Recommend quarantine period for new hens 21 or 30 days??

[chicken tender lady]

Hi, I need some helpful advice on how long to quarantine my new hens? I've done research on this already. Some people recommend 21 days and some recommend 30 days. I'm not sure which one I should do? I bought these new hens on May 9th so I'm counting starting on the 10th so as of today it's been 19 days that they've been in quarantine. I have an existing flock of five hens that are older that I plan on integrating the new hens. Which I know there's quite an introduction process which I'm familiar with. I've been observing my new hens as well as my existing flock looking at their behaviors their poops Etc to make sure that all my hens are happy and healthy. So far all my hens seem to be good including my new ones. But I keep going back and forth whether to do a 21-day or a 30-day quarantine? I was thinking of just doing 21 days since it looks like my hens are good. If anyone has some friendly advice I will surely appreciate it! TIA!

 

[Ilovemychicks08]

Ive never added older hens in. But with younger ones i do 2 weeks of see no touch before the start of integrating. So maybe do 21 days then at least a week of see no touch(seperate coop/run).

 

[Cloverr39]

I've heard to do at least 30 days.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, I need some helpful advice on how long to quarantine my new hens? I've done research on this already. Some people recommend 21 days and some recommend 30 days. I'm not sure which one I should do?

What are you quarantining against and what is its incubation time? There is no easy answer to that unless you have a specific disease or parasite you are targeting.

In general, the longer the better. But you have to be reasonable about that, you cannot go on forever. How risk-adverse are you?

No quarantine is perfect. Chickens can have what we call flock immunities. These are diseases or parasites that they can transmit to new chickens but they will not show the symptoms themselves. Quarantine does not pick that up. Your flock may have one of those and give it to the new chickens. Flock immunities is why I often suggest you put one of your flock with the new chickens as a possible sacrifice to protect the remainder of your flock.

If your new chickens came from a flock that has been stable, has not been exposed to new chickens for a few months, they may be pretty safe if you believe the owner would be honest with you about diseases or parasites. If they have been exposed to other chickens, say at an auction or show, they are at a much higher risk.

21 days gives you a lot of protection. 30 days gives you a little more. But no quarantine gives you 100% protection.

 

[chicken tender lady]

What are you quarantining against and what is its incubation time? There is no easy answer to that unless you have a specific disease or parasite you are targeting.

In general, the longer the better. But you have to be reasonable about that, you cannot go on forever. How risk-adverse are you?

No quarantine is perfect. Chickens can have what we call flock immunities. These are diseases or parasites that they can transmit to new chickens but they will not show the symptoms themselves. Quarantine does not pick that up. Your flock may have one of those and give it to the new chickens. Flock immunities is why I often suggest you put one of your flock with the new chickens as a possible sacrifice to protect the remainder of your flock.

If your new chickens came from a flock that has been stable, has not been exposed to new chickens for a few months, they may be pretty safe if you believe the owner would be honest with you about diseases or parasites. If they have been exposed to other chickens, say at an auction or show, they are at a much higher risk.

21 days gives you a lot of protection. 30 days gives you a little more. But no quarantine gives you 100% protection.

Hi Ridge Runner, to answer your question when I did my research on quarantine period it was a general rule of thumb to quarantine new chickens for 21 to 30 days. That seemed to be the recommendation. And basically just looking at behaviors of the chicken to look for lice, mites, any injuries, or infections they may have.

I think I may just do 21 days which yesterday was 21 days of quarantine. However, I noticed that one of my older hens in my existing flock has a runny nose, also it looks like dirt and crusty. I've done research on this as well. It could be a respiratory illness or just a clogged nose? So for that reason I may quarantine a little longer until I can find out what's going on with my one hen?

Thank you for the info on flock immunities! I wasn't aware of that. Also we did question the person that we bought the chickens from about vaccinations, illnesses, etc. We also carefully examined the chickens before we bought them. I guess it's a risk either way. Thank you for the friendly advice! I will take it into consideration! ❤

 

[aart]

quarantine period it was a general rule of thumb to quarantine new chickens for 21 to 30 days

It's not just how long, but how:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article

 

[chicken tender lady]

It's not just how long, but how:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article

Thank you! I will read it! It's quite lengthy so it might take time. In the meantime my new hens are still in quarantine.

 

[cubalaya]

I always do 30 days . Even if i already have birds from that person . There may be respiratory diseases lurking and the stress of a new home may bring that out.