Let's Talk About Why You Should Quarantine New Birds

[bhawk-23]

I had a random White Leghorn vist my coop multiple days until she ended up calling it home. I've saw her in the area before she decided she had a new flock but I'm glad nothing has come up from it. first pic of our random hen Nickle

That’s awesome!

 

[bhawk-23]

I have lost about 10 to actual symptoms showing, but am culling most of the chickens so I can focus on ducks instead since they won't get it

Same here. Not culling until they are showing symptoms but seriously considering ducks as well. Marek's just SUCKS.

 

[User690263]

I've never integrated adult birds into my flock, I only add chicks that i get from my local (ish) feed store.

 

[triciayoung]

Many people are told to quarantine a new bird before introducing it to your current ones, whether it be chickens, ducks, or the like. Yet some people may not listen until they have experienced the negative results of not quarantining. Even then some people don't listen.

Share your stories of what you found wrong with a bird when quarantining, or what went wrong when you didn't quarantine or didn't do it long enough.

Maybe a thread like this will help convince some people to quarantine their birds when they can hear more about why to quarantine the birds!

I am not a fan of quarantining as the “be all solution” for introducing new birds. While there are a few things 30 or even 60 day quarantine may catch, there are many it will miss. I think quarantining gives people a false sense of security. If it is possible, testing is better. There are several diseases, IC to name one, whereas the chickens that survive will be carriers for life. There may be or not be times that symptoms will reappear, like stress, other ailments, etc…, but this may be months or years away. Regardless, the carriers will give the flock IC. @janiedoe

 

[DonyaQuick]

When I got my original rooster I quarantined him for 2 weeks, which is minimal but was still time enough to treat him for a lice outbreak and to worm him. During that time I did have dedicated clothes I wore with him and kept him in an islolated room of the house, kept other chickens out of the house etc. It made control of the parasite issues very quick and easy compared to if he'd just been dumped out with everyone. Even if a bird has nothing visibly wrong with it, if it's been an outdoor bird doing outdoor bird things where the bugs are, all it takes is one hidden bug that might not be an issue in a healthy stress-free situation to suddenly cause an outbreak once the bird is stressed by something.

 

[GlicksChicks]

I am not a fan of quarantining as the “be all solution” for introducing new birds. While there are a few things 30 or even 60 day quarantine may catch, there are many it will miss. I think quarantining gives people a false sense of security. If it is possible, testing is better. There are several diseases, IC to name one, whereas the chickens that survive will be carriers for life. There may be or not be times that symptoms will reappear, like stress, other ailments, etc…, but this may be months or years away. Regardless, the carriers will give the flock IC.

Yes, quarantining does not guarantee catching all of the sicknesses a bird could have, but it can help. You can give a quality inspection on the bird as well to see if there are any issues you need to deal with.

 

[Lillith37]

My original flock of 6 were all re-homed to me from three different places and I quarantined none of them. Luckily I didn’t have to deal with viruses or bacterial infections. However I have had to deal with parasites — worms, lice, mites and coccidia. I’ve only lost one hen, my oldest who I had for a year. She had some underlying issues that were never properly determined, but it doesn’t seem to be anything that has affected anyone else.

I’m moving to a rural property soon and I’ll finally be able to keep a rooster, so I won’t even need to get fertile eggs/day old chicks anymore. I anticipate having effectively a closed flock.

 

[Pepperchickamericano]

This is the experience I just had, the reason I decided to start this thread.

Today I got a rooster that someone was getting rid of because they weren't allowed to have rooster. A GLW. He is a pretty guy, so I hope he is well behaved so he can stay.

Well, I brought him home. He seemed just fine. No lethargy, injuries, or mites. He seemed fine, that is, until he pooped. When he pooped I saw worms in the dropping. That wouldn't have been good to put in my coop.

Now he is getting dewormed before he can go into the coop with my chickens.

Oh good grief, Is that why the giver gave? Did he know the bird was sick. I've never heard of a bird having worms. How would that even happen? Dirty coup?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Oh good grief, Is that why the giver gave? Did he know the bird was sick. I've never heard of a bird having worms. How would that even happen? Dirty coup?

Worms aren't uncommon in free range birds. They can get them real easily from grasshoppers and other things they eat.

 

[GlicksChicks]

Oh good grief, Is that why the giver gave? Did he know the bird was sick. I've never heard of a bird having worms. How would that even happen? Dirty coup?

No, she gave him to me because she lived in a place where she wasn't allowed to have roosters. He is still young, so she had just found out he was a rooster, so she urgently needed to find him a home.

I informed her about his worms, so she immediately bought some dewormer and dewormed her whole flock.

It doesn't have to be a dirty coop. She has actually shown me pictures of her chicken setup and it is pretty nice. Chickens out free ranging can get worms. All it takes is them eating a bug that has eaten the eggs of a worm for the chickens to get it.