Several years ago I read a discussion between two poultry judges who between them had been raising poultry over 100 years. It was interesting the difference in opinions between two people, both of who had a ton of experience. One would never bring another bird onto his property. Period. He had been burned in the early days by birds bringing in disease and despite strict quarantine, he'd lost a lot of his own birds. So he had formed a policy of never bringing in new birds. He would hatch eggs as a way to add to his flock instead.
The other did not quarantine and brought in new birds on a regular basis. He said he'd never quarantined and never had an issue.
With my set up, quarantine is not easy. I don't have separate areas to effectively keep birds for even a few days, let alone several weeks. So I have never quarantined and have never had an issue. That said, I increasingly am not bringing in new birds either. Last year I got a few turkeys from Danz and in the fall was asked to take 7 older hens from an acquaintance who had fallen on hard times and was unable to buy feed for them. Both times I put the new birds in a small 5x5 pen within the chicken yard for a few days until they knew this was their new home, then let them out with the flock and they integrated just fine. This year I've not added any new birds and have no plans to.
If you have an easy way to quarantine, it can't hurt anything to do it though.
Sternrose, sorry you had such an awful birthday. Did you really "forget" to ask your crush or did you just lose your nerve? Maybe without the stress of the dance, it will be easier to ask him out. Perhaps you can go and get a soda together and it will be more casual and relaxed.
Adamsheather, glad you had a great birthday. Time and materials when you need them are priceless.
Danz, sorry about your dental issues. I know Tweety said she gets on her kids about brushing but over the years I've developed a theory about dental care, which is that it is largely genetics. When I was a kid, I was terrible about brushing and would only do it when nagged by our mother. Meanwhile my sister was religious about brushing morning and night. I have yet to have a single cavity, while she needed at least one new filling every time we had a checkup. Skip forward a few years and with my own kids I also have one of each. And the one who brushes without being reminded is the only one to have ever needed a filling. So its not that I don't think dental hygiene is important - I've been bowled over by halitosis on more than one occasion and wanted to scream to the person to consider brushing more often - and now that I'm an adult, I religiously brush at least twice a day because I never want to BE that person. But how strong our teeth are I think is largely pre-determined, so needing to have dental work is not a sign that you are not trying to take good care of your teeth, but that your parents did not pass on good genetics to you.
So the last frost date for my area this year was May 1st. I guess Mother Nature has a sense of humor because she waited until May 2nd to give me a frost. I could cry. I lost my zucchini that were planted outside and doing beautifully, and my potatoes, which had sprouted and were looking fantastic, are now looking sad and wilty and black. I can only hope that since the actual potatoes are below the surface, the greenery above struggling doesn't affect them too much. Fortunately, the rest of my seedlings survived the freeze okay so my losses were minimal but it was a bit disheartening after all the other setbacks I've already experienced this year.
Sharol - too cute about those chicks. I am having to get my mother hens to bring their chicks to the coop much earlier than usual this year. One hen in particular was very insistent about leaving her pen during the day by the time her chicks were 4 days old. I was a little concerned about her ability to keep them safe in the chicken yard but I shouldn't have worried. She took great care of them. At night I opened the door of the pen and she called them back in for the night. But on day 6 I was out late and couldn't let her back in at dusk, so I went out with a flashlight to look for her and found that she had solved her problem herself. She taught them how to go through the pop door of the chicken coop, and though the roosts were out of reach of the chicks at only 6 days of age, she somehow got them up into one of the nest boxes, and was snuggled up in there with both chicks under her. Since then she has slept in the coop with her chicks every night. I am really glad to have her integrated to the coop so early, and last night booted out another mama hen with her 7 day old chick, to become part of the clock as well. Hopefully tonight she will get the chick to go in, but I will be there to oversee and make sure.
