Simplest way to increase flock?

[flyin-lowe]

Someone even down the street from you doesn't have the exact same air, plants, etc. that you do. Bringing anything into a new environment could cause it to become sick because it's immune system hasn't been built up in your yard. It's like going to a new country - you have to have different vaccinations because you're used to the plants and air in the US, but not in England. I'm sure most places wouldn't give you a sick bird, if they knew it was sick, but it could become sick from the stress of the move or something in the environment, and it'd be awful to have your entire flock get it.

Using your example above trying to help me understand. If I were to go to a new country with no vaccines etc. would sitting in customs in isolation for 4 weeks do anything? It's not going to change what will happen once I am exposed to the new environment. If the new hens have something within them that is capable of wiping out my existing flock what are the odds I would notice it during a short quarantine? Especially if it is something that is not necessarily a noticeable illness compared to something that they would experience from a change in environment. Being basically a newbie and never having added to a flock I imagine one of two things. Either the new hens have some type of illness or disease that could be brought into my flock. If that is the case I don't know what signs it would show while quarantined. The other option is there is something that my environment has that they are not used to. If that is the case they are eventually going to be exposed to it.

 

[TeeMom]

There are all kinds of diseases chickens can carry that might not be noticeable until they are put into a stressful situation. Farmer Bob down the road may be the most honest guy out there and not have any known diseases in his flock, but suddenly after moving to your place, the upper respiratory infection that was prevalent but had built up pretty good immunity in his flock is disastrous in yours. Quarantine is always advisable. You are looking for any signs of illness...sneezing, eye or nasal discharge, lethargy, poor appetites, diarrhea...anything that says "I'm not a healthy chicken." It's always better to be safe than sorry...unless you are adequately prepared to replace your entire flock.

 

[flyin-lowe]

Thanks that makes the most sense so far. I was just trying to figure out what I might see during a short quarantine. Now I need to come up with a temp shelter for them. I don't want to just cage them for a month but don't want to get something to extravagant either.

 

[DesertBird]

Using your example above trying to help me understand. If I were to go to a new country with no vaccines etc. would sitting in customs in isolation for 4 weeks do anything? It's not going to change what will happen once I am exposed to the new environment. If the new hens have something within them that is capable of wiping out my existing flock what are the odds I would notice it during a short quarantine? Especially if it is something that is not necessarily a noticeable illness compared to something that they would experience from a change in environment. Being basically a newbie and never having added to a flock I imagine one of two things. Either the new hens have some type of illness or disease that could be brought into my flock. If that is the case I don't know what signs it would show while quarantined. The other option is there is something that my environment has that they are not used to. If that is the case they are eventually going to be exposed to it.

@TeeMom already covered what to look for. And no, it wouldn't, because customs in isolation would have you inside, not outside in the flora and fauna. Maybe you have an oak tree but the person you buy them from have maple trees; that could cause a little issue with one of the new chickens. Maybe there's something in your dirt they don't react well with, like a fertilizer or something. Or maybe they don't like the food you normally give your chickens, or the new food upsets their stomachs a bit. And maybe you have something poisonous in your yard (I have Oleander bushes everywhere surrounding my yard, because I live in AZ) that your chickens have tried a bit of and learned it's bad for them, but the new chickens have never seen it, so they try it and get sick. It's better to be safe than sorry - stress, like @TeeMom said, brings out anything that might've been lurking in them. You might also want to get them better acquainted with you before adding them in with your girls, and trying to figure out any bad habits they might have/have picked up from stress (like feather picking, for example) before they teach it to your existing flock. Once they all get started, it's hard to find out who's the ringleader. I'm sure it's always an awful feeling to lose a chicken (none of mine have died yet, thankfully), but I'd personally rather lose one I'm in the process of quarantining than my entire flock I'm more attached to. Even taking money out of the equation (decontamination of the run, coop, new chickens, raising them from chicks cost or buying them as older hens, etc.), it'd be a tremendous emotional toll, at least for me, to loose my entire flock, even my mean roosters.

