Chicken quarantine or Hospital size

[NagemTX]

Would a space 5ft wide, 8ft long and 6ft or greater high be acceptable for a quarantine or hospital space for chickens. I try to error on the bigger is better side.

 

[David61]

Well if the bird needs to be in the hospital, it doesn't need to be moving around a lot. it needs to rest and get well.
If bird is broody, it needs to cool off and not move around much and just sit on the wire.
if its in jail for being a bully, it doesn't need to move arould much and should be thinking about its bad ways.
So my Hospital / jail / broody cooler is 17"x17"x2' and up off the ground.

 

[Lil Ray of Sunshine]

I agree with David61. I use a medium size dog crate for sick birds.

 

[NagemTX]

I'm currently useing a large retriever dog crate in side because of coons that I do not want to tempt. I could set up multiple in that 8x5 space and cover it so I won't get wet. I'm such a worrier.

 

[NatJ]

Would a space 5ft wide, 8ft long and 6ft or greater high be acceptable for a quarantine or hospital space for chickens. I try to error on the bigger is better side.

Acceptable, yes.
Bigger than really needed, probably also yes, at least for most backyard chicken-keeping situations.

If you only have one or two chickens in there at a time, it's way more than they need, but the extra space will probably not cause trouble. (Especially since you already know you can put them in dog crates or similiar pens if they do need to be restrained in a smaller area.)

The extra space might come in handy if you need to put in many dog crates with one chicken each (multiple injured ones that might peck each other, or a bunch of broodies at once.)

And if you are trying to quarantine an entire flock of a dozen or so chickens, separate from your current chickens, all that space would be very handy indeed.

In general, I agree that bigger is better (except when I am deciding how to pay for it! But even then, half the size usually costs much more than half the money, so shrinking it may not change the cost enough to be worth it.)

 

[Lil Ray of Sunshine]

I'm currently useing a large retriever dog crate in side because of coons that I do not want to tempt. I could set up multiple in that 8x5 space and cover it so I won't get over it. I'm such a worrier.

You're right. Coons will climb over if it's not covered. I use live traps baited with dog food for coons and then put them down. You are not allowed in my area to trap and move due to the possibility of spreading rabies to a new area. Racoons can carry rabies and not get sick. Just some added info I thought may be helpful. Good luck with your flock.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Quarantine is different than a hospital space - biological quarantine must be done as far away from your existing flock as possible, and yes you'd want a good amount of space for that as the birds will be living in it for a month.

Hospital space, smaller is generally better because sick birds shouldn't be moving around too much. I use everything from a medium dog crate to my brooder (about 8-9 sq ft) to a covered dog exercise pen (16 sq ft) for those purposes, depending on why the bird(s) is/are separated.

 

[David61]

biological quarantine must be done as far away from your existing flock as possible,

yes, but unfortunately that would be cull for me.