New chick! How long do I need to quarantine? When should I start taming?

[appps]

I'd use the quarantine as a way to help with quieting her, once she goes in with everyone else she will be too busy sorting out her place in the flock to make friends with you lol. So string it out as long as you can.

Last time we got new birds I would just spend plenty of time with them, used to take a cuppa and just sit with them. Them we started giving them chick weed which they discovered was delicious and once they got a taste we would slowly put it closer to us until we would hold the chick weed so they had to come get it out of our hands.

It didn't take long till they would jump up on a knee to get it and by the time we put the two flocks together they were very tame.

She will probably pick up the come when called from the rest of the flock, once she feels part of it. I find when one chicken comes running it sets off a chain reaction lol

It may also be worth worming her before she goes in with your existing stock as you don't know what's going on inside and it's easier to just avoid that being spread to your flock if she has.

 

[appps]

Well, there's no real point in keeping her in quarantine, since the rest of the birds have been exposed to her. You could, of course, if it makes you feel safe, but you don't really need to anymore. If I were you, I would work on training her to come and then put her in the flock. You might also want to move her somewhere where she can see the rest of the flock and the others can see her. That way, the other birds can get used to her being there and hopefully won't harass her too much when you try to introduce her into the flock.

What about thing they pick up from fecal matter like coccidiosis? If they were only standing round her cage they won't have had a chance to Ingest her poo and things like that aren't from just breathing or being close to each other I didn't think.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

As far as I know, they shouldn't be carrying coccidiosis in such a manner..? Maybe I've been misled on the topic. My understanding is that cocci live in the soil--she would be at more risk of catching coccidiosis from a different strain of cocci in the soil than what she has been exposed to where she came from, rather than passing it on to the established birds. Do correct me if I'm wrong, here! I'm happy to learn!

 

[lightchick]

They actually could get to her poop. My girls were fed non medicated feed there whole lives.
I'm pretty sure my new girl was fed medicated just because it's the most common thing people feed their chicks these days.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Okay, some Googling later and I have been educated. Yes, their eggs can travel via the gut of a bird that has been exposed to them and potentially infest another bird. In this situation, since other birds from the same farm have entered the flock without causing an outbreak, I would think that the older birds of the flock will have built up an immunity to any strains that Ana might bring in.

As far as medicated feed, while that is a preventative, it's not a guarantee that she will not have picked up any oocytes. If she has had any contact with the ground, it's a possibility. It should also be pointed out that just because your current flock has not been fed medicated feed does not mean they will not have built up immunity naturally. Generally, once a bird has had contact with soil, they have been exposed to cocci. At this point, depending on how many oocytes they have picked up during that exposure, they will either build immunity to the strains in that soil or come down with Coccidiosis as a result of an infestation of cocci.

Appps brings up another valid point, however. If you haven't already moved her, I would hold off doing so until you are able to worm her, just to be safe. The Poultry Protector you mentioned earlier should have taken care of any external parasites (from my experience, at least, that stuff is good!), so once any possible internal parasites are taken care of, she will probably be good to go.



A strict quarantine is very important, and I don't want anyone reading these later posts to think I have changed my mind on that. But anything nasty that little Ana may have been carrying (not that she was, so don't panic!) will have already been introduced into the flock. There's a time for strictness, and there's a time for common sense. I think we've reached the point in time for common sense here.

 

[lightchick]

Where do I get wormer? My older chickens have been living outside since they were 3 weeks old and the other chick that I got from the same farm has been living outside since she was 4 weeks. I don't know if it makes a difference, but my chicks that I got before from the farm were still in the incubator.
But Elsa did drop on the floor (yes, I'm the one that dropped her, but she made it just fine.) of the barn. And the chicks stunk up the house so it smelled like a farm for a day or two.
Also do I need to do anything special for Ana's bare spot on her back?

 

[centrarchid]

Show picture of bare spot. Do you see signs indicating worm issues?

 

[lightchick]

No, I haven't seen anything that'd point to worm issues. Cucumber is a natural dewormer right? We have plenty of cucumbers we could feed her.
I'll try to get a pic.

 

[pipdzipdnreadytogo]

Agree on the picture, it's easier to determine what needs to be done if we can see what the issue is.

As far as the wormer, I have heard that pumpkin seeds and innards, cayenne pepper, and garlic can all be natural wormers, though their effectiveness is debated. Not sure about cucumber. The alternative for a bird her age would be Wazine 17 or Wazine 34, the dosage depending on which you get, of course. One or both should be available at the feed store.


Just a fyi, worming at this stage is more of a preventative measure than a definitive need, and is often recommended as part of quarantine just in case. Some folks prefer not to treat for worms unless there's proof, but sometimes there isn't proof until there's a dangerously large infestation, and worming at that point can be detrimental. You can always see if a nearby vet will do a fecal test for worms, but it shouldn't hurt your bird to worm her with Wazine or any of the natural methods without testing.

 

[lightchick]

Here are some pics!
Here's just looking at it from the outside.

Really bad pic, but my camera batteries are dead now and she doesn't want to hold still.