Quarantine Procedure for newly Birds brought home.
all new birds must complete a quarantine period in a new home before being introduced into your flock. Why quarantine? Moving to a new home is stressful, and the stress may make the bird susceptible to pre-existing or new illnesses. If you do not quarantine, your flock will be exposed to this new bird and its illness. The results can be expensive, time consuming, and even deadly. If adopted birds or personal bird(s) become sick due to quarantine violations, the adoptive parent is responsible.
TIME PERIOD
Minimum of 6 weeks
1. During this time, observe your bird closely for any signs of illness, including, but not limited to severe loss of energy or vitality, blood in droppings, diarrhoea, watery droppings, discharge from the nose, eyes, or mouth, respiratory distress, and seizures. Make sure the bird is eating. A sudden change in environment can be traumatic for a bird and cockatiels in particular, may stop eating. Even if they appear to be toying with the food, be sure they continue to poop regularly and to drink water. If you don't see the bird eating from the regular food dish, offer treats such as millet or wheat toast. It is more important for the bird to eat, especially during a transition period, even if their diet isn't as healthy as it should be.
2. Weigh the bird regularly, with a gram scale if possible, Keep a record of the bird's weight. Watch for sudden or significant weight loss.
VET VISITS
2. If the bird is stable, contact your local vet or avian vet for further advice.
3. A sick bird should remain quarantined until it tests negative for illness and has completed any medications.
QUARANTINE ENVIRONMENT
1. Quarantined birds must be kept in a separate room, away from the rest of your flock. The room should have a door that can secure this space and prevent any of your flock from accidentally entering this room.
2. Ideally, this room should have a separate source of fresh air, to limit the stress on the quarantine bird's immune system.
3. New quarantined birds mean a new quarantine room. Unless they come to your home on the same day, keep new bird additions in a separate room from older birds.
4. Even if your new bird looks healthy, the bird may be carrying bacteria or viruses that could easily be spread to the rest of your flock. Remember, birds hide illness!
5. Wash your hands before handling your bird and also wash hands once you have handled your bird, this will help with any infections or diseases passing to and from bids.
6. Provide your new bird with a sterilized cage, perches, dishes and new toys.
7. After your bird is settled in and before quarantine is completed, throw away any old toys and perches that can't be sterilized.
8. Wash quarantine dishes in a different sink than your flock's or at least a different dish scrubbing brush. Sterilize the scrub brush and dishes thoroughly in the dishwasher.
9. No sharing between quarantine flocks. No sharing used food, water, dishes, toys etc.
How I'm dealing with Quarantine.
so as many of you know I have a new bird 6 week old Bentley, he arrived home on the 21/02/2017, soon as I got home we went straight into the bedroom * he doesn't stay in the bedroom while we sleeping* to where he will stay for the next 6 weeks, until I feel he is ready to meet Bella & Bert, also this allows me plenty of time to look out for any illness as stated above.
this is the first time I am doing Quarantine as I never did this with Bella & Bert, I got them with in a week of each other last year, I was new to the bird world and didn't know much about it at the time, but over the year I have come across owners chucking bird after bird into a cage with out Quarantine, and I have to be honest and say the birds didn't survive for very long, as one was very sick and passed it on to the other birds it was housed with!!!!
I guess I was very lucky this time with Bella & Bert not doing Quarantine, hence why I am doing it with little Bentley for his own safety and also my other birds.
I genially don't believe Bentley is poorly I just don't want to put Bella & Bert at any sort of risk, perhaps you could take this a word of advice!!!!
what happened next.
so Bentley is currently in my spare cage that was Bella's & Bert's, its very big for a little baby but also spacious so he can climb and spread his wings out beautifully, Bentley was a spare of the moment pick up, so before I collected him I made sure his cage was all set up waiting for him so I wasn't running around trying to set it up when he arrived.
I opened the carrier I have and he stepped up on my finger....yes 6 weeks old and can step up without hassle what so ever, a moment of joy, I placed him into his new home and left him to settle in, leaving a radio on for him so he had some sort of comfort, every time I walked past I would say hay baby boy * I'm sure those will be his first words if he does speak*
his very first night went well as he was still sat in the same spot before he went to bed.
his very first night went well as he was still sat in the same spot before he went to bed.
okay so this is where you can use Quarantine time to your advantage
as Bentley was some what fingered trained by the breeder *not fully trained* I'm going to carry on taming and training him and over the duration of Quarantine time I will try to write what we have achieved through out the weeks and hopefully show how use full this time can be consumed into taming sessions as well as Quarantine time.
