Flock Talk
Adding New Members
By Ana Hotaling
New flock additions should be kept in a separate room or coop for 30 days. Monitor them to make sure they are free of disease, and allow them to acclimate to your backyard.
All new arrivals to Barn Sanctuary in Chelsea, Michigan, undergo a specific admissions process. Before they can join their fellows in the pig, cow or goat barns or in the poultry coops, they have a month-long stay in one of the farm’s quarantine barns. During these initial 30 days, each animal gets blood work done, dines on nourishing feed and receives any medical care needed to bring it back to health. Even if an animal appears to be in peak physical condition, it still must experience four-plus weeks of isolation.