No worries @RoyalChick , too much chat to wade thru.
Excellent! Have you seen this:
If you get your chicks from a hatchery or farm store, you don't need to quarantine, IMO.
'Natural', yes....not to mention way, way easier(once you get everything setup).
Thank you, @janiedoe. It takes a lot of good people to keep information on this thread up-to-date and answer questions..... see how quickly @aart answered the quarantine question with links and information? Like that!!
@RoyalChick, fielding your question is a little outside of my expertise. I never quarantine them, but my chicks are either hatchery chicks or home incubator chicks. I‘ve never purchased from a farm or breeder where the chicks may have been exposed to something I could bring home to my birds. But frankly I’d be more concerned with what I might bring home to my flock on the bottom of my shoes or my clothing more than worrying about the chicks themselves. I could be wrong so don’t let that make a decision for you.
It also depends somewhat on how that farmer houses his chicks...if they are hatched and brooded away from the main flock, they should be fine. If he has to catch them scurrying among the flock, I’d rethink. So there you have my answer, which is a “possible maybe”.
I ALWAYS come back to this thread when I get new chicks, I pull out my home made "mommy hut" and refresh my memory then pick up my new chicks from local feed store where "Fran the chicken lady" has never been wrong in sexing the chicks. And a few years ago when I told Fran that I was not only adding the chicks to my existing flock, I had also ordered 2 started pullets to be mail delivered a few weeks later because I my local store didn't have the breed I wanted. Fran get very stern with me and said I really don't want you to do that. She told me stories of people who had wiped out their entire flock by introducing to many newbies from to many different places. I didn't follow her advice. I got the started pullets through the mail and I separated them by wire screens in my coop to do a transition but I did not quarantine them away in their own separate place.... And sure enough within about 10 days one of the Purples (Lavender O,) had a cough. And it got worse and worse. I immediately separated the 2, moved to my greenhouse about a half acre away from my coop and I treated her back to health with all kinds of thing I had to dump down her throat. It was a lot of work but she did recover. And I think I only got really lucky that respiratory illness did not spread to the rest of the flock. I think in fact because it was warm out and they were free ranging much more than staying in the coop and I had good ventilation... But that close call has made me very cautious and for sure doing a quarantine of at least a few weeks with newbies whether they are babies or started, just to make sure no illness surfaces. I keep babies in my house OR my greenhouse with mommy hut for 2 weeks (I know 30days is suggested but for me, I think illness will show up within 2 weeks,) THEN I move them with hut to my coop where I have dividers to make both the house and run a duplex so that the littles will be safe from mean bigs. At a few months they do okay together, first free ranging. I don't know if this helps you or not, just my personal preferences and IMHO a better safe than sorry approach. GOOD LUCK. It's fun baby time again for me and I'm so happy to be back to this awesome thread and group
Yes that is what I am scared about. I really am not sure what to do!I ALWAYS come back to this thread when I get new chicks, I pull out my home made "mommy hut" and refresh my memory then pick up my new chicks from local feed store where "Fran the chicken lady" has never been wrong in sexing the chicks. And a few years ago when I told Fran that I was not only adding the chicks to my existing flock, I had also ordered 2 started pullets to be mail delivered a few weeks later because I my local store didn't have the breed I wanted. Fran get very stern with me and said I really don't want you to do that. She told me stories of people who had wiped out their entire flock by introducing to many newbies from to many different places. I didn't follow her advice. I got the started pullets through the mail and I separated them by wire screens in my coop to do a transition but I did not quarantine them away in their own separate place.... And sure enough within about 10 days one of the Purples (Lavender O,) had a cough. And it got worse and worse. I immediately separated the 2, moved to my greenhouse about a half acre away from my coop and I treated her back to health with all kinds of thing I had to dump down her throat. It was a lot of work but she did recover. And I think I only got really lucky that respiratory illness did not spread to the rest of the flock. I think in fact because it was warm out and they were free ranging much more than staying in the coop and I had good ventilation... But that close call has made me very cautious and for sure doing a quarantine of at least a few weeks with newbies whether they are babies or started, just to make sure no illness surfaces. I keep babies in my house OR my greenhouse with mommy hut for 2 weeks (I know 30days is suggested but for me, I think illness will show up within 2 weeks,) THEN I move them with hut to my coop where I have dividers to make both the house and run a duplex so that the littles will be safe from mean bigs. At a few months they do okay together, first free ranging. I don't know if this helps you or not, just my personal preferences and IMHO a better safe than sorry approach. GOOD LUCK. It's fun baby time again for me and I'm so happy to be back to this awesome thread and group
i have used the MHP for 3 years now and I love it.
