New Birds ... And quarantine for old ones?

JHitchcock · Post by **JHitchcock** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 8:23 am

So im looking at getting some new finches for the aviary in a few weeks time... (currently its filled with zebras, societies and a few canaries.) And i was wondering if there are any sort of precautionary measures that I can take or anything that should be given to my current flock to ensure that there is no possibility of them passing anything unnoticed to the new birds? I mean visually all the birds look fine, I see one or two sometimes that sit with their head behind their wing, which is the only thing that gets me thinking...

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 1:32 pm

Most of the time I think you quarentine the new birds some do for several weeks to several months,I think for me I usualy play it by ear depends where I got the birds
Thats sounds like there sleeping to me

JHitchcock · Post by **JHitchcock** » Wed Sep 24, 2008 5:01 pm

Yeh... the one that i am worried about is one that has the head behind the wing and has her eyes squinty or closed while i watch her... shes not got a wet vent though.. so im not all to sure whats going on.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 5:17 am

quarantine your new birds for a month, make sure that they are all healthy and not hiding anything nasty. I would remove the old bird that you are concerned about to a hospital cage for a couple of weeks and see how it does, better safe than sorry.

JHitchcock · Post by **JHitchcock** » Thu Sep 25, 2008 7:39 am

yeh thats the plan that im looking at.. in terms of disease amongst finches... are there any that are easily spread among the flock of zebras etc? or is it pretty much one gets sick and deals with it?

Post by **Sally** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 9:35 am

The whole purpose of quarantine is to protect the birds you already have from anything the new bird might be carrying. You know the health of your current birds, not the new bird. Quarantine can be anything from 2 weeks to a month, depending on the source of the new bird. There are lots of diseases that can be transmitted from one bird to another.

JHitchcock · Post by **JHitchcock** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 7:01 pm

Yeh... What I am really trying to say is that I have a zebra or two which i think may be sick - not sure, they sit with eyes closed, fluffed, generally disinterested... (not on the floor however) and sleep often during the day) Baiscally im not sure what shes got so im not quick to treat her but I want to prevent anything she could possibly have from spreading to then new parrot finches and owl finches etc.