Let's Talk About Why You Should Quarantine New Birds

[Amer]

When I didn’t know much, I brought home a Dominique bantam cock from someone who had a LOT of different breeds from a lot of different people.
I tried caging him separately to quarantine but in the same coop as everyone else but because his water kept freezing I let him into the greater coop.
And then my older birds started to get sick (a type of respiratory disease) and the babies hatched started dying and it took years of culling any birds that got sick to have a disease free flock.
Now, I quarantine any introductions from other places and shows but birds in quarantine have never gotten sick. It’s always better to be safe than sorry. But I’ve also been wiser about who I get my birds from.

 

[Amer]

No horror stories (only have had my original hens so far), but a question. I see people saying they get day old chicks and then put under a broody if they don’t have fertilized eggs, how would that quarantine situation work?

If the chicks were hatched from artificially incubated eggs they shouldn’t have any diseases (unless it was a vertically transmitted disease, which is why you should get your birds from a reputable source.)

 

[Farmgirl283420]

Got some chicks from my friend and raised them in a brooder but let them outside daily and they were covered in lice. I don’t think my chickens got it but I treated them anyway. It took some weeks to get rid of the lice and now I prefer to let my chickens hatch their own babies.

 

[05cassie25]

If the chicks were hatched from artificially incubated eggs they shouldn’t have any diseases (unless it was a vertically transmitted disease, which is why you should get your birds from a reputable source.)

That makes sense! I didn’t even think about that. Thank you!

 

[Poultrybonkers]

I dont quarentine because I dont buy peoples birds lol did that once and birds had mg so culled them all and never got people throwaways again. People here lie they either sell you sick birds or old birds as pullets so not worth the hassle easier for me to raise them as chicks.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I never quarantined. Ended up getting mareks, but that was something I couldn't have just waited out in a quarantine since they were from vaccinated birds from a small hatchery and to this day haven't shown symptoms

 

[GlicksChicks]

This was back when we were all still stupid to chickens, so yes this was a very bad move. We went to a chicken swap and I wanted an Ayam Cemani, and I happened to find a hen that is an Ayam Cemani mix (not purebred, but she is still pretty). When we came back home, we immediately put Crow into the pen. Apparently Crow had been carrying something because coccidiosis broke out in the flock, and I think about three chickens died (I would remember how many, but we also had fowl pox going on at the time).

Oh no! I'm sorry for your losses, even though it was a while ago.

 

[GlicksChicks]

My first flock of six Jersey Giants was wiped out by not quarantining. Before I started putting locks on my cage doors, I had someone decide to add a rooster to my chicken pen. At the time, I only wanted six (silly, I know!) and had no desire for a rooster. I came home to an extra bird, and me being the only one in my neighborhood with chickens. I didn't have another cage to put him in, and he ended up not being a gentleman. He killed my hens. I wish I knew who dumped him so I could have returned the favor. I also wish that I had removed him and found somewhere to put him instead of letting him stay for fear he would be eaten by predators if released.

If he came from nearby, could've let him walk back home. Chickens don't have to know the path they came, they just have to know where home is. I had a 6 week old chick escape from a brooder because I had removed her from the coop because her mother wasn't raising her anymore. She was gone the whole day and then around 5pm she came back to the coop. She had never been at the brooder or near my house before, but she found her way home.

 

[GlicksChicks]

No horror stories (only have had my original hens so far), but a question. I see people saying they get day old chicks and then put under a broody if they don’t have fertilized eggs, how would that quarantine situation work?

A good store is supposed to quarantine the chicks themself before selling them. Not all do, though.

The thing about chicks is that they are less likely to get exposed to the illnesses an adult chicken would be exposed to. The store I get mine from, TSC, gets the chicks immediately after they hatch. So, they go from an incubator, which would ideally be cleaned routinely. Then they go to the store into a clean container until they are sold.

Adult chickens have been outside, been in dirty cages with sick chickens, possibly been exposed to wild birds or bugs carrying worms or other bad things. They have more time to develop bumblefoot, fowl pox, worms, Mareks disease, etc.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

Oh no! I'm sorry for your losses, even though it was a while ago.

I still feel bad for the incident even though it was an accident.