To Quarantine, or Not to Quarantine?

[Juise]

Hey all,

I'm trying to get everything possible figured out before picking up our new 8 - 10 week chicks in a few weeks. So I have yet another question.

I have read a lot about quarantining new adult birds, and I have read a lot, (and gotten some very helpful advice here!) about integrating our soon-to-be new chicks to the flock, in the way of keeping them separated with chicken wire and such for the first few weeks.

I have also read that you don't need to quarantine new chicks.

Where do 8 - 10 week old chicks fall here?

Thank you!

 

[Kickin' Chickin']

Definitely quarantine them. I bought some chickens from a friend didn't do it and now my whole flock has that stupid mycoplasmosis(chicken cold)? Wish I had known that he got them from an auction.

 

[mandelyn]

If you didn't hatch it or get it fresh from the egg from a hatchery or breeder that follows bio-security, quarantine them. Hen raised babies can have anything the hen or flock had. Busy brooders with birds coming in and out at any time and not the best cleaning can have Coccidia or whatever else.

Better safe than sorry when they go to be added to the main flock. Check for bugs, even on the little ones. Look all the birds over really well, look at the poop too. Is there one in there with watery eyes? Any blood spots in the poop anywhere in that cage? Any chick standing around dull and listless? Just look for red flags to make sure buying from there is a good idea or not.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Day old chicks from hatchery? Not much worry, plus, they are naturally quarantined in the brooder anyhow.

"Finished" chicks, at 6-8 weeks of age should be treated as any other bird brought onto the farm.

 

[Juise]

Thanks so much, guys. Does anyone happen to know a good list or reference site I can go to about the warning signs I should be looking for?

We're picking them up from what is described as a "small farm / hatchery", their website is terrible, lol, but I won't hold that against them. I've not been there before. I wish they had even a few pictures of the place up, but they do also sell flowers, fish, other animals, and vegetables, and welcome people to stop by, so I'm hoping it's nice. It better be, we are driving 3 hours to get there!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Let me give you some comfort, I hope. 90% of the chickens you'd ever get will be healthy. If they were not, or if chickens were as susceptible to disease as all that, they'd have gone the way of the Dodo birds a long time ago. They've lived since the days of the dinosaur precisely because they are tough.

There are many, many folks here on BYC, me included, who never medicate ever. Our desire is birds with high natural immunity and resistance. It is a different philosophy, but one that's worked for me for over 50 years. The odds of your new chicks having "anything" is slim. Just watch them. If they are from good clean stock, they'll be just hardy and just fine.

Shame on folks who would breed and sell birds or keep birds when they know darn well they've had every disease under the sun go through their flocks. Those birds should not be in the gene pool. I know that's a tough statement, but that's how I feel about this. The chicken made it 6000 years or more and I fear we will be transforming them into whimps and sickly things through all our "modern medical chemical science". Just one grouchy old guy's opinion.

 

[Juise]

Thank you! We are raising ours free range and on organic feed... I only just found out a couple days ago that many (most?) people worm their chickens biannually, just because. Or, I suppose, in their point of view, "Just to be safe".

I know they are out there, but it's nice to hear from people who also don't medicate, particularly someone who has stuck to it for 50 years.

Of course, I take the same view when it comes to my children, too, poor buggers.

 

[Sharisr32]

Not to for at least two weeks is just bad planning - There are a few obvious signs but a lot are not eye visible -- Even chicks with protect your flock ----- It doesn't cost anything to separate it could cost a lot not to .