EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW WHEN BUYING NEW CHICKENS

When you are about to buy your new or old chicken, there are some things you should look out for, all what you need to know will be discuss on this blog.
When buying chickens, whether it's for the first time or not, we all get excited. We know though that it requires research and sometimes that can take a lot of time. In this article, I have combined some of the basic information you need to get started. In some of my article I discussed getting the right breeds for you, now I'm going to discuss what to look for when buying new chickens. I'll go through these questions: How to tell if the birds you are buying are healthy? How to tell pullets from cockerels? How to tell if you are getting good laying hens? This article will give you a few tips and help to make your job a whole lot easier.

How to tell if the birds you are buying are healthy-

Buying healthy birds is always important. You want to make sure you are getting healthy birds so you don't have to spend money to treat them or so that they won't infect the rest of your flock. Here's some signs to look for, not just in the birds but from the place you are buying them from too.

1. Check the holding. (Clean tidy farms are an indication of better hygiene therefore their birds are less likely to have disease)
2. Check the other birds on the farm to see if they seem bright, alert and active.
3. Check your chosen chicken(s). - Are they bright, active and scratching around? (Note: Dull, withdrawn, hunched chickens are generally unwell)
4. Check for diarrhea in the pen.
5. Check the bird’s vent is not pasty. (Droppings sticking to the feathers which can block the poop, this can be fatal)
6. Listen for sneezing and congestion.
7. Check for runny or swelling in the eyes.
8. Check the eyes are bright and clear with no discharge.
9. Look at the feathers of the chicken. (If they are ruffled and the feathers don't seem neatly together they are likely unhealthy)
10. Check for mites and lice.
11. Look for scaly leg. (Symptoms are raised encrusted, thickened scales)
12. Check the muscle on either side of its breast bone. (Very prominent breast bones are a sign of being underweight)
13. Check the pads of the chickens feet for abscesses and ulcers.

Now if the chickens have a couple of these signs it might be okay to bring them home you can nurse them back to health if you wish, but just remember that if you have other birds, quarantine your new ones from them for 3 weeks just to make sure they don't have some illness and they won't infect your existing flock.
Keep in mind also, if you buy from a NPIP flock the birds are tested yearly, and the facility is inspected by a USDA or State Veterinarian, you will most likely not be able to visit the chicks or pens because of biosecurity rules.

How to tell pullets from cockerels-

When buying new chickens you want to be able to tell females from males, especially if you want them for egg laying. Above 5 months of age chickens are generally pretty easy to tell which ones are females and which ones are males, but what about when they are still young?

By one week old, pullets (females) usually have wing and tail feathers developing earlier than cockerels (males).

By five weeks old:
1. Cockerels are usually bigger than pullets.
2. Cockerels have a bigger, redder comb.
3. Cockerels are braver and more friendly.
4. Cockerels have longer, thicker legs.
5. Cockerels have a curved, stumpy tail.
6. The feathering in cockerels is less developed all over - on the legs, back, side of neck, crops, wing bows and flank you may see quills or down rather than well developed feathers.

One great trick to try is to note their behavior when you put your finger in front of their faces/beaks. Pullets will cower down, while cockerels will stand up to you.
All these tips will help you in determine healthy and productive hen, if you also have any other tips you can comment so that others can learn from your experience. Thanks.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE ADDING NEW CHICKEN TO YOUR FLOCK.

When you begin raising, you started with little number of chicken then, but at time goes you decide to add more chicken to your flock, these are what your should know or consider.
Most of us have felt sorry for and rescued chickens. But not taking the proper time and work to keep them separate from your original flock spells disaster! losing your chicken to a disease brought in by some chicken that you have add to your flocks. The guilt can make you want to get out of raising chickens. Not to mention the work to clean up your environment to make it safe for anymore chickens to live there..

When thinking of getting more chickens? Read here first, please! I know many of you are planning to pick up new chickens at some of the upcoming swaps and meets. Please read this and take to heart some very simple advice given by an experienced chicken owner.
When you get new chickens, please do not go straight home and put them in with your current flock. Do not put them in a pen inside your existing chicken house. Do not house them in the same area with the old flocks.
Be prepared. Make a different place for them to live alone and away from your current flock for an extended time. If you don't have an area now, then please don't get new chickens until you do.
New chickens need to be quarantined away from your other chickens for at least 30 days. Each flock of chickens has their own germs that make them immune to certain things in their environment. Before adding to your flocks.
1. Observe for any signs of illness or disease.
2. Practice good hygiene and wash your hands a lot!
3. Enjoy your new birds while planning how to best integrate them into the flock at the end of the quarantine.
4. Give new birds a supplement in their water to boost their immune system. Give them good probiotics - as simple as giving them a dish of yogurt.
5. You might consider giving them a little extra protein as they will be stressed being in a new place and might drop some feathers or a little weight.
Please give serious consideration to these simple ways of protecting your chickens, your kids and yourself.

Quarantine advice:
I've seen so many people who have bought new birds, and because they seem healthy, immediately throw them in with their flock. You MUST quarantine newly purchased birds unless you have bought chicks from a hatchery.
Disease can take up to a month to show up in a seemingly healthy chicken. Many, many of these common diseases make a chicken a carrier for life, and if your flock gets it, they become carriers for life. Some are even reportable to the state and the birds must be destroyed in some cases.
Some sellers are not aware their birds are ill, and some are just plain unscrupulous and don't care. I have only purchased ONE grown bird (my roo Hawkeye), and I kept him in quarantine for over a month. During the quarantine, I found that he did have a fungal infection on his comb and face and lice. I treated both and he was healed of both by the time he joined my flock, but it was very stressful and I'll probably never buy adult birds again.
During quarantine, the main things to look for are lice, mites, breathing problems, discharges from eyes or nostrils, fungus type patches on the combs and wattles, raised scales on the legs, indicating scaly leg mites, etc. I certainly understand not having money for them to be vet-checked, and truthfully, most vets know nothing about chickens anyway.
They should not share the same airspace because some diseases are airborne, as in coughing and sneezing, etc. I put my Hawkeye in a dog kennel in the basement bathroom while I went over things about him and fed him proper feed and observed his health. He did not breathe the same air as my flock for over a month.
And you may ask what to do if you see any symptoms in the quarantined birds after the month is over? I can only tell you what I would have done with Hawkeye if he had had anything contagious other than a fungus that could be fixed - I would have put him down. He came very close, too. What I thought at first glance to be canker in his throat turned out to be just a wad of feed on the wall of the throat. He got a clean bill of health and has been a wonderful addition to my flock, but it could just as easily gone the other way. It's harsh, but it's reality. Keeping that one bird would never have been worth risking my entire healthy flock.
If keep to these advice, adding new chicken to your flock can be a gain.