Quarantine new chickens for 4 weeks - Why?

[ParadiseChickens]

I had 4 RIR that are about 4 months old and I got 4 red sex links the same age and size this week. I know to quarantine the new chicks for about a month but dont know why it has to be that long. The new chicks are very healthy looking and acting and I know for certain not to take chances and put them together yet but dont know why to wait a whole month if they continue to appear ok. Please advise.

 

[Firefighter Chick]

because some diseases take a long time to manifest themselves. Also, some diseases have very slight to no affects to the bird right away so you can take a month to see changes.

 

[ranchhand]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=12751

It's a rather long thread, but it has a lot of valuable info in it. Basically, chickens can be carriers of several diseases. Many won't show until the bird has been stressed by a change of environment.

I brought in chickens from FL not too long. Even after the 4 weeks? The rooster suddenly died. You can never be too careful. I was lucky, in that I only lost that rooster, I could have lost my entire flock.

 

[dainerra]

another reason is that chickens are MASTERS of hiding any illness.

 

[Mrs. K]

It is basically what you are comfortable with risking. Many people here have rather large flocks, and a great deal of money invested in their flocks, others here have a huge emotional investment, and for them to risk a possible loss that adding new birds, it is important for them to quarantine.

Many people, give them the old eyeball look, and put them together right that night. Many have been lucky and got nothing. Others have infected their original flock and suffered severe losses. Personally, I like having a small flock, I do not have a huge amount of money invested. If I lost all of them to sickness or disease, I would feel bad, but not devastated either emotionally or financially. I would clean things up and try again.

Many people talk about quarantine, but while they keep them separate, they are still very close together, and that is not a real quarantine, very few people have the space or the set up to allow a true quarantine of separate facilities, and a great deal of distance apart.

I think another consideration is where did you get the hens? If it is directly off another person's place where you saw all the hens and their facilities, and they looked and acted healthy, that is a pretty safe bet. If on the other hand, you bought them at a swap or an auction, where they have been highly stressed and exposed to many strange germs, and comes from who knows what kind of place, then I would have considerable more concerns and probably quarantine.

MrsK

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

I just had to have my neighbor cull one of my silkie chicks I bought because she had a hidden upper respiatory infection.
If I would have stuck her in with my other flock even though she appeared healthy I could have lost my whole flock!

Here was he last picture from lastnight, When I first got her both eyes were open and clear, slowly she started getting runny eyes and then it got to the point where her eyes were so gooped up she couldnt open them even after we tried to clean them..

 

[ByeByeBlackBird]

Quote:
Antibiotics couldnt have saved the bird?

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

Quote:
Antibiotics couldnt have saved the bird?

Nope! I had her on Antibiotics for 1 week to 1 1/2 weeks and she got a little better by day 3 and she only had the runny eyes but they were still open, but 2 days after that it was straight back to what you see in the picture!!
She would have always been a carrier of a respiatory virus and I would have ran the risk of infecting the rest of my flock even if it had cleared up, Its like herpes in humans.

 

[ByeByeBlackBird]

Quote:
Antibiotics couldnt have saved the bird?

Nope! I had her on Antibiotics for 1 week to 1 1/2 weeks and she got a little better by day 3 and she only had the runny eyes but they were still open, but 2 days after that it was straight back to what you see in the picture!!
She would have always been a carrier of a respiatory virus and I would have ran the risk of infecting the rest of my flock even if it had cleared up, Its like herpes in humans.

That sucks, and is interesting in one sense, Does it have a name? ( The virus ) How is it transmitted? Air? Contact? Do you need to Bleach and wash everything the bird came in contact with? Thanks!! Im sorry this happened though....

 

[TinyTotsSeramas]

Quote:
Nope! I had her on Antibiotics for 1 week to 1 1/2 weeks and she got a little better by day 3 and she only had the runny eyes but they were still open, but 2 days after that it was straight back to what you see in the picture!!
She would have always been a carrier of a respiatory virus and I would have ran the risk of infecting the rest of my flock even if it had cleared up, Its like herpes in humans.

That sucks, and is interesting in one sense, Does it have a name? ( The virus ) How is it transmitted? Air? Contact? Do you need to Bleach and wash everything the bird came in contact with? Thanks!! Im sorry this happened though....

Its just a chronic respiratory disease, But yeah I had to bleach the tote and the cat crate I brought her home in and her feeder (I just threw her waterer away since it was just a plastic butter bowl).. It is transmitted through contact (thankfully she wasnt in contact with any of my birds), In some cases if it does clear up, what some people will do to see if the carrier bird is infectous to other birds, is they'll take what is called a "Sacrificail rooster" and if it's spread to him then both can be culled without sacrificing your whole flock!