Chicken update

[StonyGarden]

I lost one today. They turned cannibalistic and killed the one that they had started to peck at before. They are out growing the dog crate they are in. The fiance and his dad are 3/4 of the way done with the coop. They've got to go out tomorrow.

So I removed dead chicken and gave them all tomatoes and filled their feeder. I let them have 10 minutes to run around and eat tomatoes and then I cut out all of their lights. They are now roosting quietly.

I will post pictures of the coop progress as soon as I get them uploaded to photobucket.

 

[lesa]

Sorry to hear that... nature is so strange sometimes. I can't remember how old your birds are? Hopefully, they will be happier in their new coop- and it will be clear sailing from here on in.

 

[StonyGarden]

Oh they are roughly 5-6 weeks. Most are almost completely feathered. I have 1 that is considerably smaller than the rest and is mostly fuzz. She stays to herself mostly and she is the sweetest of the bunch. She'll just sit in my hand for the longest time without me having to hold her.

 

[bj taylor]

sure sorry about your chick. they can be brutal can't they? especially if things aren't going their way. they'll be happier in that new coop.

 

[canesisters]

Aww - so sorry about your loss. It's really hard when they remind us that they really are predators isn't it? Don't worry. As soon as they've got that new coop they will be much happier.

On a happier note - I hope your new roo fits in well and is a good leader/protector for your flock. It was nice to meet you, even if it was for just a moment.

 

[StonyGarden]

It was great to meet you too Canesisters!

The roo is settling in nicely in my spare room in the spare dog crate. He is very sweet and affectionate and seems to enjoy human contact. The buff orp's are in the coop tonight. I've read that they need at least a month in quarantine. Is that correct? I've been careful to wash my hands in between handling the roo and the girls outside.

 

[canesisters]

I've heard several different things about quaraintine. When I brought in the adult hens to join my flock, I kept them across the yard for 4 weeks. Better safe than sorry, right? I made sure that I did everything I needed to do each day in the big coop before tending to the new ones. That way (I figured) I was carrying germs or whatever to the new birds (who were going to be exposed at some point, if there was something) - but not to the flock.
It was a little inconvinent but worth the piece of mind.
He did seem like a sweet boy. I'm wondering if it's a breed trait? The 2 hens I added were half australorp and they are really sweet and talkitave too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Im going to quit writing these long posts soon, I promise. The weather will soon clear up so I can get outside a lot more. But in the meantime, my take on quarantine.

Quarantine is a great tool. But like any tool the better you understand it the better you can use it. Quarantine is used to give diseases time to incubate so you can see the symptoms before infecting your flock. The better you do that, the more protection you are giving your flock.

How are chicken diseases spread? Many ways of course. Drinking out of the same water bowl, eating each others poop, mosquitoes, even just wind can carry dander from one to the other. So the more you can isolate them from each other, the better your quarantine. From what Ive seen, 30 days is a standard. If something is going to develop, it probably will within 30 days.

You are a possible vector for carrying diseases from one group to the other. Its not just washing hands, but maybe changing shoes between one group and the other. Maybe even using different feed and water buckets for each group. However far you want to take it.

Its not unheard of for a flock of chickens to be carriers of a disease but be immune to the symptoms. Cocci is a great example of this but there are several others. If a chicken is immune to a disease you can quarantine it for a year and it would never show any symptoms. Sometimes the stress of relocating and quarantine will reduce the immune defenses enough for the chicken to get sick, but what quarantine is mainly guarding against is any new disease the chicken may have recently come into contact with. If that rooster came from a chicken swap where there were several chickens from different places, quarantine could be real important for you. If he came straight from a flock that had not seen any outside chickens for months, quarantine is of less value. If Cane brought him to you in a crate she uses for her chickens, the need for quarantine goes back up.

Its also possible your flock is the infected one. They may have flock immunity so you dont even know they have something they could give to another chicken. If that rooster gets sick it may be that he didnt bring it with him. He may have caught it from your flock. It gets convoluted doesnt it?

To me, the best quarantine is to not only isolate him as best you can, but choose a possible sacrificial chicken from your flock to put with him. That way you only put one of your birds at risk in case he is immune to something that could infect them. It might also be a real good time to worm him or treat him for mites or lice. At least check him out pretty well for parasites.

Ive probably made this sound worse than it is. A lot of people regularly bring in chickens from a chickens swap or something like that and dont have any real problems. When they do its often going to be more of a nuisance that something serious. But occasionally flocks get wiped out by something a new chicken brings in. To me the risk of something serious happening are probably not all that high, but the consequences could be severe enough its something to be serious about.

 

[StonyGarden]

Thank ya"ll for the replies. Very informative.