Integrating...?

[X2Farm]

If this is in the wrong subforum, please move it!!

So I have some 3 1/2 week old chicks/keets, and some 2 1/2 week old chicks/keets. Since I got the second set from a local breeder, they've been quarantined in thier own brooder since I picked them up. No problems, sicknesses to speak of. Both batches are healthy and thriving.

I would like to move them all into the one huge brooder, since we'll be getting the big coop ready and hopefully finished by this weekend, so I can get em put outside within the next few weeks after.

Have the second batch been quarantined long enough? Is there a longer incubation period (I see 30 days as the concensus on many threads) for some health issues that may not have had time to show themselves yet, that require longer quarantine?

It'd be much easier to put em all together and get some space back, plus I have 7 less then week old chicks that I need the space for in a different brooder as well...

What say yall?

 

[Morgan7782]

This is what I have learned. 30 days is a normal quarantine period, some people do 60 days to be extra cautious. However, illness can be masked and spring up at anytime. The quarantine period is to see if anything comes to the surface. Being moved to a new home can add stress, which can in turn cause illness to surface. One thing I want to say is no quarantine period is completely bombproof. It's just a chance for the illness to show its face.

If no health concerns are obvious, or even a whiff of a sneeze, I think you are safe combining them. Especially with such a small space between the ages. Good luck!

 

[X2Farm]

Well, I combined all of them yesterday early evening. They're all doing well!! Aside from the 6 guineas looking so tiny against the older chicks, they're all getting along nicely, and still have plenty of space.

I can even hear them "puring" from over here