To isolate or not

[Trying2keepitReal]

We have a farm near by raises chickens, you can buy chicks to young hens. They are big on biosecurity, you wear booties when you are there

Looking for thoughts on quarantine/isolation time before integrating 3 new ones to my flock? I have a friend that quarantines for 2-4weeks and then two friends that just put them in at night and let them go.

I dont really have a place to house extras for 2-4 weeks but could make something work. We are adding to the run this spring so they will have plenty of room (it is big enough for 10 now and we have 7).

Thoughts? Comments from experience?

 

[NH Homesteader]

I guess maybe I was a bad chicken owner but I wouldn’t quarantine if they came from a place with good biosecurity like that.

 

[FarmerJamie]

We have a farm near by raises chickens, you can buy chicks to young hens. They are big on biosecurity, you wear booties when you are there

Looking for thoughts on quarantine/isolation time before integrating 3 new ones to my flock? I have a friend that quarantines for 2-4weeks and then two friends that just put them in at night and let them go.

I dont really have a place to house extras for 2-4 weeks but could make something work. We are adding to the run this spring so they will have plenty of room (it is big enough for 10 now and we have 7).

Thoughts? Comments from experience?

In the past, I just dumped 'em in? Maybe that's dangerous, but I knew the people I got from

 

[tortoise]

If your chickens all got sick, do you have resources to treat them, or replace them? If the coop and run were contaminated and you have to build a new one in a different spot, would you be able to?

The bigger the flock, the more valuable the birds, the more biosecurity is necessary. JMO.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I wouldn’t quarantine if they came from a place with good biosecurity like that.

Same.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

If your chickens all got sick, do you have resources to treat them, or replace them? If the coop and run were contaminated and you have to build a new one in a different spot, would you be able to?

The bigger the flock, the more valuable the birds, the more biosecurity is necessary. JMO.

Yes I would have the resources to treat or replace them, our vet livings right down the road and our daughters are friends so she helps/visits for discount.

Yes, DH (see what I did there) would be able to rebuild in a different spot. We also have a spot to burn down the old if needed.

I just really don't want to work with chicks-yep call me crazy-or a broody hen hatching eggs or anything really. My spring and summer area already booked up it feels and I just want to grab and dump (for lack of better terms)

 

[Mini Horses]

Doubt you'd have a problem with the new ones. Are they NPIP? if so, quite rare for a problem. So quarantine would just make sure they didn't get sick from yours. Otherwise, they'd still "have whatever they came with"... right? 🤔

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

@Mini Horses I just checked WI's NPIP list and it does look like they are on there. So then it would just be whatever my girls have, which they would get no matter what right? (I don't think they have anything--they are all healthy and spoiled for sure).

Do I need to separate at all so they get to "know" each other or can I put them in at night and hope for the best? For the most part I don't have much squabbling, and am hoping to get birds close to the same age as my 10 month olds now

 

[Hinotori]

You have to remember that YOUR flock has been exposed to things the incoming hens may not have. The quarantine period allows their immune systems to get used to the bugs at your place as well. The quarantine works both ways to help birds. Everyone's place has different bugs.