Transporting a chicken

[BlindLemonChicken]

1) half an hour is no big deal. I have transported chickens 8 hrs + in dog kennels. Card board boxes are fine as well cause you can throw them out.
2) integrating a single chicken into a flock is a pain in the butt I have never found worth it. Even two hens is difficult.
Is there a reason you are adopting a single hen?

 

[Mrs. K]

Quarantine is good practice. Especially if you have a very valuable flock, or would go into decline if you lost them. Truth of it is very hard to do, in a backyard flock. And if you don't do it right, you may as well not do it.

On the other hand, do not take anything you feel sorry for. Healthy tends to look healthy, but it is not fool proof, but if you have visited her chickens, or she has visited yours, there is a strong chance that the quarantine is broken and none of the birds got sick.

I would be a bit more worried about where you are going to put her, when you get her home. A lot depends on how much room you have, and how that room is set up. It is very difficult to add a single hen to an established group. What would work best, is to add a middle of the pecking order bird to her. There will be a dust up, but one on one it should not be too much. Then after a couple of days, add one or two more, wait... and then add one group to the other. Much better than adding a single bird to an established group.

As for traveling, once I had some brought to me in a gunny sack. A box will be good.

Mrs K

 

[Bawkbok]

You don't mention how large your current flock is or what breeds, some are more aggressive than others.
Follow Mrs. K's advice in adding a mellow chicken in with the new one for the quarantine isolation phase. It's difficult to integrate a solo hen, minimum two would be better to avoid her being overwhelmed. Ensure you have multiple feeders and waterers in your run spread as far apart as possible to ensure she would have access.
If she's laying, expect a hiatus as stress impacts this. If you do the dog crate process, she won't have access to a nest box.
I don't recommend putting her in your garage. She needs light and fresh air, this will stress her further. Put the crate near the run or in the run as suggested or put another bird with her.
It sounds like you've visited the other person's flock so bacteria, etc. has already been transferred to your yard unless you've gone overboard with bio security, i.e., changed shoes and clothing before entering your own yard and space.
Best of luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Nugget_123]

Unless they have been thoroughly vet checked and tested, you don't know what these chickens have come into contact with. Chickens can carry lifelong infectious diseases without showing any signs until they are stressed. This is why we quarantine. You have to decide whether or not you want to risk exposing your current birds.

A dog crate for night time is good. I would set something up, like a fenced area far away from your coop, where they can go outside, get some sun, and do natural chicken things. The length of the quarantine period is up to you, but a month is usually recommended. If one is sick you should be able to tell within that time. The strictness of the quarantine is also up to you. When I quarantined my new ducks I never wore the same clothes or shoes and showered before going near my chickens.

Ok! Thanks

 

[Panamom]

Hmm, I don't have any experience merging two groups of new chickens but my instinct is that you should treat the new chicken as her own entity!

If anyone else has experience, please chime in!

i've always added them in after everyone as asleep. unless it was a big crew, then i just let them merge as they will. As they do