Quarantine period..how long, and how far away from my birds?

[Mrs. K]

They look very nice to me. And they look bright eyed an active. The idea of quarantine is a very good idea, but it is a royal pain in the butt. If the flock they came from looked healthy, no sneezing, no coughing, no lethargic birds, I would just put them with my own.

I agree with Ridgerunner - birds from a private flock, that do not show or attend auctions and swaps, are probably much less risk just because they have not been exposed to other strange birds. It is not 100%, but it has always worked for me. However, if anything does act off, remove it at once. However, I will not go into a state of decline if a bird dies either, some people are very emotionally attached to their flock.

Especially if you are just keeping them in that little cage or the little rabbit hutches. Overcrowding causes problems too. How many birds in your original flock. With that many pullets, adding them should be easier, as long as you really do have room for that many.

Do set up hideouts, multiple feeders and waters. Then let your original birds free range and lock them outside of the set up, and put lock these girls inside the set up so they can explore without being chased.

I think you got a bargain! They look young and active and shortly should be good layers.

Mrs K

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Is this cage the coop you built?

Oh heavens no..that’s our oldest cage that we use to carry ducks and chickens. Our biggest and nicest is being used for a sick duck. I didn’t take coop pictures because..well it’s just plywood slapped together like a giant coffin...yikes! But...it will work..and then in the spring we are taking everything apart and rebuilding Because there are things we didn’t realize...there’s a couple pictures when we were getting it put together

 

[Duckfarmer1]

They look very nice to me. And they look bright eyed an active. The idea of quarantine is a very good idea, but it is a royal pain in the butt. If the flock they came from looked healthy, no sneezing, no coughing, no lethargic birds, I would just put them with my own.

I agree with Ridgerunner - birds from a private flock, that do not show or attend auctions and swaps, are probably much less risk just because they have not been exposed to other strange birds. It is not 100%, but it has always worked for me. However, if anything does act off, remove it at once. However, I will not go into a state of decline if a bird dies either, some people are very emotionally attached to their flock.

Especially if you are just keeping them in that little cage or the little rabbit hutches. Overcrowding causes problems too. How many birds in your original flock. With that many pullets, adding them should be easier, as long as you really do have room for that many.

Do set up hideouts, multiple feeders and waters. Then let your original birds free range and lock them outside of the set up, and put lock these girls inside the set up so they can explore without being chased.

I think you got a bargain! They look young and active and shortly should be good layers.

Mrs K

Thank you! My older girls there are 12 and 1 rooster..then I have two 17 week pullets and 5 cockerels but they won’t be kept...just the best. We definitely have the room. One coop is 21x 10. The other 18 x 10. We just built this new coop too. I forget the dimensions...it’s narrow...maybe 3 x 14. If, if seem to crowd as they grow we can always move a few to the hutches. My husband built these bench type things in the other coops for hideouts and we have multiple feeders and warm waters. That was my huge issue about staying by electric. I might...not sure yet, but do the canary thing with one of my hens that is not producing. But, I’m going to watch these girls a bit and see. They have great dispositions so they are easy to handle..which is nice.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Disease and parasites can spread by them sharing food or water, sharing the same dirt, wind, or insects like mosquitoes, grasshoppers, or grubs. You yourself can transmit disease or parasites using the same food or water buckets or on your clothes, especially shoes. A perfect quarantine will take all this into account but a perfect quarantine is really challenging. The more of these you can intercept the better your quarantine. Sounds like you are doing the best you reasonably can. And those do look like healthy pullets which helps.

Do you quarantine any goats, cattle, or horses you bring onto your place if you already have some? The same things apply to them as to chickens as far as quarantine. Pretty much the same for dogs or cats, sort of depending where they came from. Just to kind of put it into perspective.

 

[Duckfarmer1]

Disease and parasites can spread by them sharing food or water, sharing the same dirt, wind, or insects like mosquitoes, grasshoppers, or grubs. You yourself can transmit disease or parasites using the same food or water buckets or on your clothes, especially shoes. A perfect quarantine will take all this into account but a perfect quarantine is really challenging. The more of these you can intercept the better your quarantine. Sounds like you are doing the best you reasonably can. And those do look like healthy pullets which helps.

Do you quarantine any goats, cattle, or horses you bring onto your place if you already have some? The same things apply to them as to chickens as far as quarantine. Pretty much the same for dogs or cats, sort of depending where they came from. Just to kind of put it into perspective.

Ok...well they won’t be sharing food or water or dirt, really...but there’s not much I can do about wind, insects, etc...but I m doing my best...as..I certainly would not want harm to come to any of my animals...which is why I came on hear for help. Which is what I always do. I’ll be taking every precaution that I can. And yes, when I get new livestock they are kept apart, etc. Thanks