DAY 0
Hear I just let Bentley get settled in didn't want to over whelm him on his first day, he even ate straight away I know other birds can take days even up to a week before eating, even I was surprised at how quickly he had eating on his first day.
DAY 1
so on day 1 I didn't get Bentley out until after lunch time as I wanted to give him a few more hours before bothering him, as he still a baby he is still very sleepy, but when I got him out he perched on my finger for a full 40mis snoozing, I did think my finger would fall of at some point lol, but when he woke up, I placed him down on to my bed and let him explore and have a wonder, he found stitch to perch up on and have a quick nap also, again when he woke I placed him back down where he showed some interest with bell ball, he moved it very gently and went back to exploring. after he finished he decided it was time for nap on my finger again after 5mins or so I put him back so he could sleep, he was out for at least 2 hours, its great bonding time for us.
 |
DAY 2
Bentley was ready to come out, soon as I opened his door he went straight to my hand to come out **whhhatttttt** this boy is surprising me every time, so today I introduce a bowl of water to see how he would react to it, I wasn't to bothered weather he took a bath or not he still a baby and probably the first time he seen a bowl of water in front of him, he showed some interest but didn't get in, so we will keep working on that, Bentley got spooked by a lorry backing up down the side road and took off, took me by surprise, it was more of a flutter, I guess its the first time he actually flown, and of course went to the highest point of the room dammmmm Bentley.
I did about 1'000 rescue missions up and down to get him every time he took off, the more he did it the more he found his wings, after the lorry left, he was so much calmer and content, I have given Bentley, Bella & Bert's rosewood tree play stand, he was happy perched on their next me, even showed an interest in the dangling carrots, we also worked on the stepping up command which he did beautiful at only 6 weeks old, he also perched on my daughters finger for a short while, she even read him a story before bed.
DAY 3
okay so on day 3 not much happened as I was working on a late shit, I got Bentley out for for 30mins before I left and I worked on some stepping up for 15 mins and sat with me for the remaining 15mins, its always best to try get any training sessions in when you can, it does make a big difference even if its 10mins, you can still achieve a lot.
DAY 4
first try of kale, so as I know many people wonder if you can give veggies to such a young bird, personally I don't know if there is a right or wrong answer!!! as Bentley is 6 weeks old I thought it would be the perfect age to start him, I would think the longer you leave it, the harder it would be to try and get them to eat them, as many people always ask how do I get my bird to eat veggies, the key is to be persistent and keep trying *don't give up after a few days* I was very lucky that Bentley enjoyed his first try of kale was a big hit, reason I picked kale first is because its Bella & Bert's favourite not only do they love to it eat it they also love to bath in it, Bentley didn't take much interest in bathing in kale so we will keep trying.
I also gave Bentley head scratches this absolutely melted my heart, and he really enjoyed them too, I didn't do it for too long as I didn't wanna put him off me but it was a big step * this is something I cant do with my other 2* only on day 4 and he is trying kale and enjoying head scratches.
DAY 5
Bentley got some time out of the cage for about an hour as I had bin at work all day, he happily sat perched on my finger for the whole time, he still isn't 100% on playing just yet, but he has shown interest on the pervious days, his swing he has in the cage is made from sticks so that keeps him happy chewing on them.
there was a big shouting match between rooms, and Bentley found his little voice and started shouting back at Bella & Bert, I think Bentley now knows there is more activity in the front room where the other 2 live, hopefully the days fly by so he can eventually join them.
DAY 6
this was an interesting day, Bentley really showed his personality today, he thought it would be fun to dig out al his seeds from the bowl *was so funny watching him* he squeezed his little body in the container lol and then his water bowl, I saw this as an opportunity to use the bird bath, which he walked threw to inspect, he was dripping wet, Bentley also had his first try of millet, which he had some in his cage from day one.
Bentley spent a couple of hours out of the cage happily perched on my finger for an hour chatting away to me.
DAY 7
so today Bentley had his first try of broccoli, boiled egg & egg shells, he didn't eat much, but that's not what I'm trying achieve, I want him to explore different smells, textures and taste, as he still a baby, he tried both the egg and broccoli which he seemed to like, also my other 2 enjoy this as well, its always great to start them as soon as possible, never give up on trying.
DAY 8
as the days go on quarantine is getting a lot harder and stressful *I'm going to be honest* now Bentley has a taste of being out side of the cage he wants to be out all the time, which is making it harder to dived my time with my other 2, I cant leave them locked up all day as its not fair on them, and I certainly cant leave Bentley in a room on his own.
its hard trying not to give up on quarantine, but today Bentley is really annoyed and frustrated that he cant be out all day long.
so he now digs in his food dish, seeds flying every where, soon as I go to open the door he stops, is this him telling me to let him out? he stops and jumps straight on my arm, runs up it and perches on my shoulder, I guess I answered my own question there.
its really fascinating to watch their behaviour as you can learn so much just from watching them.
