FINCHforum

I've been searching the site and the internet for ideas.

I live in a 2 story single family home, the current birds are in a cage in the family room at the bottom of the stairs. And that is where additional cages will go as well.

In looking around the house, I'm puzzled as to where I can put a quaranteen cage for new inbound birds.

I thought of upstairs, but when the heater comes on, the cold air from the 2nd floor is pushed down the stairs going near the cages.
I could use one of the upstairs bathroom, but then there is the humidity when we bath, and people going in after "lights out."

The only place that is independent of the house air is the garage. But with cars being parked there, it has problems; exhaust fumes, headlight when coming in at night, no heat (gets into the 50s at night in the garage).

With fishes it is a LOT easier to quaranteen them. The water in the tanks don't mix.

Is there an unused room upstairs? Ideally it should be in another building, but how many of us can do that? Not many. So you do what you can. Another floor if possible, or another room. Do you have a laundry room? If the garage is being used for cars, that is out. I wouldn't worry about humidity, that doesn't bother them so much, and even lights going on and off are not necessarily a problem as long as there is a pretty good night light. It is when they are in complete darkness, then the bright lights get switched on, they will freak. Give them their own dishes and don't exchange them with other cages. Same for water and bathtubs--don't just rinse some from another cage and then refill for these guys, and vice versa.

hmmm
Laundry room is simply a closet in the 1st floor hall, not a real room.

Sounds like I can put it in one of the upstairs bathrooms.
My office would be ideal, but there is sooo much stuff that has collected in there. I guess that is a reason to start dumping.

When I first got my GBs, they were in a small hospital cage that I brought them home from the store in. My home made cage has a wood frame, and I was not sure the verithane had cured enough, so kept the new birds in my bathroom for a few days. (To keep away from fumes, but also to keep them and the small cage away from the cat!)

What I did was put a small night light in there, so that we could still find our way around to go use it at night, without turning on the overly bright vanity lights. The birds got a bit nervous when we went in at night, but not so panicky that they hurt themselves. The night light was right next to their cage. We just tried to keep movements slow and not reach too close to the cage - small bathroom

In the morning when we went in and turned on the big lights it wasn't such a shock, since they had a bit of light at night.

And you are right, they actually don't mind the humidity from the shower. I think they actually liked it.

I too quarantine all new birds in my bathroom upstairs. They love the humidity! I have a nightlight so no one has to turn the light on when it is dark out. The birds have never moved when I go in during the night.

Wherever you quarintine them make sure you wash your hands before handleing other birds , or birds stuff.
Many things are passed this way..... even on feet from walking in wild bird poop from outside or outdoor aviaries.
I have birds every where. I quarintine birds by putting them in seperate flight cages. But many times there are other birds in the room. I spray a mist of vanodine in the air as a precaution periodically and am careful to wash after handling the new guys. I also only buy from reputable breeders if at all possible. And I would never buy a bird that was not in healthy appearance.
While in the quarintine set up it should be spacious enough for the birds comfort while you worm, air sac treat, etc. Once you have completed the cleansing process and watched the bird for preferrably several weeks then you know that it is unlikely that it would pass something to your established birds.
Though I have known many who buy the new birds and come home and release them to the community flight and have never had any ill effects.
I have only had 1 case of air sac mites from a gouldian that I purchased a year ago. I thought the bird was healthy. It breed and then with the stress of raising chicks he started coughing and sneezing. I treated him and all of the rest in all rooms, buildings and outdoor aviaries with S76.... A lot of money to treat at least 250 birds for 2 days, 3 weeks in a row.
I will never trust that breeder again..... and now I always quarintine and treat before anything else. So you are smart to be taking this step of responsible bird keeping serious.

bathroom it is then they seem to like it in there from what iv heard also!

CA
As the number of birds I have increase, as you mentioned, the cost of the problem increases. So as much as I want to breed one bird I have, I have to make sure the new mate won't bring something in that will affect the flock that I have. Bird medication is expensive! And on a cost/benefit ratio the medication costs more than the zebras...so I don't want them sick.

This is a first run to get the quarenteen process figured out for later when I get a pair of societies, then LGs, then ....

Is air sack mites something that I need to deal with for zebras? I was under the impression that it is for LGs. Although if they are carriers of it, then I should deal with it.

Well, when I found my gouldian had air sac mites.... I just wanted to make sure all my birds were healthy. The zebras were in the outside aviary and the goulds were in the bird building so it was unlikely they had them. But I had walked back and forth and I mix my seed and use the same large bowl to carry seed to the outdoor facilities so I just decided to be safe than sorry. I even treated my scarlet chested parakeets.......
I should of treated that new gouldian male when I first got him. The breeder claimed that regular treatments were done on all her birds.....

I don't think zebras are at high risk for air sac mites. I have never had a case with them and this was my first with a gouldian.
When I bred canaries it was common practice to put scatt on them as soon as I got home. They are prone to mites. But I look at it this way, all birds have air sac throughout their bodies.( Stroud, the bird man of alcatraz) found that if a canary had a broken wing that stayed exposed to the air while the head of the bird was under water, the bird could still take in oxygen through the air sacs in the birds wing. The bird did not drown....amazing. So I figure that maybe other areas could be affected not just the lungs... mites in the lungs give the symptoms, difficulty in breathing, coughing, sneezing, clicking, etc.
Now I will treat every new thing that comes in...... period.

CandoAviary wrote:Now I will treat every new thing that comes in...... period.

I too give a dose of Scatt to every bird, no matter the specie, the day it comes into my home plus another dose 21 days later.

hmmm
Sounds like I need to order some S76

Just brought home a F gray for my M silver penguin. They get to meet in 30 days.

I set up the Q cage in the master bath.

Once I got the bird in, I realized that keeping stuff separated (Q cage vs other birds) is a LOT harder than I thought. I had to keep remembering to wash my hands as I went back and forth getting stuff that I forgot. Of course my clothes becomes another issue as well.

Well this is a good trial run, to work out the kinks with dealing with a separate Q cage.

thanks for all the help.

ps I also realize I can't spell, according to the webster site it is quarantine, not quaranteen as I spelled it.