Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[vehve]

cwrite, but then you're not bringing anything into your existing flock, so less risk to them. Also, in the long run it leads to healthier, more resistant birds.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I've considered that, but getting hold of the vaccine is tricky & we have so many wilds birds living in & visiting our garden.  The chickens have become quite lax about chasing other birds off the lawn lately too.  I'll decide on Sunday when I'm at the market most likely. 

Inspect the birds thoroughly, look for bright eyes, squeaky clean bums and clean , dry nostrils. With the silkies , check the toes 5 and beaks should be ' leaden blue' not white. I think your game relying on vent sexing though. I got sucked in by a so called ' expert ' , said he'd been breeding for 35 years and was well experienced in vent sexing. Sold me a pair of Roos. The truth is that even people in the industry that sex thousands at a time make mistakes, you've only to read the many disgruntled posts on this site about feed store sexed chicks.
Either way it's a gamble, bio security is a must for all of us. So quarantine them for at least a month or take your chances , throw them in with the others and know that if you do introduce something that you will need to have a ' closed flock ', no birds in or out.
Btw , stress is a trigger in many of the upper respiratory diseases, so chances are the stress of transporting them will bring on some symptoms.

 

[satay]

What do you guys think of buying chicks from a market?  From the website they seem to be 1-3 weeks in a range of breeds (including lavender Araucana & silkies ) & they claim all the chicks are vaccinated against mareks & fowl pox.  I've turned into a germ phobe & keep on going round in circles between risking getting boys - day old chicks/vaccinated birds/& paying a lot more to get girls for sure but being older they may have been exposed to more germs.  The chicks advertised are vent sexed which isn't great, but neither is having to deal with unwanted roosters.  Does anyone have experience of buying chicks from a market?

To me it would be all about who bred them and I would be doing my best to find that out first. If you can't then as fancy suggested check the birds out thoroughly before you buy. Keep them separated from your flock for at least 3 weeks to a month. Vaccinated birds still can get sick and even die it is not a guarantee but more like a precaution. I don't vaccinate my birds and don't have any problems with wild birds etc and we have a lot of them around here.

 

[cwrite]

@Fancy, I'll definitely quarantine the birds before introducing them. I had a perusal of their face-book site & noticed that one person commented that one of their girls had turned out to be a boy. They will swop the bird, but it's hard for kids to let go.

@satay that's good to k- now that wild birds are not a problem. I'm sure I'll have to deal with some illness at some point, or injuries - hopefully not shortly after introducing my new flock members though. Fowl pox just looks so uncomfortable & goes on for so long. We have small pockets of water all around us so mozzies are a real problem.

There is another place that sells the birds I want & it looks like they operate a closed flock, but don't vaccinate. I have a feeling that those birds are a better bet, but a visit will give me a better idea.

 

[Fancychooklady]

@Fancy, I'll definitely quarantine the birds before introducing them.  I had a perusal of their face-book site & noticed that one person commented that one of their girls had turned out to be a boy.  They will swop the bird, but it's hard for kids to let go. 

@satay
that's good to k- now that wild birds are not a problem.  I'm sure I'll have to deal with some illness at some point, or injuries - hopefully not shortly after introducing my new flock members though.  Fowl pox just looks so uncomfortable & goes on for so long.  We have small pockets of water all around us so mozzies are a real problem.

There is another place that sells the birds I want & it looks like they operate a closed flock, but don't vaccinate.  I have a feeling that those birds are a better bet, but a visit will give me a better idea.

Water birds, rats , mice , sparrows and Mosquitos are all potential carriers of lice, mites and salmonella . All you can do is try to keep their numbers down. I'm battling lice ATM brought in by the sparrows. I treat then retreat in 10 days to kill hatching eggs have a couple of months lice free then start all over again.
A closed flock means no birds in , no birds out due to disease within in the flock. It's the only alternative to culling an entire flock.

 

[cwrite]

Water birds, rats , mice , sparrows and Mosquitos are all potential carriers of lice, mites and salmonella . All you can do is try to keep their numbers down. I'm battling lice ATM brought in by the sparrows. I treat then retreat in 10 days to kill hatching eggs have a couple of months lice free then start all over again.
A closed flock means no birds in , no birds out due to disease within in the flock. It's the only alternative to culling an entire flock.

Ahh - I thought a closed flock was only fertile eggs & chicks in & any birds out as a preventative measure for keeping diseases out of the flock.

 

[satay]

@Fancy, I'll definitely quarantine the birds before introducing them.  I had a perusal of their face-book site & noticed that one person commented that one of their girls had turned out to be a boy.  They will swop the bird, but it's hard for kids to let go. 

@satay
that's good to k- now that wild birds are not a problem.  I'm sure I'll have to deal with some illness at some point, or injuries - hopefully not shortly after introducing my new flock members though.  Fowl pox just looks so uncomfortable & goes on for so long.  We have small pockets of water all around us so mozzies are a real problem.

There is another place that sells the birds I want & it looks like they operate a closed flock, but don't vaccinate.  I have a feeling that those birds are a better bet, but a visit will give me a better idea.

If you wanna pm me the names of the markets and the other breeder I may have heard of them.

 

[satay]

@Fancy, I'll definitely quarantine the birds before introducing them.  I had a perusal of their face-book site & noticed that one person commented that one of their girls had turned out to be a boy.  They will swop the bird, but it's hard for kids to let go. 

@satay
that's good to k- now that wild birds are not a problem.  I'm sure I'll have to deal with some illness at some point, or injuries - hopefully not shortly after introducing my new flock members though.  Fowl pox just looks so uncomfortable & goes on for so long.  We have small pockets of water all around us so mozzies are a real problem.

There is another place that sells the birds I want & it looks like they operate a closed flock, but don't vaccinate.  I have a feeling that those birds are a better bet, but a visit will give me a better idea.

I can't say i know anybody that has had fowl pox. Has anyone on the aussie thread had to deal with it?

 

[satay]

Ahh - I thought a closed flock was only fertile eggs & chicks in & any birds out as a preventative measure for keeping diseases out of the flock. 

Some people refer to a closed flock as someone that only sells birds or eggs, doesn't bring in any birds so everything is bred from their own flock. A totally closed flock is how Fancy described. When i sell babies and eggs from here people are welcome to view the parents from behind the fence of their yards. I never let anyone into the main pens.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I can't say i know anybody that has had fowl pox. Has anyone on the aussie thread had to deal with it?

Yes I had 3 cases of fowl pox last year. The 2 hens died and hubby put the roo down, I believe that the roo had wet fowl pox. He looked like he was coming good after 3 weeks then relapsed. I couldn't bare to see him suffer anymore. Tough love. Touch wood I haven't seen any symptoms since.
I don't normally bring any birds in , but I will need to replace a roo soon so I will set up a quarantine pen an acre from my other birds , if after 6 weeks he passes his health checks , he will be rewarded with some lovely looking ladies .