Urgent Reminder-PLEASE Quarantine Newly Acquired Birds!

[ranchhand]

Update to my post, it looks like we may be fighting a lethal gene in the bloodline. While that doesn't necessarily call for quarantine, it DOES call for not continuing the bloodline. Responsible breeding/husbandry is another issue, but in a way, is closely related to the need for quarantine.

It all comes down to not taking chances.

 

[speckledhen]

Sally, sorry about Elwood. Yes, responsible animal husbandry is another aspect of breeding. Hope you figure it out. Sometimes, the puzzles in genetics can be complicated.

 

[Ariesmom]

Man do I wish I read this yesterday!!!! I JUST purchased a full grown rooster and what was supposed to be a hen ( turned out to be a rooster too ) and unfortunately threw both of them in with my one lonely hen and neighboring duck. Just shortly after doing this I noticed just the big rooster making a strange kind of honking cough or sneeze periodically. I can't tell if he has discharge because his comb is quite large and there's a little bit of dirt at the base of the comb where it meets his nostrils. The other rooster looks fine, no sneezing but he holds one eye closed here and there but it looks completely clear. They both did this weird neck stretch mouth open thing that I couldn't understand either. Now I'm frustrated because I don't want them to all now be carriers of CRD...I'm not familiar with any of this since I've always had luck with chickens in the past and preferred buying a full grown rooster that was docile instead of raising one that turned out to be aggressive. I started everyone ( duck too ) on duramycin 10 but now i have a million questions as to where to go from here.
I guess I'm wondering if they are carriers does it really mean death for them?? I could do without adding more to the flock if that's all it means but could my hen have chicks or will they be deathly ill? And what about my duck? Can he get it too? Also...eating eggs from a CRD carrier...is there any human worries that I should be aware of? I'd really like my hen to have chicks, that was partly why I got the rooster to begin with and he's been mounting her ever since they got introduced. Being an avid animal lover I cannot even think of killing my birds!!!!

 

[speckledhen]

CRD can be passed down through the eggs, yes, but it may be only through the hen, not entirely sure about that one. Yes, they can live, being carriers, but if you carry germs from your birds to the feedstore on your clothes or shoes, you could be the cause of someone else taking it home to their birds, at the outside chance-you can't see germs so it's hard to know. You may always be fighting disease in your flock if the rooster is a carrier of something.

You started them on an antibiotic, but if it's a virus, that will only be a waste of time and money, plus it won't change the carrier status of a bird. No idea about ducks, not my area of knowledge. The state vet could do a test on your rooster, if you wanted to go that route.

I'm an animal lover, too, but I will euthanize my flock if they come down with some horror because I don't want to always be fighting the same battle and risk hurting someone else's flock. They each have names and they even know them. They're my pets, not just livestock to me, but it's a harsh reality of this hobby, I'm afraid. The alternative is to close the flock, no birds leave your flock and no new ones come in, but then, you'd have to decide to process all the excess rooster chicks rather than sell them or give them to someone else.

 

[bburn]

I argued with my husband about this. I did buy adult birds and bring them home. I quarantined but we fought over it but I stood strong and he made fun.

Now he is joking because I sold my BR roo and am moving my Barred Cochin roo and his one remaining girl (racoon attack) into that run and coop. They have all been together but in different coops and runs....all attached.

The cochin hens were adults brought in. The BR hens were pullets brought in last year. I have quarantined and all are fine. Now intergration and I will do it slowly and watch for anger issues!

But anytime someone posts about how to put them together I chime in and say quarantine. There is so much good information on here about everything we need to know about chickens. I just refuse to take any shortcuts and always read up and search everything I want to know.

I have little ones in the garage brooder and eggs in the incubator. I will treat them just like quarantined birds. Then I will go through te whole intergration thing once they have their size. At that point I will have the mixed flock still with the new ones intergrated in. And the BR girls will go into that flock. And the cochins will all be cochins at that point. But I will wait on size.

I can't help but think that the little ones stand the same risks as bringing new birds into your flock......so quarantine until they get their size. There will be a large grow out pen just for the little ones.

 

[schellie69]

I was so glad to see this post, I just made a reminder due to reading so many post of people getting new birds and putting them with their older birds. I am so glad that speckledhen wrote this. great reminders I am not buying older birds anymore just chicks.

 

[speckledhen]

Remember, though, that a chick is a started bird and can still be a carrier. If you buy chicks from a hatchery, you are probably safer than if you buy from an individual, but nothing is 100% safe. gumpsgirl added a week old chick to her flock and spent over a year weeding out carriers of Coryza, not something I want to have to do, for sure!

 

[tecumseh]

I have a portable coop with solid floor that my adult size birds where in until October when I moved them into their shed/coop which they did fine in all winter. Now I have 16 new chicks coming soon and I wanted to reuse my old portable coop as a brooder until they are big enough to integrate. I had cleaned out the straw and old poop in October but I have not "bleached" down the entire thing. Do I have to disinfect if it was left outside during the Ohio winter? Would there still be anything they could catch that would have survived that long? It would be a big hassle to tear out some of the walls etc in the portable coop to make sure everything is disinfected. But I can if needed.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks,

Tim

 

[speckledhen]

Well, what I would do personally is try to bleach the inside at least, but you said it's portable? If so, I'd move it off the last place it was sitting to new ground for the new kids. That's just me, not sure it's necessary. I don't have anything portable here.

 

[ranchhand]

I agree, move it to new ground, do a light spray of disinfectant and let it dry and air out very well. I wouldn't tear it apart completely, but I would do my best to clean it well.