Quarrantine Question

[skya328]

Hi All,

We picked up 3 hens last week. Everywhere I have read on BYC people say that quarrantine is a must. DH and I raced around last Friday and built a separate coop & run for the new girls that the existing roos are nowhere near.

My questions is...what am I looking for? So far they look fine, but we plan to keep them separate for at least 2 more weeks, if not 3. We know nothing about chicken diseases, so any help of what to look for would be much appreciated!

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

Keep them seperate for at least 30 days. Look for sneazing, swelling around eyes, etc. Make sure they look healthy and arent acting sick. Also, I would dust them for mites and lice just to be safe.

 

[tim_TX]

For the most part it will be obvious, unless they have previously survived and recovered from one of the disease for which they will be carriers for the remainder of their life. By obvious, look for abnormal droppings, breathing issues such as wheezing or squeaking, lack of energy, refusal to eat or drink, parasites such as mites or lice, dull or crusty eyes, .....

 

[sandspoultry]

One other thing for the quarrantine is to test the new birds against your flock. Like Tim said they can carry something that your flock has never seen or vise a versa and neither show any signs.

What we do is after 2 weeks take one bird from our flock that we can stand to loose and put it in with the new birds. Watch for another week and if nothing shows you should be good to go.

Steve in NC

 

[skya328]

Quote:
Ok... All of my birds are almost 10 weeks old. Existing birds are 3 roos. New birds are 3 hens. I can't imagine they'd have something that they've recovered from at that age, but you never know. These hens we just got are tiny in comparison to the roos. I imagine b/c they were in a small cage for the first 9 weeks of their life. Do I need to worry about the roo being to pushy with the ladies?

Thank you for the input. Until Thanksgiving I had never even met a chicken!!!!

 

[speckledhen]

Well if you get through quarantine, I can tell you that you need about 27 more hens for 3 roosters, LOL. Three hens will be messed up and featherless from overmating by three roosters.


Oh, and some diseases can be passed through the egg to the chick, so yes, they could already be carriers of something.

 

[skya328]

Quote:

Yes, I know my numbers aren't exactly what they need to be! We got the roos as 4 wk olds and didn't realize. We now have the problem that DH says we can have 2 for dinner, but I can't bring myself to do it. (or eat them.) I eat chicken, but these first 3 boys were my first chickens ever! He says if we give them away then someone else gets to eat 'em!