Quarentine Questions

[Morgan7782]

I will be getting four 10 week old wyandotte pullets tomorrow evening and this is my first time adding to an existing flock. I currently have two 12 week old pullets. My questions are:

A.) What should I be looking for while the new girls are quarentined? Please list any "bad" signs.

B.) How long until I know they are not sick?

C.) These girls were fed medicated feed, does that completely cut out the chance of coccidia? (sorry if this is stupid question)

D.) Should I take any special care of the new girls waterer/feeder? Such as disinfecting occasionally and such?

Thanks all for any tips. I am confident this will go well, and am happy to be adding chicks that are only 2 weeks difference in age so that I won't have too many integrating concerns.

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:

 

[Morgan7782]

Thank you very much for the response! I will print your post and keep it as a reference for my new pullets. I will keep watch for any of those ill signs, and thank you for the information that medicated feed does NOT proof from coccidia. I would like to keep my current two girls as safe as possible, and do this integration as safely as possible. One more question:

What is a normal quarentine time period? 30 days? 2 weeks? I know you say nothing is guerenteed, but what do YOU do? Thanks again

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

We do one added step in the process. After we watch the new birds for awhile we take a "sacrificial" bird from our flock and put it in with the new comers. Like Speckledhen said they may not show any outward sickness but they could be carriers or have been exposed to something your flock has never seen.

Steve

 

[Morgan7782]

Quote:
Steve, I am new to chickens, what is the benefit to putting in one of your current birds with the new flock? Just out of curiosity. I can't do that personally because I only have two pullets other then these new guys, so once I introduce them together it needs to include both my older girls. Thank you both for the tips! I will be getting my new girls today at 5pm. Steve, how long do you quarentine personally? Thanks again!

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

The idea behind the sacrifical bird is you don't know if the new birds are carriers of something. They can show no outward signs yet infect other birds. On the flip side your flock may have been exposed and infect them. You want to quarentine at least 2 weeks, some do it a month. We have a pretty closed flock now, we haven't added anything other than peafowl in a long long time. Your birds are young so the chance of them having anything is pretty low but best to be careful

Steve

 

[Morgan7782]

Oh alright thank you for explaining it

I want this to go as safely as possible. I know the new chicks were kept in clean quarters, but I will probably do a 30 day seperation just to be safe. Thank you again!