As for quarantining, if you have time, you could take them out free ranging after a bit, (maybe a week?) so they can learn the territory and you can see if there's anything environmental they react badly to, while you supervise, or if your already established flock free ranges, just let them out in shifts. Then the new girls can go back into the pen/cage after free range time. I'd just try to make sure they each have as much space as possible in the cage, maybe even a bit more than would be necessary with a coop if they'll be in there constantly. Just monitor them as much as you can, and after their stress levels are down a bit from being moved and put in a new pen, they're probably ready to explore a bit, then after another 2-3 weeks, they'll probably be okay to go in - depends when they're not stressed anymore, and when think they're ready. The average/standard I've seen is 30 days, but I'm not sure.

 

[aart]

There are all kinds of diseases chickens can carry that might not be noticeable until they are put into a stressful situation. Farmer Bob down the road may be the most honest guy out there and not have any known diseases in his flock, but suddenly after moving to your place, the upper respiratory infection that was prevalent but had built up pretty good immunity in his flock is disastrous in yours. Quarantine is always advisable. You are looking for any signs of illness...sneezing, eye or nasal discharge, lethargy, poor appetites, diarrhea...anything that says "I'm not a healthy chicken." It's always better to be safe than sorry...unless you are adequately prepared to replace your entire flock.

Thanks that makes the most sense so far. I was just trying to figure out what I might see during a short quarantine. Now I need to come up with a temp shelter for them. I don't want to just cage them for a month but don't want to get something to extravagant either.

Yes, it does.

Ask yourself, how much are you willing to risk?
Bringing in any bird not a fresh day old chick from a hatchery is a risk, both to new and old birds. Your birds could have latent disease lurking that the new birds are not accustomed too. True biological quarantine is almost impossible in a back yard situation, and still no guarantee.
Considering biological/medical quarantine:
BYC Medical Quarantine Article
BYC 'quarantine' search

Easiest way would be to have a broody hatch them for you.
Best way IMO to increase your flock is to get day old chicks in early spring and brood them in a separate section right in the coop.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/integrating-new-birds-at-4-weeks-old.72603/

 

[Ridgerunner]

Chicken diseases and parasites can be transmitted from one to another by them eating or drinking together, pecking where another has pooped, by particles floating in the air, or by various vectors like grubs, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, or slugs. You can be the vector if you don't use separate feeding and watering containers or change clothes (especially shoes) when taking care of them. The ease that diseases or parasites can be transmitted shows why it is really hard to do a really good quarantine in our backyard. The more you can separate them the better so you are doing some good, but mosquitoes and air can travel a long way.

It's not unusual for chickens to develop flock immunities. Coccidiosis is a great example but there are plenty of other possibilities. Your flock may have a flock immunity, not affected by the disease or parasite but capable of transmitting it to other chickens. Just because new chickens get infected doesn't mean they brought it with them. It's possible that the stress of moving and being in quarantine can bring out some symptoms, many things are possible, but in my opinion just because something is possible does not mean it is likely. This is my opinion and it's obvious others disagree, but if the chickens are coming from a place that they have not been exposed to strange chickens for a month or more, if the person taking care of them would recognize a disease or parasite infestation as well as you, and if that person would tell you, they have effectively been through a quarantine. Of course it is possible that a new disease or parasite could have entered that flock in the past few days, many things are possible, but they could enter your flock just as easily. To me quarantine is highly recommended if the chickens come from a chicken stock or auction where they were just exposed to other chickens, maybe they show chickens and just had flock members exposed at a show, or strange chickens were introduced to the flock recently.

If you are going to quarantine, I suggest a good way to guard against flock immunities is to pick a potential sacrificial chicken from your current flock and house it with the newcomers. Then see which chickens get infected so you can maybe determine what kinds of problems you have. It's also a good time to treat for mites, lice, and worms before they merge with your entire flock.

For what it is worth I keep a somewhat closed flock. The only ways I add to my flock is to hatch my own or someone else's eggs or get chicks shipped from a hatchery. I did get some chicks from a feed store once. Hatcheries take biosecurity much more seriously than the vast majority of people with backyard flocks. Anything you do comes with a risk, but I consider shipped hatchery chicks as safe as you can get.

In my experience size has little to do with success in integration. It’s not at all unusual for a bantam chicken to outrank a full sized chicken in the flock. From what I’ve seen the important thing is maturity. A more mature chicken outranks an immature chicken, regardless of size. I’ve asked this question before and I’ve yet to read about any 16 week old pullet standing up to and fighting a mature hen instead of trying to run away. Until my pullets mature enough to force their way into the pecking order they defer to the mature hens regardless of size. That’s normally about the time they start to lay.

