Quarantine or Not

[dwdoc]

Hello all,

I have read different opinions on the subject of quarantine; so I am looking for some clarification.

Yesterday I adopted to adult hens.

I have them in a small cage in "quarantine". How long do I need to keep them segregated and is this really nessessary? I have read differing opinions; some same not to quarantine - let the birds built up their natural defenses -- While others say always quarantine. I see the merits of both arguments.

I also have the issue of the small cage; they look so cramped in there...

Thanks for the advise.

 

[gmendoza]

My sick/quarantee box is 4'x4'x4'high.

I wouldnt toss then in with your other chickens for at least 2-4 weeks just to be sure they have no sickness.

You have to check daily:

Toes
feet
legs
vent
base of tail
back
under wings/underarms
back of neck
crop
ears
eyes
top of head
beak
combs and waddles

if they lay an egg crack open egg to check for normalcy.

When I buy chickens,I do this check as well.

 

[speckledhen]

Yes, it's necessary if you have other birds. No, it is no guarantee of health because they can be carriers of respiratory disease and the symptoms may not come to the surface, especially if they are not stressed in quarantine.

The minimum should be four weeks up to six weeks, and even then, again, no guarantee. I recall a particular case of someone who did a six week quarantine and when the new birds were put in the flock, the resident flock became ill. This is why I never buy started birds from folks, not even a chick. I bought one adult rooster years ago and he was quarantined in a large dog crate in my basement for five weeks with an occasional sunning session up on my house deck in a second dog crate with no contact with my hens. I was lucky then, but won't ever buy an adult bird again.

 

[gmendoza]

Quote:
Speckled hen has valid reasons.I only buy from one person because I trust his chicken husbandtry. I known him for some years now.

If you buy from a stranger,who knows what they did to their chciekns.

 

[fgb7]

Yes you absolutely should quarantine. After about 4 weeks if no visible problems then if you have enough room you can place the hens with a few of your resident flock to see if they get sick, that way if they are carriers you won't cause your entire flock to get sick. If after a couple of weeks with a few of the resident flock and no illness then you can reintroduce all to the flock. I know this is complicated and requires extra space, but is better than making your whole flock sick.

 

[dwdoc]

I have been following this list for a little over a month now - which is why I quarantined the bird at all. I would not have known other wise.

These two came from a family that kept chickens in their backyard and had no other birds; so I thought (perhaps naively) their lack of exposure to other chickens would limit their exposure to chicken related disease.

Am I misguided in my thought process?

 

[speckledhen]

Well, the problem is that many folks think chickens can get minor head colds like humans, so they may ignore the symptoms, thinking they aren't significant. Then, they sell birds to others and those birds infect a previously healthy flock.

Yes, lack of contact with other chickens will lessen the risk, but there is always the outside possibility that they would have contracted something from wild birds, too, or from someone's shoes who went to a feed store recently and walked in the path of a person with a sick flock. All you can do is do the best you can to mitigate the risk of transmission of disease.

 

[livelikeyoucan]

Well, I did not understand that I needed to quarantine my one month olds from the 4 months olds. My chicken friend said to introduce the l0 one month olds (after being in the run in a dog crate) in about 4 days, which I did.
The 6 four month olds, wouldn't let them eat, and they babies all cuddled in a corner of the coop all day. So, I took the babies back to the dog crate inside the run with food and water.
Since it is too late to "unmix" them, what should I do now? Thank you for your help, Janis

 

[Dragonfly216]

Well, I did not understand that I needed to quarantine my one month olds from the 4 months olds. My chicken friend said to introduce the l0 one month olds (after being in the run in a dog crate) in about 4 days, which I did.
The 6 four month olds, wouldn't let them eat, and they babies all cuddled in a corner of the coop all day. So, I took the babies back to the dog crate inside the run with food and water.
Since it is too late to "unmix" them, what should I do now? Thank you for your help, Janis

I'm pretty new to chickens, Janis, but from what I understand, it's too late to do anything now that they have been together. I would just keep the smaller babies separate until they get big enough to put with the others. I've even heard of people putting their crate in the large coop, with a small door that only the smaller babies can fit thru. That way, they can escape back to the crate if they need to, and you could put food and water in with them. I've heard that helps to acclimate them to the bigger birds too, so they all get used to each other.