Joanie Doss
Almost everyone says they quarantine their new birds. However, it is surprising how many make no attempt at all to keep the new bird separate from their collection.To many people, putting a bird in a separate cage from their other birds for a couple of days is what they consider adequate quarantine procedure. Many times this cage is not only in the same room as the other birds, but is placed next to another bird's cage. For a true quarantine situation, the bird should really be housed in a separate building away from your other birds.
Although people seem to understand about bacteria, viruses, etc., concerning human health, they act as if these things do not exist when it comes to birds. Since they can't see them, they assume they aren't there. They seem to feel that nothing bad will happen to them.
One of the biggest downfalls of some owners and breeders is that they feel they can tell a sick bird just by looking at him. I wish they could but unfortunately when a bird shows signs of illness, he is very, very ill. Birds are food for many animals. In the wild, if a bird appears ill, it will attract predators. Fellow flock members may pick on the sick bird or chase him from the flock. Instinctively, the bird knows that he will not survive if he shows any signs of illness. He will try to act normal for as long as possible.
Recently a breeder purchased a pair of new birds and immediately placed them with her other birds. Her safety procedure was to remove one of her birds that looked a little suspicious. Since she bought the pair from a person that does regular vet checks and blood tests, the woman felt confident that the new birds were healthy. These birds probably were healthy but what about her own birds? What disease could they spread to her new pair? If one of the birds appeared "suspicious", the rest of her flock may not be up to par as well.
People will get away with lax quarantine procedures for years but eventually, it will catch up with them. Because their parrots are not showing illnesses immediately, the person feels his birds are healthy. He will never understand when a disease suddenly runs through his aviary killing most of his flock. These people are playing Russian Roulette. It is not a matter of if their birds will become ill, but rather when their birds will become ill.
Whenever you purchase a new bird and add it to your collection it must be vet checked and quarantined. Since the stop of importation we can no longer be lazy and careless with our present stock.
A person told me that her birds would not pick up any disease as they were never stressed. She believed that only stressed birds became ill. What she failed to understand was that stress takes many forms. A change in food, water, temperature, environment, caretaker or mate as well as producing young can all stress a bird. Even healthy birds can pick up a viral, bacterial or fungal infection, just as people can pick up the flu or a cold by being in contact with a person that is sick with these.
So why don't more people quarantine their new birds? Most of them do not like the inconvenience of not having all the birds in one room and of having to wash their hands between handling the birds. Others are eager to get males and females together so that they can start raising families. Another big reason is the lack of another building to house the new birds or even space in their home. Most birds are regulated to a bathroom or bedroom. Their owners are eager to be able to have those rooms free again. Incidentally, bathrooms make a very poor quarantine area. Too many people are coming and going out of the room and it generally exposes the bird to several types of bacteria. Many people think that a disease just won't happen to them--that it is something that happens to other people!
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