Rescue Chicken Quarantine

[LRavis]

Hello! So I bought, rather rescued after seeing where they lived, four chickens today. I was told they’re all laying hens: longhorn/australorp/Easter Egger/silver Wyandotte(although it doesn’t look like one, any guesses the breed??).

My concern is these black dots on at two of their combs that I can see...the guy said he’s had no issue with disease. The ones feathers by the comb look all pulled out and red...he told me it was probably from mating.

I know I can’t integrate them into my current flock, in all honesty they were never going to be, they have two separate coops and runs, but can I put the new chickens into their coop and run even though they’re separated but right next to each other?? I don’t want anything to happen to either group, but my mind is wandering that if this rescue group is sick it can all be transmitted through the air and get my other perfectly healthy chickens sick?? I’ve read it could be dehydration??

If they are sick, what can I do that doesn’t involve a trip to the vet?

Can me and my kids get sick from this??

Any advice is appreciated!!

 

[Eggcessive]

Were they overcrowded? Missing feathers from the back of the head can be a sign of the rooster grabbing the neck during mating. The pictures are not all clear, but pecking can cause the black dots, but this time of year with mosquitoes, we worry a bit about fow pox scabs. I would keep them in quarantine for at least a month, and use good biosecurity measures between flocks. I don’t ever add birds from another flock, simply because you do not know what kind of diseases the chickens might be carriers of. Additionally, I would not give my birds to anyone, since I would worry that I might spread a disease to their flock. In the meantime, watch for eye bubbles, sneezing, congestion, runny or abnormal poops, any crop problems, lice, mites, and I would probably worm them with Valbazen or SafeGuard Liquid Goat Wormer twice 10 days apart. I can give dosage if needed.

 

[LRavis]

They didn’t seem to be too crowded, maybe the coop where they slept was, but the run wasn’t too bad. I know there was at least two roosters and a ton of ducks too.

I wasn’t planning on integrating the flocks, they were just going to be in coops/runs side by side but completely separated. Is that ok??