Urgent Reminder-PLEASE Quarantine Newly Acquired Birds!

[Salinda]

thanks for your information. I am hoping that the antibiotics I am putting in their water will stem anything underlying. As for my injured one he is pretty bald and I am hoping that when she is recovered that she wont be a walking target.

 

[Zippy007]

Just happened to me with 2 seemed to be healthy chicks, i threw them in with my 10 other chicks so who knows what they have now and im not sure what to do to be honest!
Biggest lesson learned is quarantine!!!

 

[K-12 Chickens]

I know this thread is old, but I had a question regarding quarantine after reading the posts. Earlier this year (around June), I got 10 chicks from a hatchery, brought them outside in an enclosed run for limited periods of time when they were old enough and my 7 free-range hens would walk around the fence to investigate them occasionally. After putting them in their own separate coop and when they were old enough, I let them free-range with my hens.
There was no health problems.
The year before, I had also introduced 2 pullets to my flock, keeping them in an enclosed run with a large dog crate as a make-shift coop. The hens walked around the run occasionally. One of the pullets eventually escaped by flying over the fence before the quarantine period was over.
There was no health problems.
Now, I have acquired a 5 or 6 month old rooster from someone on Craigslist who had a small flock of what appeared to be made of no more than 5 hens. I have held the rooster, checked him over and he appears to be very healthy. I've been keeping him in an enclosed run that's attached to the pullet's coop that the pullets go in to get in and out of the coop; at night, I keep him in a large dog crate in the pullet's coop. I've been letting the pullets out through the main door of the coop (which I use to enter the coop). All the free-range hens and pullets have been right up to the run fence, occasionally interacting with the rooster. Today, I left the run door open, and some of the pullets wandered inside, investigating the area with the rooster displaying and occasionally pecking them. I am wondering if this isn't a good idea, so I have decided to discontinue the mingle between them for now.
My question is, do free-range chickens have a considerably less chance of contracting disease, mites, etc, from a new bird because they are not confined to repeatedly covering the same area over and over again in a small amount of time?

 

[dawg53]

I know this thread is old, but I had a question regarding quarantine after reading the posts. Earlier this year (around June), I got 10 chicks from a hatchery, brought them outside in an enclosed run for limited periods of time when they were old enough and my 7 free-range hens would walk around the fence to investigate them occasionally. After putting them in their own separate coop and when they were old enough, I let them free-range with my hens.
There was no health problems.
The year before, I had also introduced 2 pullets to my flock, keeping them in an enclosed run with a large dog crate as a make-shift coop. The hens walked around the run occasionally. One of the pullets eventually escaped by flying over the fence before the quarantine period was over.
There was no health problems.
Now, I have acquired a 5 or 6 month old rooster from someone on Craigslist who had a small flock of what appeared to be made of no more than 5 hens. I have held the rooster, checked him over and he appears to be very healthy. I've been keeping him in an enclosed run that's attached to the pullet's coop that the pullets go in to get in and out of the coop; at night, I keep him in a large dog crate in the pullet's coop. I've been letting the pullets out through the main door of the coop (which I use to enter the coop). All the free-range hens and pullets have been right up to the run fence, occasionally interacting with the rooster. Today, I left the run door open, and some of the pullets wandered inside, investigating the area with the rooster displaying and occasionally pecking them. I am wondering if this isn't a good idea, so I have decided to discontinue the mingle between them for now.
My question is, do free-range chickens have a considerably less chance of contracting disease, mites, etc, because they are not confined to repeatedly covering the same area over and over again in a small amount of time?

Free range birds ARE healthier than confined birds.

 

[casportpony]

Free range birds ARE healthier than confined birds.

X2

 

[dirtsaver]

I am going to be getting 10 chicks next week from a hatchery, so are they okay to put with my chicks i hatched? I may be also buying some chicks from a farm here in Oregon, they haven't hatched yet, will these chicks need to be quarntined

Chicks from a reputable hatchery should be ok..we are talking "day old" chicks right? Day-old chicks would be in a brooder of some sort for a month inside the house or garage and away from your flock anyway. As for chicks from another farm........I'd pass on those myself,but if they are a rare breed or otherwise something special you just have to get......once again,quarrentine them at least a month. Remember one thing....the hatchery chicks are safer because the eggs were taken from the hen and placed in a mechanical brooder. In other words...they have had no contact with a chicken that may carry disease. Chances are the chicks from the local farm were hatched and brooded by a mama hen...that may carry disease and passed it along to the chicks!

Good luck!

 

[DillonChix]

Just got some rescue hens. Lots of missing feathers, but otherwise look OK.

And of course I did NOT read this before adding them to my existing flock... Is it too late to quarantine? Have I royally screwed up and if so, what should I be looking for in my other hens in the next few weeks?

Thanks in advance for any help!

T

 

[chicken pickin]

This is a great thread! Im posting to bring it back up, especially for new chicken owners thinking of expanding their flock. I currently have 2 NPIP 7 month old chickens in quarantine in my garage away from my other flocks. They are great and look great and act great and the person I got them from seemed so informative and upfront about their flock, I almost want to rush quarentine, but I wont. Its has been almost 2 weeks and I have about 2 weeks to go . They are doing great in quarantine and giving me an egg almost every day each, But everyone remember quarantine is the best thing any flock owner can do for their flock. Keep them safe. A month of quarantine isnt as sad for the lone bird or birds as a sickness spread through your beloved chickens. Not to long ago I picked up 3 turkey poults to add to my flock, once I got them home and put them in quarantine I noticed they had crusty nostrils and snot bubbles and they had a raspy cough. They were almost culled but instead I returned them to their original owner ASAP.

 

[LindaN]

And sometimes even if you quarantine you'll still have problems.

At the urging of a very persistent neighbor, I rescued a little bantam rooster that was left in a local forest preserve. (This happens a lot in the forest preserves and cemetaries here in Chicago because people leave them or kill them in religious ceremonies.) He looked perfectly healthy, yet I quarantined him for a month anyway and looked him over very well before introducing him to my five hens who were all raised as chicks from a hatchery.

Fast forward EIGHT months, and it is winter. My chickens are molting and it is cold. They are under stress, and they start exhibiting signs of a respiratory disease. Three of them are breathing so badly that I brought them into the house and even took them to the avian vet for nebulizer treatments. Everyone gets a 14-day course of antibiotics, and I discard all the eggs during this period and for several days after the antibiotics are complete.

The little rooster never showed any signs of respiratory disease when I quarantined him or for many months afterwards. He never even showed signs of illness when the three hens were so sick. In my research, I've found that many times chickens will survive these diseases but then become carriers for life. My chickens will never be retired or passed on to someone else as they could infect the new flock. When I'm ready for new chickens, I will have to cull all of these first, disinfect the coop, and then start over.

Even now -- a month after the antibiotics were complete -- they are not robustly healthy. They now look as if they have developed a fungal infection on their combs. Little surprise considering that they were on broad spectrum antibiotics for so long.

And despite being fairly young (less than two years old) and very good winter laying breeds, I'm lucky if I get one egg a week right now.

I would advise anyone to just not introduce new adult birds at all unless you know the people who have raised them very well.

 

[missnu01]

I bought various adult birds all at a whack when I was starting...a few here and a few there...so anything that one had they would all have to get together. It all worked out alright, and that was my one and only purchase of adult birds...There was no current flock...the whole flock was made up of newly acquired adult birds...