Urgent Reminder-PLEASE Quarantine Newly Acquired Birds!

[speckledhen]

Thank you, Cetawin. Sally always seemed to know when the best time was to bring it up again. Seems we have waves of folks upset over new birds making their current flock ill, comes and goes, and Sally felt a reminder was in order at just the right time. When the poultry shows are in full swing is a great time, in the spring when folks are starting to look for new stock, etc. Thank you, Sal.

 

[ladyride]

This thread is one of the reasons I plan on maintaining a closed flock. All of my chickens were bought as chicks & raised here. No others have been brought in. Having read so many stories on here about where someone added a new chicken from one place or another scared me to no end. This is eggs & meat we are growing to be a little more self sufficent. I don't want some weird poultry disease coming in ending everything I have worked for. So if I want more my hens will just have to get busy being broody or raise more chicks.
Thanks speckledhen for reviving this thread it seems like quite a few people are having problems with illness in their flocks. It is full of good info. Glad I came across it this spring, it really opens your eyes about how to properly deal with chicken math.

 

[Gypsi]

I have also chosen to keep a closed flock. I have no roosters, Fort Worth doesn't allow them anyway, and every roo I've been offered has been an adult. Just adding 4 or 5 chicks every couple of years should keep me in enough eggs.

I'm not raising meat birds, well not deliberately. My production reds actually all laid today, that hasn't happened in months.

Gypsi

 

[FreeChicken!]

Oh, gosh. How did I never think to do that?
I started with Rhode Island Reds and later added a random assortment of chicks when my first chickens were only a month old. A year later, I added White Leghorn chicks. And just a couple months ago, I added some Barred Rocks. I never thought about quarantining them. Gah, sometimes I feel stupid.
Luckily, I've never had trouble. But that doesn't mean I never will-- I'll be sure to let my dad know about this next time my family gets more chickens.
Thanks!

 

[Erica]

Hi there,

I sometimes wonder if it's worth slightly stressing birds in quarantine? Some of the hidden diseases like chronic respiratory need stress before they show up as symptoms. Since changing the feed too quickly can stress birds, maybe it's a good idea to do this while birds are in quarantine, and watch for results?

Or do you think that would be counterproductive?

I just ask because I have goshawks that fly by over the pens (which are netted), and any time I've bought CRD carriers I've seen symptoms come out within a day of a hawk visit.

cheers
Erica

 

[seminolewind]

I have a week old chick hatched in my bator. I am getting a few day old chicks from a hatchery. Since the hatchery chicks are day old, would I quarantine them from the week old chick that I have?

 

[speckledhen]

Honestly, I've never quarantined a chick that came direct from the shipment to the feed store, but it's mostly because this feed store does not allow people to handle the chicks at all. You can do that, but you can also make yourself nuts.


Erica, there is always a chance that a bird in quarantine won't be stressed enough to bring symptoms out. It may be a good idea to try to stress them a bit in some way, just to make sure. With some birds, just being moved to a new environment stresses them, but if the new place is better than the old place, that may not do it.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
Thanks, Cynthia. These chicks will be direct from a hatchery, so what your saying makes me feel positive.

 

[speckledhen]

Bringing this up again as we've had reports of a member here selling apparent CRD carrier birds. Please, folks, be cautious! Not everyone is ethical or informed and it's up to you as a buyer to investigate the seller, ask questions about illness in his/her flock in the past, check out the feedback in BSA on them, then, if you decide to buy anyway, quarantine for at least 4-6 weeks without giving antibiotics in that period.

 

[Gypsi]

I am considering enlarging my flock. Already added 5 chicks from the feed store, still kept separately from my older hens, but they forage "together" (not really, but they encounter each other in the yard, and the big ones peck and the little ones run).

I went to the Merck page, and got pre-purchase inspection of horses. There are so many clues and mentions of diseases on here. Is there a list somewhere of chicken diseases? And whether they can be carried via egg or chick purchases? (I don't think I'd buy adult hens anywhere...just not that trusting after reading some of this thread)

Gypsi