Another Quarantine Question...

[tulie13]

I got 24 chicks from Meyer hatchery, and put them in the coop when they were about 4 weeks old. After that, I got some RIR chicks from a local hatchery and raised them in my tub and they have been integrated for 2 months now.

Unfortunately, I believe my 8 RIR pullets may actually be EIGHT RIR ROOS!!!

They are looking (and acting) more and more like roos every day. I don't WANT RIR ROOS - I have heard they are darn mean, plus I sure don't need 8 of them competing for the 23 hens I have left. I called the hatchery, and they said if they were roos, they'd take them back and replace them with pullets.

But now if I get 8 new girls, if they are older hens (not chicks, but started pullets) I don't have any PLACE to quarantine them. I wasn't planning on raising another batch of chicks in my tub, but I guess I could...

How safe might I be since my 8 RIR came from this hatchery in the first place? Would this be any sort of exception to the quarantine rule? I originally got chicks hatched in an incubator and never exposed to the adult chickens in the rest of the chicken yard. I'm guessing quarantine would still be in order here. I think I answered my own question based on the fact that the chicks weren't exposed to adult birds.

And if I do have RIR roos, they seem like pretty sturdy birds, anyone in NW Florida want a RIR roo?

 

[JennsPeeps]

The problem with bringing in new birds is that you donto' know what, if any, outbreaks may have occurred in the meantime at the local hatchery. Nor do you know which vaccinations they may have had that your others haven't had.

I'd got with a new batch of chicks. What a bummer. But look at the bright side: CHICKIES!!!