A
true quarantine in your average household is nearly impossible BUT some extra cautionary husbandry goes A LONG WAY. a true quarantine would give the new parrot his own air supply. well we all know, that's probably not going to happen. but here are a few things you can do to reduce the possibility of transmitting any diseases:
1. keep the new bird in a different room than your flock. this not only gives you time to see if he's healthy but gives him time to get to know the household without having a bunch of strange birds all in his personal bubble.
2. put a GOOD hepa air purifier in that room.
3. wash your hands thoroughly between rooms. both going into and going out of. if you have any doubts about the bird's health then changing clothes between holding the new bird and holding your current flock wouldnt hurt.
4. wash food bowls and utensils thoroughly and use an antibacterial cleanser. F-10 is very good and the only cleaner that i know of that can kill PBFD on surfaces.
i have no idea where she found her vet, but her estimated cost for a well bird exam would BARELY cover the office visit fees here in Florida. i spent about $350 on caleb's well visit.
now lemme tell you a couple stories, true stories....
back in 2010, i added my last bird to my flock and thought i was done. but after one thing and another, i added my cockatoo in jan of 2012. i put him in his own bedroom but lets be honest, the air supply system made a true quarantine almost impossible. cockatoos are dusty and his dust
did get outside that room. i got lazy and didnt always wash my hands between interacting with the old and new. so about a month after i got my cockatoo, who turned out to be a plucker, barberer, self mutilator, but i anyway, i took him to the vet. after she did her first cursory exam she expressed some concern that he may have PBFD
i nearly fainted! had i doomed my entire flock to a horrible death because i was too lazy to wash my hands?? :deer: i spent a week in terror wondering and waiting for the tests to come back. you can read the play by play of this story right here at BP if you look hard enough. i was lucky. his test came back negative. but i learned my lesson. never again! i'm SO very for quarantine.
story number two isnt truly mine, it belongs to grey, a member here. i'll make it short. He is very involved in conservation breeding of rare amazons. he also has a couple caiques and a sun conure. he adopted a poor Scarlet Macaw named Scarlet. Discovery after horrible discovery for this poor blind girl finally led to a dangerous disease, its listed in the above article and is deadly to amazons.... and caiques. if he hadnt been following STRICT quarantine procedures he may very well have lost his ENTIRE flock. he would not have been lucky. you can see the play by play on Scarlet's story here in BP as well.
dont gamble. quarantine.