also heard in the past (and I do not know how true this is) that if chickens get sick in the area with Newcastle or Avian Influenza, etc., and flocks of chickens are destroyed that any pet birds such as parrots would also be destroyed. In your opinion is it wise to have chickens if you also have parrots for these reasons? Am I just being overly paranoid? I feel like I need to consider the wellbeing of both my parrots and any future chickens. I want to make sure I am doing the right thing by all of them. Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

Karen

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I think there are two different issues to consider. The risk of disease is one and the less serious one. You can use common sense and educate yourself to prevent that being much of an issue. The more serious risk is your legal situation and potential loss of your parrots if there's an outbreak of a disease in your area. Although having chickens on your property could increase the risk, just living near other places that have chickens, especially large operations, potentially puts your parrots in harms way. Some areas have never had a problem and some areas have. It makes a difference where you live.

There were a lot of horror stories coming out of CA in the past, during a disease outbreak, where parrots were confiscated and killed in front of their owners. It was bad. Really bad. Healthy looking indoor parrots, that weren't even tested. They lived in the eradication zone. Because of the severity and scope of the problem, they had a lot of temporary employees going door to door and some of them didn't handle things very well.

They had different rules back then. I think they are doing quarantines and testing of people's parrots now, but I never heard all the finalized details. I just know there was a lot of outrage over what happened and they tried to change the rules to make it better the next time.

I have no idea what state you live in or what their rules are in an outbreak. You should contact the government officials responsible for these situations in your state and ask them for information.

As far as managing actual disease risk, my parrot was bred in captivity and I had him tested for everything they could test for, when I got him. I've gotten my chickens as chicks from well known hatcheries and get them vaccinated for whatever the hatchery offers for vaccinations. I feed both species as healthy a diet as I can, so they will have healthy immune systems.

I have yard shoes that I don't wear in the house. I wash my hands after being in the coop or petting the chickens. I always wash my hands before handling my parrot, no matter what I've been doing or not doing. I have dogs, cats and fish, so I'm always careful about washing my hands, since parrots don't always handle the bacteria from other species all that well. After cleaning the coop, I take a shower and put on clean clothes. I also do that if I've been to a store with birds or visiting other's birds. I don't usually go to auctions or swaps, but if I did, I'd shower and change afterwards.

I've had small parrots since at least the early seventies and chickens on and off since shortly after that, without it being a problem. My CAG is in his early twenties these days.

 

[poorfarm]

I've been living with my housemate Max the Big Pink Chicken for 23 years now (he's 28 almost 29), and had chickens all that time. Max doesn't go outside and no chickens go into his room, but the most obvious potential disease vector would be me since I am in contact with all of the birds here every day. Also have turkeys, ducks, geese, canaries, several kinds finches, couple hundred pigeons, and Brazilian red-crested cardinals. Nobody has every gotten sick with a chicken disease. I am, though, scrupulous about caring for any sick birds last, after healthy ones have been fed, watered etc., and handwashing. Also, I have a pigeon with a deformed beak who has to be supplemented with hand feeding every day; he can feed himself somewhat but will slowly lose condition without some help. So every day I'm also poking a finger down that bird's throat and he's still healthy after 5 years of this. If you want a companion bird, I wouldn't be afraid to get one because you have poultry. Best Wishes!

 

[chickenjane2016]

Well it's as simple as, " Is it cross contagious between the species. I don't know about all bird diseases, but Marecks does NOT affect parrots. Educate, do not panick.

 

[schatzi011]

I've kept my two african greys in an aviary with 5 chickens for 1.5 yrs now. My vet said disease wouldn't be a problem. I was more worried about them potentially fighting. The greys are a bonded pair, and one of them does bully the chickens a bit, but not seriously. He sometimes goes to the bottom of the aviary, where the chickens are running around, and chases them away from food they've found. For a week, he kept going into their chicken coop and chasing them all out, so I stayed around the aviary and chased him out every time he tried to chase the chickens out. Eventually, he got bored of that game.

The aviary is 10' tall, with lots of branches and even a tree, so the parrots have plenty of room to play and hang out and rarely even get close to the chickens.

 

[bagendhens]

i have chickens and parrots and no worries.. wash hands/use hand sanitizer between handling the chickens and the parrots...otherwise most zoonotic illnesses dont spread that easily

 

[Bossroo]

When I worked at UCD, anyone that worked with poultry there was not allowed to keep any type of bird, pet or farm.

 

[abluechipstock]

i have a parrot that is 16 yrs old, never had a problem with keeping chickens also, now i have pigeons too

 

[bagendhens]

very good advice woodland.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Thank you!