Flock Quarantining is HARD (new birds on yard)

[canesisters]

I got my first chicks a year ago and we made it through the STEEP learning curve pretty well. They're all grown up now and are a happy, healthy flock of 6 (5 hens, 1 roo). My intentions all along were to add a few chicks each year so that my flock would have a spread of ages over 3 or 4 years. A while back I started building a brooder/grow-out pen so I'd be ready for the new chicks. Then a friend offered me 2 grown hens (Jersey Giant/Australorp). So the brooder/grow-out became a brooder/grow-out/quarantine pen.

The new girls arrived 2 nights ago and I'm having a really hard time adjusting to NOT being able to visit my chickens when ever I want. I'm trying to follow the rule that NOTHING goes from the Q-pen to the coop - NOTHING. But for the past year I've divided up chores according to the task - not the site. When I turn on the hose, I fill the horse's, the chickens' and the dogs' water. THEN I'd clean out the poop shelf and the horse's stall and dump in the compost. Then, chores done, time to visit and feed and play. So I'd be in the coop 3 or 4 times over an afternoon. But I can't do that now. Having to remember to do EVERYTHING that needs to be done at the coop and THEN move on to the Q-pen, horse, dogs is much harder than I thought it would be. And not stopping by the Q-pen to say hi to the new girls when I get home is even harder.
I suppose it will smooth out once I've got a system set up... but geeze. Do yall have any tips to make this easier?

 

[RedDrgn]

You just have to get used to the new routine, that's all. Your practice is good, and you really can't cut corners and expect the same results. Once the quarantine period is over and you begin integration with the rest of the flock (assuming that's your ultimate goal), then it'll get a little easier (though integrating can be quite a trial sometimes).

Just remember that the quarantine is the best thing you can do for all of the members of your flock, and yourself. Because if you discover an illness in a new bird BEFORE you spread it to the whole flock, you saved your birds and yourself a great deal of stress.

Hang in there!

 

[aart]

For how long and how far apart should the groups of birds be for health quarantine?

 

[canesisters]

aart - mine are roughly 100' apart (opposite sides of the yard) and I intend to keep them apart for 4 weeks. Then a week of having the q-pen next to the coop so they can see each other and I might (maybe) get an idea of who is going to be trouble (?). Then slip the new girls onto the roost on the following Friday night and spend the next day working in the yard so I can keep an eye on the 'goings on'.

JUST in time to clean the brooder part of the q-pen for the arrival of the chicks the next weekend. (sigh)

 

[Mrs. K]

you have the space and are doing a fine job. Most people pretend to quarantine and really are only fooling themselves, they just get lucky.

With as small of flock as you have, I would not quarantine. I would not introduce sick birds, or birds unknown to me, but if I know the history of the bird, and where it comes from, and it looks and acts healthy, I would just put them in. I only have hatchery birds, not a great deal invested and while I have the space, I do not have the inclination to mess with it properly. And if you don't do quarantine properly, you may as well not do it at all.

If you have a very large flock, or a very high priced flock, or a bird that you are highly emotionally attached too, then you should quarantine, but in those cases, I don't think I would add to those flocks except through hatching eggs.

MrsK

 

[canesisters]

Moving the tractor over next to the main run this weekend (3 days early, but we're ALL ready to get this over with). Hopefully will have the new girls in the coop by the middle of next week.
I was thinking that they (or maybe the smaller hens that are already in the coop) might need some 'cover' to escape from the pecking and chasing if it gets too bad. Do you think that a couple of pallets leaned up against the tree and coop wall would do?

 

[WalkingOnSunshine]

I got my first chicks a year ago and we made it through the STEEP learning curve pretty well. They're all grown up now and are a happy, healthy flock of 6 (5 hens, 1 roo). My intentions all along were to add a few chicks each year so that my flock would have a spread of ages over 3 or 4 years. A while back I started building a brooder/grow-out pen so I'd be ready for the new chicks. Then a friend offered me 2 grown hens (Jersey Giant/Australorp). So the brooder/grow-out became a brooder/grow-out/quarantine pen.

The new girls arrived 2 nights ago and I'm having a really hard time adjusting to NOT being able to visit my chickens when ever I want. I'm trying to follow the rule that NOTHING goes from the Q-pen to the coop - NOTHING. But for the past year I've divided up chores according to the task - not the site. When I turn on the hose, I fill the horse's, the chickens' and the dogs' water. THEN I'd clean out the poop shelf and the horse's stall and dump in the compost. Then, chores done, time to visit and feed and play. So I'd be in the coop 3 or 4 times over an afternoon. But I can't do that now. Having to remember to do EVERYTHING that needs to be done at the coop and THEN move on to the Q-pen, horse, dogs is much harder than I thought it would be. And not stopping by the Q-pen to say hi to the new girls when I get home is even harder.
I suppose it will smooth out once I've got a system set up... but geeze. Do yall have any tips to make this easier?

You're doing a great job. Most people who quarantine really just have separate pens, but pathogens are routinely moved between the flocks. Real quarantine is hard, as you're finding out. I have no tips other than do everything for your first animals first--feed, water, clean--then go do the newcomers. Then go take a shower and change your clothes and sanitize your shoes immediately so you dont' forget and don't spread possible pathogens around your house. It will get easier, but it is a giant PITA.

The other thing you can do, if you want, is have a potential sacrifice chicken. Maybe a hen you don't like very much, or one that's stopped laying, or eeny meany miny moe... put that bird in with the new birds. Then you can see more quickly if the new birds are otherwise healthy carriers, because your sacrifice hen or roo will get sick and the new birds won't. You'll also be able to see if your current flock is carrying anything--remember, this works both ways--if the new birds get sick but your sacrifice bird does not. And in a perfect world, the sacrifice bird isn't a sacrifice at all, because everyone's healthy.

eta: oops, didn't see that you were almost done! Well, maybe this will help someone else, or you for next time. I think your pallet idea is a good one.

 

[canesisters]

Thanks WalkingonSunshine. That's good advise. Right now all that I'm worried about IS that the new girls will come down with something that my flock might have been carrying. BUT, it will be a little over a week from the day they go in the coop until the Gilmanor Swap so at least I will be for-warned before bringing home any babies.

 

[canesisters]

Moved the 'Q-pen' over next to the coop today. My roo is dancing for all he's worth. I'm not sure if he's trying to impress them, like he does when he wants to mate on of the original hens. Or if he's trying to challenge them to a fight, like he does now and then when he dances up to me and I whoop his little feathered rear-end.
The other girls were completely un-impressed. Hoping this is a good sign for the future.

 

[canesisters]

Flock additions - so far, so good.
I moved the new hens into the coop last night and was out around dawn to see how they all did when they woke up and found someone new in the house. Hurra (rooster) was, of course, only interested in one thing. Satasfied that they were agreeable to the idea, he lost interest. Citizen (bantam sized head hen) is outraged that the two new girls are not the least bit impressed with her, but since they are twice her size there is just not a whole lot she can do about it. All the others took a turn chest bumping and standing on tippy toes and then deciding to just take a position one step down in the pecking order.
When I came back to the house, Hurra was being kept very busy running around behind Citizen and breaking up fights. Everyone else was happily scratching around cleaning up breakfast.