new chickens

[Kylo_Hen!]

hi I'm getting some new chickens and i need to know how long i need to separate them from the rest of the flock i herd it was 30 to 40 days but i was wondering if i could jest bathe them and then separate them for a week or so Gaby

 

[GoldenChooks]

hi I'm getting some new chickens and i need to know how long i need to separate them from the rest of the flock i herd it was 30 to 40 days but i was wondering if i could jest bathe them and then separate them for a week or so Gaby

I have never separated my chickens that long. You can do it in 7 days minimum, but just make sure that the chickens look healthy (no lice or mites, healthy comb, non scaly legs(leg mites), healthy feathers, normal breathing, etc)

Edited to say that you can wait longer than 7 days, that is just the quickest time I would recommend doing it in

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Bathing them won't cleanse them of any internal pathogens and potential disease.
Quarantine is a Venetian form of the Italian phrase that means 40 days. Even birds from reputable breeders with tested flocks can still become infected along the way and incubation period varies.
Bottom line is, it needs to be as long as possible and as far from your birds as possible. Tend to your birds before tending to new birds and wash up between. Preferably change shoes or wear boot covers.
During quarantine also look for and treat external parasites. Have a fecal sample read and treat for worms if they have them.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Washing them isn't really how that works unfortunately. You might eliminate any mites/lice, but what about tapeworms? Avian flu? Roundworms? Mareks? Fowl pox? Cocci strains that are lethal to either group of birds?

Of course you CAN just dump them all together if you don't mind the fact that it could kill your whole flock and leave something lethal in your soil that lives there for months or years... And quarantine doesn't eliminate that risk entirely... But it's about minimizing the risk and only you can decide how much risk you want to take. The longer you wait, the less a chance of spreading a deadly disease into your chicken pen. Some people value their birds intensely highly and will wait months to integrate. Some people have low value flocks they keep for food only and will just dump them in same-day.

Generally speaking I quarantine for 4 weeks, 28-30 days. That's pretty standard and it allows most diseases that they've maybe picked up from their old home to rear their ugly heads or at least show symptoms. Longer or shorter is up to you and your risk tolerance.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Birds can also be carriers but not exhibit symptoms.
Keeping a closed flock, I rarely bring in any new birds. However if I do, the last week of quarantine, I take a sacrificial bird from my flock and put it with the new birds. If it survives, the new birds aren't carriers of something my birds haven't been exposed to.

 

[GoldenChooks]

Bathing them won't cleanse them of any internal pathogens and potential disease.
Quarantine is a Venetian form of the Italian phrase that means 40 days. Even birds from reputable breeders with tested flocks can still become infected along the way and incubation period varies.
Bottom line is, it needs to be as long as possible and as far from your birds as possible. Tend to your birds before tending to new birds and wash up between. Preferably change shoes or wear boot covers.
During quarantine also look for and treat external parasites. Have a fecal sample read and treat for worms if they have them.

Washing them isn't really how that works unfortunately. You might eliminate any mites/lice, but what about tapeworms? Avian flu? Roundworms? Mareks? Fowl pox? Cocci strains that are lethal to either group of birds?

Of course you CAN just dump them all together if you don't mind the fact that it could kill your whole flock and leave something lethal in your soil that lives there for months or years... And quarantine doesn't eliminate that risk entirely... But it's about minimizing the risk and only you can decide how much risk you want to take. The longer you wait, the less a chance of spreading a deadly disease into your chicken pen. Some people value their birds intensely highly and will wait months to integrate. Some people have low value flocks they keep for food only and will just dump them in same-day.

Generally speaking I quarantine for 4 weeks, 28-30 days. That's pretty standard and it allows most diseases that they've maybe picked up from their old home to rear their ugly heads or at least show symptoms. Longer or shorter is up to you and your risk tolerance.

Ok thank you guys for correcting the info that I said, sorry

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Ok thank you guys for correcting the info that I said, sorry

You're not all wrong. Some people don't quarantine at all. Some do it like you do. Some people just don't have the housing options to do it longer.

 

[Kylo_Hen!]

I have never separated my chickens that long. You can do it in 7 days minimum, but just make sure that the chickens look healthy (no lice or mites, healthy comb, non scaly legs(leg mites), healthy feathers, normal breathing, etc)

Edited to say that you can wait longer than 7 days, that is just the quickest time I would recommend doing it in

thanks for replying!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gaby

 

[ChickenCanoe]

This is just a recent entry in the litany of posts I see here all the time of flock problems when people admittedly don't quarantine properly.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...fferent-illness-symptoms-in-my-flock.1264051/

 

[Kylo_Hen!]

Birds can also be carriers but not exhibit symptoms.
Keeping a closed flock, I rarely bring in any new birds. However if I do, the last week of quarantine, I take a sacrificial bird from my flock and put it with the new birds. If it survives, the new birds aren't carriers of something my birds haven't been exposed to.

i only have one bird that's y i'm getting some more because she is lonely