Urgent Reminder-PLEASE Quarantine Newly Acquired Birds!

[speckledhen]

There are sources online, such as this nice general chart by Welp hatchery:

http://www.welphatchery.com/poultry_health.asp

 

[saladin]

Quote:
If wild birds have access to your birds at all (which includes looking through the wire at one another) a 'closed' flock isn't going to protect you.

More diseases/parasites are transfer by wild birds than by anything else.

 

[Gypsi]

Quote:
If wild birds have access to your birds at all (which includes looking through the wire at one another) a 'closed' flock isn't going to protect you.

More diseases/parasites are transfer by wild birds than by anything else.

Then I don't have a closed flock, but I choose not to buy trouble. Enough finds me for free. Thank you for the link Speckled Hen!

 

[speckledhen]

Quote:
If wild birds have access to your birds at all (which includes looking through the wire at one another) a 'closed' flock isn't going to protect you.

More diseases/parasites are transfer by wild birds than by anything else.

I'm in the woods, surrounded by wild birds. No parasites, no diseases from them in the entire six years we've had chickens, even with them free ranging in the woods. Never had to treat lice or mites in my flock--only case of lice came on the only adult bird ever bought, my late great Hawkeye. He came covered in them and treating with DE had them gone before he came in contact with my hens.

To be honest, in my humble opinion, I think it's less likely they'll get disease from wild birds than by bringing in diseased birds bought from another person; that is, unless you have wild birds feeding and nesting inside your coops. That is a no-no.


I like this, Gypsi:

Then I don't have a closed flock, but I choose not to buy trouble. Enough finds me for free.

 

[Gypsi]

That is reassuring Speckled Hen. I chase the wild birds out of my coops now and then, when the bird feeder gets empty and the hens are ranging in the yard, but they sure aren't nesting in there. But in almost 2 years with my hens I haven't seen a bug. And I've looked - they are molting.

Worried when I heard one sneeze the first year. Apparently something tickled her nose. But I've always fed the wild doves and cardinals and red-winged blackbirds at their own feeder, and in 2 years, no disease. I chase off the starlings and cowbirds when I have time. The sparrows are the coop raiders, or they were til I took the chicken-wire all the way up the sides outside the 2x4 fencing. I read the horror stories about adult chickens coming in from other flocks with diseases and they just do not appeal to me.

I've also observed a friend's chickens, she lives about 50 miles away, as she went through periodic deaths from some plague or another. She offered me a rooster, I cited the Fort Worth law prohibiting them. Didn't want to hurt her feelings. But nope. And I sterilize my boots or wear a different pair if I'm at her place, before I enter my yard.

 

[saladin]

Quote:
If wild birds have access to your birds at all (which includes looking through the wire at one another) a 'closed' flock isn't going to protect you.

More diseases/parasites are transfer by wild birds than by anything else.

I'm in the woods, surrounded by wild birds. No parasites, no diseases from them in the entire six years we've had chickens, even with them free ranging in the woods. Never had to treat lice or mites in my flock--only case of lice came on the only adult bird ever bought, my late great Hawkeye. He came covered in them and treating with DE had them gone before he came in contact with my hens.

To be honest, in my humble opinion, I think it's less likely they'll get disease from wild birds than by bringing in diseased birds bought from another person; that is, unless you have wild birds feeding and nesting inside your coops. That is a no-no.

If you've not had disease in 6 years of letting your birds free-range then you are fortunate. Regardless of your experience, I do totally disagree with you assessment.


I like this, Gypsi:

Then I don't have a closed flock, but I choose not to buy trouble. Enough finds me for free.

 

[speckledhen]

You can disagree, saladin, however, I think this disease section is a pretty indicator of how disease gets into flocks. There are very few "mystery" occurrences of disease here, when you get right down to it. Almost every single instance has some new bird being brought into the flock or something being brought in from a show or some way that you can point to it and say, BINGO!.

In my research as well, sources have indicated the same, that it is much more likely that the owner of the flock somehow brings in disease than wild birds do. Mind you, I'm not saying it's impossible for wild birds to transmit disease, just that it usually happens some other way.

We can't control wild birds much, except to keep them out of the coops, but we can control most everything else. You just do the best you can with what you have in your power to control and hope germs don't float in somehow that you cannot control.

 

[saladin]

There is little doubt that birds being brought in from other places potential spread disease. As for Shows, I've never had this happen and have been going to Shows for many years. Swaps and the like are a different story I'm sure; though I have never purchased a bird from such a place.

Speaking from my own experience of over 40 years with poultry, it is to wild birds that I lay blame.

Regardless of the source of the disease, I believe we both agree as to the need for sound management in the prevention and eradication of disease.

 

[saladin]

I forgot to add (and thought you'd find it amusing) that when I bring in a new bird I do no quarantine the bird to protect my birds. I quarantine the new bird for it's own protection. Hopefully, the bird has time to build some immunity to the 'bugs' on my place instead of encountering them all at once.


Many of the deaths I've read about here and have received calls about go something like this:

'I rec'd this bird from x. Brought it home and didn't quarantine it. Within a week it was dead and now I'm worried about my flock!'

The assumption here is that the 'bird from x' was sick. That assumption can be very, very wrong. It is just as likely that the 'bird from x' couldn't handle the new load of pathogens that were present in the new coop and thus died.

 

[Gypsi]

I suspect that climate has an influence on whether wild birds spread disease. I've been keeping chickens for almost 2 years, but I've been keeping fish for almost 30 years. Tropicals, goldfish, freshwater and saltwater.

A sick fish in the wild is eaten by something. It does not reproduce after it becomes ill, it is dinner. A sick fish in the pet store is sold to an unwary customer, who will end up with all of his fish sick shortly if he doesn't quarantine.

North Texas has climate extremes. Wild birds that are off their game in any way die in Summer's extreme heat, or winter's extreme cold. If they do not die of the temperatures they will be eaten by any of multiple predators in my neighborhood. (there are no pigeons here, no shelter for them) We have coyotes, hawks, possibly foxes, and probably coons, in addition to large dogs in back yards, including mine, and feral cats.

So the odds of the survival of a sick bird are quite poor. And if it dies in flight half a mile away, or is eaten by a feral cat outside my fence, it is not going to spread disease to my chicken.

Survival of a sick chicken in someone's coop, potentially half medicated (enough antibiotic to slow the bacteria but not a total kill, there fore it mutates and becomes a disease resistant bacteria) Well I'm making that up from my experience with fish.

Personally, I'm not buying any adult birds from anyone, if I did end up with some coming in, I would put the quarantine coop on the other fenced lot that I own or something.

Gypsi