Many of us integrate young birds with our mature flocks all the time. To me the biggest factor is how much room you have. Until they mature enough to force their way into the flock pecking order mine generally form a sub-flock, hanging around the main flock but avoiding the personal space of the adults. Bedtime is when this is most evident, during the day mine often mingle a lot more than you’d think.

I’ve had broody hens wean their chicks as young as three weeks and leave them to make their own way with the flock. I regularly turn five week old’s out of the brooder to roam with the flock, I can think of at least one other person that does that at four weeks without problems. The key (other than lots of room) is that these chicks have been raised with the flock. They still have to manage their pecking order issues but integration has been taken care of. It’s always possible (anything is possible) that you will have an adult that goes out of her way to attack and abuse chicks but I’ve never had one of those. Some people do but I wonder how much room they have and how they have managed integration. There are a lot of tricks and techniques we use to make integration go smoother. If you elect to raise young chicks and integrate them let us know and we can share some of those tricks. And tell us in feet or meters how much room you have and how you manage space. Do they free range or are they confined.

In my opinion you have three options. You can get point of lay or other adult chickens and handle quarantine as you will. You can get chicks from a hatchery. Or you can get an incubator and fertile eggs and hatch your own, but you need a plan for cockerels if you do that.

Good luck!

 

[lazy gardener]

Quarantine is more to protect your existing flock than it is to protect the new birds coming in. I keep a semi-closed flock. Some diseases, once they move in are a forever infection in your flock, and the only way to eliminate them is to cull the entire flock, wait out the incubation period and then start over from scratch. That's an expensive and painful solution to a problem that can be prevented by choosing not to bring in started birds from an other flock. Do I sell birds, yes. I guess that makes me quite the hypocrite!

As for bringing new birds into your flock: Integrating more is better. Your birds can harass all of the new birds, instead of picking on a single newbie. IMO, integration is best done when the new birds are between 4 and 9 weeks old, assuming the coop and run are big enough: 4 s.f. in coop and 10 s.f. in run per bird, multiple feeding stations, plenty of out of sight but no dead end spaces, and plenty of multi height areas, for the chick integration, they should have places they can go that are small enough that adults can't reach them. Check out Azygous "panic room".

 

[RAsChickens]

I have the same question!

 

[SuziQ18]

I know everyone recommends some type of quarantine. I lost two of my 9 hens today. One was found dead in the run. I looked her over real good and saw no signs of injuries or any idea as to what happened. I have one of my RIR missing as well and found a pile of feathers in my yard where they were free ranging at the time. Not sure what got her but it is weird that one appears to have been attacked and another was found dead, all within an hour of me letting them out as I do most evenings.

Anyway I would like to buy maybe four or more hens to add to my flock. I currently only have one coop with run so don't know what the best options are to quarantine and integrate some new ones into my current flock which is now down to 7?

Thanks

I know everyone recommends some type of quarantine. I lost two of my 9 hens today. One was found dead in the run. I looked her over real good and saw no signs of injuries or any idea as to what happened. I have one of my RIR missing as well and found a pile of feathers in my yard where they were free ranging at the time. Not sure what got her but it is weird that one appears to have been attacked and another was found dead, all within an hour of me letting them out as I do most evenings.

Anyway I would like to buy maybe four or more hens to add to my flock. I currently only have one coop with run so don't know what the best options are to quarantine and integrate some new ones into my current flock which is now down to 7?

Thanks

I had the same incident with one of my RIR. She was just lying down like she was dust bathing when I went out to the coop one morning. Moments later I noticed she wasn't moving. I didn't find anything to attribute to why she had died. No blood, no strewn feathers, no predator of any kind....nothing. She was only 8 mths old. I usually quarantine new birds in a small enclosed area so that the existing flock can get to know them without all the pecking order drama right off the bat, and also to be sure they do not transmit anything to the rest of the flock that they may be carrying. I allow about 10 days for the quarantine before introducing them directly into the fold. So sorry for your loss. I know I was heart-broken.

 

[Kim62]

If possible I would recommend 10-14 days quarantine somewhere they can see each other. I like to add at least 3 new to a group. It gives the newbies friends to hang with and the newbies seem to be more comfortable when they have a safe group at first. Hope it helps and the rest of your hens are ok. It's hard losing them