# Gaining five hens. Suggested precautions



## leviparker (Jun 13, 2013)

I've been told not to do anything besides check for mites and give a dose of castor oil.


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## kessy09 (Jun 16, 2013)

You should quarantine them long enough to determine any diseases that might be laying dormant to become apparant. Once stressed (for example-moving to a new home) a bird that has previously kept illness at bay, might all of a sudden have a flare up when they are put through the stress of the move. Two weeks minimum but a month would be better. It gives you time to monitor for disease, let them become accustomed to you as the new flock master, give you time to get to know their individual personalities so in the future you'll "know" them well enough to decide if something just isn't right for that particular hen and also transition them slowly onto the different feed you'll be giving. I always quarantine for four to five weeks. The biggest things I would worry about them being carriers of is mareks, coccidiosis, mycoplasmosis, and worms/mites. I always say no quarantine is just asking for trouble.


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## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

kessy09 said:


> You should quarantine them long enough to determine any diseases that might be laying dormant to become apparant. Once stressed (for example-moving to a new home) a bird that has previously kept illness at bay, might all of a sudden have a flare up when they are put through the stress of the move. Two weeks minimum but a month would be better. It gives you time to monitor for disease, let them become accustomed to you as the new flock master, give you time to get to know their individual personalities so in the future you'll "know" them well enough to decide if something just isn't right for that particular hen and also transition them slowly onto the different feed you'll be giving. I always quarantine for four to five weeks. The biggest things I would worry about them being carriers of is mareks, coccidiosis, mycoplasmosis, and worms/mites. I always say no quarantine is just asking for trouble.


Pretty much everything Kessy just said. The worst is bringing what are apparently healthy birds and discovering they have one of the chronic respiratory diseases. There is no do over when that is let out of the box.


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