Quarantine Question-Humane?

[GAchickennewbie]

I bought two new girls on 4/9/14. They are 7 months old-one barred rock and one maran mix. My plan was to quarantine them inside since I'm limited on safe exterior space and don't want to risk my hen or chicks.

They are in an extra large dog kennel in my bedroom, but not allowed outside at all.

How long do I need to keep them in quarantine? I want to protect my flock, but also want my new girls to enjoy the fresh air and start their spoiled, happy life.

 

[bobbi-j]

There are varying opinions on quarantine. The few times I've added adult birds to my flock I did not quarantine, but I bought them from a known source and I was not concerned about disease to my flock. Those who quarantine keep them separated for a month, with no contact and far enough away from the rest of the flock to lessen the threat of airborne diseases. Personally, I would not keep chickens caged up in the house for that long.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

Only 25 more days of them nastying up your bedroom! hahahaha
They say 30 days but if they are well nurished & healthy with no mites, sneezing, wheezing, diarrhea, walking backwards, falling down etc I might shorten the time a bit, especially if I were familiar with their origin.
It's your decision but it's best to play it safe with unknown birds.

 

[One Chick Two]

Let me just add, we purchased birds at a show from a professional breeder at a show, and on the drive home the roo expelled a large amount of roundworms. (Surprise!)

We didn't want worms to eventually get spread to the uninfected flock, so, as they were going to be quarantined for a month anyway, it was the perfect time to worm them all and check for lice and mites. Since you have to dose twice for worms and each cycle takes two weeks to go through, and lead time for eating eggs was an additional 5 days (as I recall) timing worked out while the roos were being situated with their hens anyway.

With all of the other issues we have had with these breeders birds (we even had to return one who had a birth defect) I don't know that I could ever just trust a breeders promises anymore- unless we knew them personally. We know our birds well, but not everyone is out with their birds daily and some things can get passed over.