How long do YOU quarantine your new birds??

[Dixiedoodle]

NO right or wrong answer---Just wanted see what the average time most people quarantine their new birds. I have read /heard everything from a week to 6 weeks...

If you would, please list all the things you look /treat/do while your new ones are waiting: I read that one lady gives all her new chickens foot bathes!


.. How do you introduce them to your flock??? Do you do it at night, while they free range, to you do it quickly or over a long period....


Thanks for your input!

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I quarantine for 5 weeks bathe them, dust for mites, watch their behavior and feces for any sign of illness, worm them anyway just in case, and whatever else pops up that needs doing...case by case. I sometimes intro at night, but the best I have done is cage them close so they can see each other and do it very gradually and not push the new birds in to getting beat up. They will catch a whoopin or two just to get ranked in peck order anyway, but best not to shove them in at once. It usually goes pretty well after a while..3 weeks or so.

 

[speckledhen]

I don't buy started birds, but the one I did buy years ago was quarantined for 5 weeks, wormed, treated for lice and favus. He was healthy, just not well-cared-for at his previous home, thankfully, but if he had been a carrier, even quarantine would not have fixed that. Whatever you do, and I can't emphasize it enough, do not use any antibiotics! The point is to get symptoms to come to the surface, not mask them. And if there is illness, do not treat. Cull the bird. After all, if you aren't willing to cull a sick bird during quarantine, might as well skip it entirely. That is the entire point of that period of time, to not allow a sick or carrier bird into your flock.

 

[cobrien]

I've read that most people quarantine for 30-45 days.

For introducing, after the quarantine period, it helps to house them near each other separated by a fence so that they can see each other eating/drinking and doing their chicken business. Depending on age/breed/temperament/amount of space, you might want to do this for 1-4 weeks. Some people have success after only a few days, for me it has taken about 2 weeks. Then when you allow them to be together for the first time, do it when free ranging or with as much space as possible, put out lots of feeders so the weaker ones don't get chased off of one feeder. They should be about the same size to be introduced, and you should supervise carefully. Some say it helps to introduce them at night, I haven't tried it.

Good luck!

 

[Kim_NC]

I go with 4-5 weeks. And I keep them far away from my regular coops, in a separate building. Many poultry diseases and illnesses are airborne and easily spread to others that are close by. The whole point of quarantine is to protect your existing healthy flock by keeping new birds away from existing until you're sure the new birds are not sick or carriers.

I don't treat with anything other than to add ACV to water and maybe some cayenne pepper to feed. ACV for intestinal flora and cayenne pepper for increasing metabolism. I would treat lice or mites if discovered, but have never bought a bird with them.

I prefer to introduce new birds at night by placing them on the roost with the others.

 

[Dar]

I go over kill... but I quarantine for 90 days

I have a separate brooder that i use it can sit in my basement or on the porch.

If its a hen I will not eat the eggs for at least 45 days

and when it comes time for the introduction i usually have a feel for the personality for the bird by that point and I go from there weather a toss and go approach or a slow careful approach

 

[beerman]

It depends who I get mine from I won't get them from anyone that won't let me see their flock.. If there flock looks healthy I put them in at night, never had a problem yet. I do not buy from swaps or auctions.

 

[Kmath]

I quarantine for 5 weeks bathe them, dust for mites, watch their behavior and feces for any sign of illness, worm them anyway just in case, and whatever else pops up that needs doing...case by case. I sometimes intro at night, but the best I have done is cage them close so they can see each other and do it very gradually and not push the new birds in to getting beat up. They will catch a whoopin or two just to get ranked in peck order anyway, but best not to shove them in at once. It usually goes pretty well after a while..3 weeks or so.

How far away do you have them separated

 

[Mrs. K]

I am with Beerman, I don't buy from swaps or auctions, only from other local chicken owners that I respect. I don't have a set up to properly quarantine, and if you don't properly do it, you are just pretending, but also, I don't have a real valuable flock. I have lots of hide outs in my coop/run, I keep my base number with in the space I have, and I have never had a real problem. Mine are tossed in, good luck.

Mrs K

 

[lazy gardener]

I keep a closed flock. Won't let any thing but day old chicks or hatching eggs near my flock. As far as day olds, they would be spending the first month or more in a separate brooder anyways. Though I'd like to brood in the big coop, I'd probably avoid it unless fostering chicks to a broody. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.