All New chicken owners

[schellie69]

Hello, I know this is an exciting time for everyone getting new chicks and buying chickens but please slow down do some reading and remember to always quarantine any new birds you get for 30 days. I am seeing and reading a lot of post about putting new birds that where just got at a swap or from a farmer in with your old flock this is a disaster waiting to happen. If your bring a sick bird in, it can and will infect your whole flock which could leave them as carriers for life which means that they will get sick anytime there is stress it also means your birds can infect other people chickens. I wrote a post about what I have learned since I joined BYC please read this. It might save some chickens lives thank you.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=479995

 

[Kansaseq]

This is so, so true. I just found out I have MG. I am currently having to make the very difficult decision whether to cull my entire flock, or keep a closed flock and only sell eating eggs. NO selling any more hatching eggs or live birds. Since I support my hobby and pets by selling chicks and hatching eggs, I don't have a lot of choice. Since I love my birds, this is devastating.
Please, if you are thinking of adding new birds to your flock, quarantine them, for at LEAST 30, far away from your current flock. Tend your old birds first, then the new ones. It's so easy to buy a bird that looks healthy, (seller may think birds are healthy) but later develops an illness.

 

[nuttyredhead]

schellie69 -- I think this post has alot of great information! Great job!

 

[schellie69]

Quote:
Thank you I am so worried about respiratory infections with all the new birds being bought and sold. I am so careful now when buying birds. I think I am done with older birds and just buy chicks or hatch my own.

 

[carolinagirl58]

Thanks. I just learned this lesson the hard way. Hopefully I won't lose my birds.

 

[Kitt]

Great post. I also just read the one by SpeckledHen. Some people that come to my house get a little mad because they think I take the bio thing a little far. I will not let other people handle,play or get near my chicks. I will show pictures. And I have explained it...but the simple reason is....I don't know your birds OR the other birds of your friends, neighbors etc that they handled. I'm not doing it to be mean or think my birds are better than anyone elses....I just don't want them sick.

 

[riftnreef]

Quote:
As for culling your flock, just keep this in mind...a fair number of the major matcheries in the US test MG positive. If you attend shows with your birds, you will at some point almost certainly get it into the flock again. Until a monitoring program is put in place like the NPIP for Mycoplasma (CRD) infections, this will be a constant. Mycoplasma G. infected birds can go well more than 30 days with no signs or symptoms, so even a good quarinteen program will not prevent the spread if getting new birds. It's a much more common problem than I think most are willing to admit to...just MHO.

 

[kuntrygirl]

Quote:
As for culling your flock, just keep this in mind...a fair number of the major matcheries in the US test MG positive. If you attend shows with your birds, you will at some point almost certainly get it into the flock again. Until a monitoring program is put in place like the NPIP for Mycoplasma (CRD) infections, this will be a constant. Mycoplasma G. infected birds can go well more than 30 days with no signs or symptoms, so even a good quarinteen program will not prevent the spread if getting new birds. It's a much more common problem than I think most are willing to admit to...just MHO.

I have to agree with you. I'm glad that more people are talking about it. I also wish that NPIP included testing for CRD infections.

Some chicken owners have chickens that die from MG and they have no idea the cause of their bird's death. Their birds are not sent off for a necropsy, so they can only "assume" why their birds die. Then they turn around and still sell chickens and hatching eggs not knowing (and it's not their fault because they don't know and perhaps can't afford to pay the expense related to a necropsy) that these chickens and hatching eggs will will have this same problem (MG) because they are carriers. So buyers will buy their chickens and hatching eggs and pass this on (MG) to their flock and this continues to spread to the next person and the next person and the next person.

Of course to quarantine helps but this can sometimes be a "silent disease"/"silent killer" and you may not know your bird is infected until more than 30 days.

Kansaseq was able to find out about her bird because she sent it off for a necropsy. So very sorry to hear about your birds.

I wish that this was happening to you and your flock.

 

[WriterChick]

Quote:
Fabulous advice! I'm a newbie flock keeper, but from my research - and quite frankly plain common sense - your advice is apropos. If I bring a new dog into the pack or a new cat into the house, they are quarantined from the rest until the vet gives them a clean bill of health. I'm not being mean, I'm being safe for all parties concerned. Why would it be any different for chickens or other fowl?

 

[schellie69]

Quote:
Fabulous advice! I'm a newbie flock keeper, but from my research - and quite frankly plain common sense - your advice is apropos. If I bring a new dog into the pack or a new cat into the house, they are quarantined from the rest until the vet gives them a clean bill of health. I'm not being mean, I'm being safe for all parties concerned. Why would it be any different for chickens or other fowl?

I have read many post about people adding older birds that they just got at an auction, or swap right into their flocks. I don't think people understand that just because a bird looks great and healthy does not mean it is. This time of year it seems the post about infections in people flocks go on the up and so do adding new birds. Just a reminder because sometimes we forget.