Quarantine question(s)- new birds.

[jeremy]

I'm helping a friend rehome 2 Red Star hens that are about 1 year old possibly as soon as this weekend. I'm wondering about the quarantine process when introducing new birds to your flock, this will be my first time doing this.

How far apart do the birds need to be?

I have a flock of 12 right now. When I introduced some of my younger chicks to my older flock I had them in separate runs with a shared fence down the middle. Would this be okay for quarantining new birds to introduce? Or would that close proximity still chance illness or disease spreading to my hens?

Are there any other precautions that I would need to take to avoid possible disasterous outcomes? I don't want to chance my birds getting sick.

Any advice would be great, I want to be able to help my friend, she has no way of keeping these birds. She mentioned that these birds came from Murray McMurray hatchery, so I'm assuming they were vaccinated for Marek's, etc. before they were shipped. I will ask to make sure.

Thanks!

 

[chookchick]

Good for you for thinking about quarantine BEFORE getting the chickens, and preparing for it! Great way to head off potential problems. Get the birds as far apart from each other as possible on your property. The first 2-3 weeks will just be to see if the new birds have any illnesses, as the stress of moving can bring on latent illness. After that you may want to put a couple of your birds with the new birds, to see if the new birds are healthy looking, but carriers of a disease. Then start with the introduction, which would be a shared fence line, for at least a couple of weeks. Or you could start free-ranging them together if you can do that. Good luck!

 

[jeremy]

Due to space requirements and the way my back yard is set up, I'm only going to be able to have approx. 15-20 of space between the two flocks. Is this something I should consider before taking the birds? Will this be appropriate enough to seriously be considered a "quarantined environment"?

Thanks everybody!

 

[Dixiedoodle]

If your birds 'free range' they will be under/on/around that coop in a split second.. I have my quarantine girl almost 200yd and my birds will venture to about 1/2 way. She will call them and fuss when she sees them..running the fence. When I asked about this a few weeks ago, someone stated that many poultry diseases were airbourne so that means they can travel and travel fast..

She will be able to tell you about their health, vaccines etc.. something I knew nothing about with this stray!!! Good luck.

 

[jeremy]

I plan on keeping my birds housed in their run during the entire process. Doing as much as possible to minimize risk of contamination.

Do you think keeping them housed close together like this is a large risk that I might not want to take?

I spoke to my friend again and she said as day olds they were vaccinated by MMcM before they were shipped, so I'm assuming that they are immune to most of the more major illnesses. And from what she's said they have primarily been "house chickens" for most of their adult life, seeing how she lives in an apartment in the city.

Any other opinions?

 

[patandchickens]

Even perfect and prolonged quarantine won't entirely guarantee you're not bringing a disease in; so to my way of thinking, either you are ok with that possibility and simply want to minimize it, or you are NOT ok with the possibility in which case the only way to avoid it is don't bring in started/grown birds at all.

Since it sounds like you are in the first category, I think the aim is simply to do the very best you can, quarantine-wise. If that means sharing a run fence, then hey, we live in an imperfect world.

I would say though that if you hear Sneeze One out of one of the new chickens, or ANYthing seems funky about them, you should probably keep them out of the run or at least solidly board up the shared fence.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[jeremy]

Quote:
Pat- glad someone with so much knowledge spoke up.

They won't be sharing a fence right away, but they will only be a distance of 20ft (max.) apart at all times. I will dutifully keep an eye on the new hens for any signs of creeping illnesses. I'm a little worried but I really would like to help this friend out and I don't see any other possibility for quarantining them elsewhere.

Do you know if not being exposed to the elements will make the new birds more likely to catch sickness/disease? From what I can gather they were mostly pampered house hens.

 

[speckledhen]

I spoke to my friend again and she said as day olds they were vaccinated by MMcM before they were shipped, so I'm assuming that they are immune to most of the more major illnesses

What were they vaccinated for? The most common one is for Mareks. That vaccine only prevents the bird from developing the worst symptoms, like tumors, but doesn't necessarily prevent the disease in full. Some vaccinate against cocci. But the most common diseases they could contract or pass on are rarely vaccinated for, so you can't assume they are immune to anything at all.

A true quarantine is to keep them from even breathing in the same airspace so airborne illness cannot be easily passed. Like Pat said, even a good quarantine is not foolproof, especially if the new birds are not stressed by their move, which is what usually brings symptoms to the surface.​

 

[they'reHISchickens]

Extending the OP's question: What diseases could hens kept as pet chickens in a home possibly acquire? Not that I would ever envision actually keeping a hen in the house for any length of time, but if the hens were not exposed to outside environments/other birds, would they carry anything?
Where do these diseases come from?

 

[chookchick]

As speckled hen said, many latent diseases can be brought to the surface by the stress of moving. There is even some talk that many chickens could be carriers of MS/MG, even from the hatcheries. There are germs that wild birds carry around, just waiting for a stressed immune system to take over. If you could even keep them apart for a week, that would be so helpful. So many here post--"they looked very healthy, then 3 days later they started to sneeze and get goopy eyes". Chances are, you won't have any problems. But those who have, have just had a nightmare to deal with.