The Dom, (my mean-to-me Dominique Roo who was almost stew last week) has a new home, and I have a new Roo! This guy is really sweet, and I am glad I found a home for the Dom, as he has been nicer to me of late. I made a swap with a fella a few towns over. Here is a picture of the new man in his quarantine cage: Oh, and speaking of quarantine, what signs of disease am I looking for??
Nice looking guy, hope he works out for you! In quarantine, check for mites/lice carefully, including scaly leg mites. Watch for any sneezing, coughing, discharge, listen for any rattly breathing. Watch eyes for bubbles, even the fewest/smallest of them, watch the nostrils for any discharge. Watch poops and make sure they are normal. After a few days of him being there, I'd deworm him, too. Start with a mild one, like wazine, then use something like zimectrin gold 10-14 days later. Watch for 2-3 weeks at minimum. Do not medicate him with any antibiotics as a "preventative" that may mask any symptoms of illness during this time... you WANT to see what may or may not crop up. Then, if you want to be safe(r), introduce a 'sacrificial bird' in with him. This should be done for up to 30 days, as some of the CRD illnesses have an incubation period nearly a month long before symptoms will show. The reason you should do this is because the new rooster could be a carrier of a disease, be able to infect your birds, but never show any symptoms while in quarantine himself. If you put a healthy bird in with him as a sacrifice, this will help determine if he's carrying anything infectious. Watch your sacrificial bird for any symptoms of disease/illness for at least 30 days, IMO. (MG, for example, can have a 20+ day incubation period) Then, and only then, can you (more) safely add him to your existing flock. It may seem extreme or too long, but not if you want to protect your current flock from as many illnesses/threats as you can. There are more people than you can count that WISH they'd done all this after unknowingly adding a carrier bird into their flock. During the entire quarantine time, you should be careful with biosecurity... be careful that you don't track a potential illness back to your healthy flock. Don't mix up feeders/waterers. Don't tend to the birds in quarantine and then visit your healthy flock. It's best to tend to a known healthy flock first, then do anything with the birds in quarantine, and then do NOT wear the same clothing/shoes to visit your flock again... wash hands, etc. You want to prevent unwittingly tracking shed cells that the birds in quarantine may have on them or their droppings back to your flock.
Jeepers poor sacrificial birdie. (guess if she has another mean one it could be used?) Never heard of doing the quarantine this way, but one is better then all I suppose. Happymorrows Hope the quarantine goes well for you.
