FINCHforum

Has anybody had a bird show illness during the quarunteen(sp?) time?
How long do you usually wait (as opposed to the differing opinions found in books) a week, 10 days, more?

That's a loaded question! Depends who you ask.

The 'average' quarantine is 3 weeks (21 days). Official quaratine in Canada is 90 days.

I do a pseudoquarantine. I won't bring home a bird unless I'm quite sure it's healthy...but since birds hide illness well...or an illness can be dormant until stress aggrevates it, I prefer to be safe.

I always look after established birds first. Then I look after the new bird. I use separate sinks to wash their dishes. I scrub after cleaning up after the new bird.

In a strict quarantine you should have separate air, separate clothes and disinfect footwear (or a reasonable facsimile thereof).

Mine takes about a month. I don't have room for separate air, but I keep the new kids in a separate cage as far away as possible, do them last, and treat them for the usual suspects. Haven't had a sick bird during quaratine so far (knock on wood).

I try to do 3 weeks, but it is hard to keep them totally separate. I kept mine in my bedroom this last time, with all the others in a small room off my back porch, so it was total quarantine. However, I had to keep the cats locked out of the bedroom, and they about drove me crazy, trying to get in there.

These all are doing great, a couple looking even better than when I got them (bird marts are stressful on the birds). They are active, eating well, bathing, preening, singing--so I put them in the bird room, but still in separate cages. The next step will be to integrate the male Stars with the other Stars, and the female Goulds with my male Goulds.

[quote="Rue"]That's a loaded question! Depends who you ask.

Yeah, that's why I'd love to hear people's actual experiences. I've seen at least 10 different 'must' amounts of time (ranging from 10 days to 10 weeks). I'm getting ready - finally - to buy my new socieities and I don't want to take chances with my current fids but I also don't want to keep the new ones housed in the smaller cage any longer then is necessary.
The new flight is finished enough that I was able to put Nigel (canary) in last night. It was just too sad with him in that small cage and he didn't seem to enjoy flying around the room, I quess he just never got used to it. But he seems very happy and right at home with lots of room to fly now! The zebras will have to wait a few more days while I do some last details.
Oh, by the by, Belinda seems to be a male as well, at least she sings like the other boys. I quess this means that she/he is feeling better these days (new friend, good food, etc.) because she wasn't singing before - just a few half hearted meeps.
Thanks for all that great advise!

I found 4 beautiful Societies at Petco. I had gone to a breeder but was not happy with the conditions, colours, or prices so ended-up back at Petco. They have been in the store for a month and look very clean. They eat and drink well, seem a happy little flock. Two are singing, two are not; so maybe 2 boys and 2 girls? Happily they all look different so I can tell them apart, time to choose names again!

Hey Hoji,

I would be careful about breeding 4 societies that you purchase at the same place at the same time. The could all be related.

Oh yeah, I don't want to breed them. It is hard to be sure but they are so different looking, different sizes, etc. and the bands would probably tell me. Plus this store (Petco) has great records, so if I wanted to know for breeding purposes I could find out.

Well I have had a clutch of societies where all the babies looked very very different

I thought that might be the case. How many have you had in a clutch? Maybe someday I will have the time (and the nerve) to breed.

The most I've ever had in one clutch of any species is 5, including the societies