Quarantine in small yard?

[GhettoFarmers]

I have small backyard with a coop and 6 healthy hens, i am buying 4 additional young birds that arent of laying age yet and wondered how to effectively quarantine them with limited space. i will be housing them in a very large wire dog kennel but i dont want to keep them in there for 4 weeks without letting them out for excercise. Can they roam the yard while the others are in there run? I cant split the yard in two for two separate areas.

 

[Free Feather]

In order for quarantining to really be effective, they need to be very, very far away from each other, the new ones down wind, with preferably different people caring for the separate groups.
I do not know anyone that actually does that.
You could split the yard in two, but I feel like regardless they would infect each other on a small property.
Personally I never quarantine because it seems pointless where I live, but go for it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Different diseases and parasites spread different ways. Some float in air, some are spread by drinking from the same bowl, eating each other’s poop, or just being in the vicinity. The more you can isolate them the more effective your quarantine is going to be. If you let them roam the same ground, even at separate times, they are still going to share poop. If they can get next to the pen when roaming the yard, you really don’t have much in the way of quarantine. If you don’t change shoes or use different feed and water buckets for each group, you could be the one transmitting pathogens. A lot depends on what diseases or parasites they have, if they have any at all. Just do the best you can, you can’t do any better than that.

Quarantine is an effective tool but it has its limits. A flock can develop flock immunities. The entire flock is infected and are carriers but since they are immune they won’t show any symptoms no matter how long they are isolated. The stress of relocation may weaken the immune system enough to let some symptoms show but not necessarily. Coccidiosis is a good example but there are others. Either flock could have a flock immunity. It’s possible your flock could infect the newcomers.

Quarantine is mainly checking the birds for any disease they have just recently come into contact with. If your new chickens are coming from a flock that has not come into contact with any other chickens for the past month or more, quarantine is not likely to do you a lot of good, especially if the person keeping that flock would recognize a disease if they saw it and would admit it. Quarantine’s strength is checking animals that have come from a chicken swap, auction, or a flock where new birds are often being added. If the birds have been isolated for a month or more, they have basically already been quarantined.

One trick to check for flock immunities is to take a potentially sacrificial bird from your flock and put it with the newcomers. If that bird gets sick, then get rid of the newcomers. If the newcomers get sick but yours doesn’t your flock is the one that has the immunities.

Lots of people are like Free Feather. They bring in new chickens without quarantine and do OK, maybe the worst thing is occasionally having to treat for mites or lice. Maybe not even that. It is certainly possible you could bring in something that totally wipes out your flock. That doesn’t happen that often but it does happen. It’s a risk and how you approach that risk is a personal decision.

Good luck!

 

[Mrs. K]

^^ x 2

Give the birds a good look, under their wings, they should look healthy. I do not ever take in birds from questionable places, where birds could be exposed to other birds such as swaps or auctions.

You have to consider your risk, if you would be devastated by the loss of your original birds, then really don't add them. It is a risk, but a rather small one.

I am of the camp that a proper quarantine is a humungous job. Most people in a small backyard flock do not have the space to do it right, and quarantine is one of those things, you have to do it right, or really you are wasting your time.

Mrs K

 

[GhettoFarmers]

I am getting my new birds from someone I know. They do not add birds to there flock from outside sources, they breed and raise chickens within there own flock. This is a well run reputable organic farm and i feel very comfortable buying from them however i get the reasoning for a quarantine and want to do the right thing. The reality is my yard simply wont accommodate two separate areas for two flocks, at most they would be 30 feet apart and i would have to keep the new birds caged for the entire time to truly keep them separated. That seems cruel to me. I was in hopes of getting some ideas but it seems rather futile. Ill check for the obvious and do a slow intro to the other birds and see how it goes. Thanks

 

[GhettoFarmers]

Your response makes sense, i really dont have the space for two separate areas and all the rest. My backyard isnt that big. :/