Bentley has also mastered his acrobatics, the way they can bend them self's in very odd positions is unbelievable, I'm hoping Bentley will calm down and learn he cant be out all day just now, when he eventually joins my other 2 it will be completely different for him, fingers and toes crossed.
DAY9
so as said above Bentley hates being locked up more than ever, he really gets him self worked up and stressed out where he just wants to out all the time, makes it even harder when I have to go work, soon as I let him out he perches up on my shoulder and becomes such a calm little bird, he really is the sweetest little boy, not a lot happened on day 9 as I was working the last shift so he could only come out for an hour.
DAY 10
is pretty much the same as day 9 I was working the last shift so he only come out while I was getting ready for work, not once did he fly of my shoulder, he even perched on my toothbrush, I am totally amazed at how much he is bonded to me, I cant compline, I mean who would want to.
so as I have reached day 10 I'm not going to continue to write the next 20 days, I don't want to bore all to sleep, but I will do weekly updates of anything new we do, he only has 20 days to complete now, I'm really looking forward to him meeting Bella & Bert but also worried we may lose our bond, I hope this isn't the case.
so on the 22 march 2017 Bentley moves into the living room, where Bella and Bert live, Bentley is still currently in his own cage just for all the birds protection, as I'm not 100% sure on how they will react to each other, especially Bella being the most dominant one of the flock.
Bentley meets his big sister
over the next few days both cages are placed side by side to they can interact threw the bars safely, Bert was mesmerised by the new addition he would sit there for ages talking to Bentley.
Bella showed no interest what so ever in him, when ever Bella and Bert would go and eat Bentley would follow, it was rather cute to watch them, when it came to play time*out of the cage* both birds where terrified of Bentley, frantically flying away from him when ever he came any where near them, so it became apparent to me this might not actually work if they are so scared of him out side the cage they only seem comfortable within separate cages.
over the course of time Bentley continued to live in a separate cage, during time out of the cage they where slowly starting to tolerate each other, eating and bathing, playing you name it, I thought is great perhaps Bentley could have a sleep over, I was worried about Bentley throwing him in the deep end, I wasn't sure on what to expect, what would happen, would they fight or get on.
Bentleys sleep over didn't go so great I ended up putting back in his place, Bella was not happy about him being in her Territory, she fort with him until he fell of his perch I felt to guilty, as he is still only a baby, but I didn't give up on trying, the mistake I made was keep removing Bentley, one night I just decided to leave him, yes they argued over who was sleeping where, I would only intervene if things got violent which they didn't, all 3 birds settled in together for the night all was calm and peaceful, so
Bentley officially moved in on the 5th April 2017........
they still squabbled in the evening but slowly but surely, they are learning to put up with each other, Bella occasionally has a temper tantrum * best way to describe it* she will lash out at Bert or Bentley weather they are close to her or not she will go for them, so it has come down to me removing her the night and its not faire on leaving either of the boys alone with her, she was like this before with Bert I felt so sorry for him, but now I have two boys that get on I feel its best to keep them together and remove Bella, in the morning she would go back with out any problems, she only on had a melt down a few times, I believe she is becoming more acceptant of Bentley, tolerating him is a better word to use ATM .
so its now bin 6 weeks since Bentley got moved into the living room, he has thrived so much from the day I first brought him home with me.
even today *7th may 2017* Bella still tries to show him who is boss around hear, but Bentley has stood up to her and takes nun of her *crap* if she goes for him he will go for her as well, if things get to physical I will intervene but it has never got that far, as Bella will fly away from, I feel Bentley is still finding his position with in the flock as he is still a baby but growing up very fast, Bella is at the stage where she will tolerate him and can be near him more, if he gets to close she will let him know here friendship is still yet to blossom.
Bert on the other hand will budgie chat to him, play, bath next to each other no problem, Bert can get a little too carried away with Bentley, but he will always let Bert know if he has gone to far, they will bicker but that's normal, I cant Waite to see their friendship blossom even more over time.
as for mine and Bentleys bond, its still there he will come over to me have a quick chat then its back to hang out with the cool kids.
I hope my experience of quarantine will be some help to your self and your birds, it was a tough journey but we succeeded, there is still a bit of journey to come, but that's part of the process of love, trust, acceptance and most of all respect.
use the Quarantine time to your advantage, this can help you bond with your bird.
