I know that everyone loves going to chicken swaps and trading and buying animals from others, etc. but please be careful what birds that you buy from strangers or others. You do not want to bring diseases back to your place because you bought a sick bird from someone who failed to tell you that their birds had respiratory problems. If you insist on buying birds from strangers, please make sure that the new birds are quarantined for at least 30 days.
I got a call from a man on last weekend and he wanted to buy eggs from me. I asked him how many did he need. Well, he went on to say that he sells eggs to people and that since buying SICK birds from a guy who he thought had healthy birds, he had to kill almost EVERY SINGLE chicken (except 3) that he had because the sick birds that he bought and put with his healthy birds made every single bird on his property sick with a respiratory problem. So, now he is faced with the fact that he is about to lose his egg business and egg customers because he can't supply the eggs that they need. So now he is depending on me to sell eggs to him until he can get another flock of chickens so that they can start laying eggs.
I can't stress enough how important it is to quarantine new birds. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be careful when buying birds from other people. I would hate for you all to have to cull your entire flock because you "thought" that someone had healthy birds and they really didn't. I am scared to even go to the chicken swaps because I don't want to walk on any infected poop and bring back to my flock. I stay FAR FAR FAR away from any chicken swap. I'm too paranoid.
It's not worth it in my opinion.
And when you go to visit someone with birds, please make sure that you wear boot covers. If you have people going over to your house that has animals, please make sure that they wear boot covers. You never know what they are tracking in to your place. Better to be safe than sorry.
I got a call from a man on last weekend and he wanted to buy eggs from me. I asked him how many did he need. Well, he went on to say that he sells eggs to people and that since buying SICK birds from a guy who he thought had healthy birds, he had to kill almost EVERY SINGLE chicken (except 3) that he had because the sick birds that he bought and put with his healthy birds made every single bird on his property sick with a respiratory problem. So, now he is faced with the fact that he is about to lose his egg business and egg customers because he can't supply the eggs that they need. So now he is depending on me to sell eggs to him until he can get another flock of chickens so that they can start laying eggs.
I can't stress enough how important it is to quarantine new birds. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE be careful when buying birds from other people. I would hate for you all to have to cull your entire flock because you "thought" that someone had healthy birds and they really didn't. I am scared to even go to the chicken swaps because I don't want to walk on any infected poop and bring back to my flock. I stay FAR FAR FAR away from any chicken swap. I'm too paranoid.
It's not worth it in my opinion.And when you go to visit someone with birds, please make sure that you wear boot covers. If you have people going over to your house that has animals, please make sure that they wear boot covers. You never know what they are tracking in to your place. Better to be safe than sorry.
