Introducing New "Blood" to our Coturnix breeding stock?

[Chicken Lady 87]

We are in need of adding new "blood" to our coturnix breeding stock but this makes me nervous. Last year we had to get rid of every bird we had (chickens and ducks, didn't have quail then) bc they got sick and wouldn't get better! I had went to a swap meet and bought a few hens and that is what got our birds sick. We are looking into getting new coturnix quail chicks in the very near future...

So basically my question is...

How to i introduce alot of new "blood" into our breeding stock without taking a chance of disease?

We have offspring of our current stock now we are going to keep and add to the new blood in order to continue on....

This just makes me so nervous, I am paranoid that it is going to happen again and my heart and pocket can't handle that again!

Thanks in advance!

 

[GrandmaBird]

try hatching eggs. or buy from a business or farm supply company.

 

[dc3085]

Quail have no resistance to poultry diseases, and so rarely will you ever find a quail that is actually sick and still alive. Chickens are a different story entirely and resistant to many diseases to the point you have no way of knowing if a chicken is infected or not.

You should thoroughly sanitize any area the chickens were that the quail might be. Some diseases can live in soil for many years so its best to make sure the problem you had before is put to bed.

To avoid bringin in disease i do not bring any live birds to my property, hatching eggs only. If a visitor to my house keeps birds they are not allowed near my birds unless they shower and change clothes first.

 

[Wrenchead321]

If you do buy live birds, put them in a quarantine pen by themselves away from your current stock for at least 2 weeks. Observe there behavior to make sure there eating and drinking normally. Also check them for lice and other pests. Make sure they aren't losing feathers dramatically.