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Unless you have your entire flock tested, and cleared, you can not say your flock is MG free. Just the bio security measures alone that one has to follow with a healthy flock is demanding, and just as important for the breeder, commercial hatchery, and for the backyard pet flock. And what about the shows? Think of all the disease your flock could be exposed to there, other birds, people attending the show, and your birds will already be stressed from traveling to the show.
Breeders who show their birds, command much higher prices for their eggs, chicks and started pairs, and rightfully so. They invest a great deal of time, effort, and money into their flock. There are no easy answers here. Do you require everyone who keeps birds of any type, any quanity, to be tested for any contagious disease which there is no control or cure for, that can wipe out an entire flock? Then what, have all those birds in that flock destroyed?
That is why I don't go to shows, don't show my birds, make everyone disinfect when they come here, don't acquire started birds, etc, etc. It's really not all that hard to do all you can do. When I went to someone else's house for the weekend recently, I bought brand new shoes to wear and didn't even put them on until I was at her place, washed all my clothes prior to going and the moment I came back.
I don't require anything of anybody except when they come onto my property. What they do with their flock, what they'll put up with on a daily basis, is up to them. I am doing what I can to protect my flock from carrier diseases and I refuse to let down my guard or change my strategy that seems to be working so far. If it stops working, I'll do something different.
You cannot compare human disease with avian disease, because they are not the same. Humans get colds all the time and don't remain carriers. Chickens don't get head colds and recover; they get diseases that make them Typhoid Marys in the flock. Those are similar to herpes type viruses. You try to avoid exposing them to those germs, but the main thing you want to do is develop strong immune systems in your flock by proper management. The ones that become sick have weak immune systems. Those are the ones you cull, even if they seem to have recovered. The others may have been exposed to the same germ, but if they did not become ill, it may be just that their immune systems were stronger. Keep the ones that never became ill and you have the ones with stronger immune systems. If you keep ones that became ill, even if they got over their symptoms, they are the weak links in the flock, not the strong ones. But, you don't continually play Russian Roulette by throwing germs at them, testing them constantly, because eventually, they'll meet a germ their immune system may let in, so that's where biosecurity comes into play. I think some are making this harder than it needs to be.
Unless you have your entire flock tested, and cleared, you can not say your flock is MG free. Just the bio security measures alone that one has to follow with a healthy flock is demanding, and just as important for the breeder, commercial hatchery, and for the backyard pet flock. And what about the shows? Think of all the disease your flock could be exposed to there, other birds, people attending the show, and your birds will already be stressed from traveling to the show.
Breeders who show their birds, command much higher prices for their eggs, chicks and started pairs, and rightfully so. They invest a great deal of time, effort, and money into their flock. There are no easy answers here. Do you require everyone who keeps birds of any type, any quanity, to be tested for any contagious disease which there is no control or cure for, that can wipe out an entire flock? Then what, have all those birds in that flock destroyed?
That is why I don't go to shows, don't show my birds, make everyone disinfect when they come here, don't acquire started birds, etc, etc. It's really not all that hard to do all you can do. When I went to someone else's house for the weekend recently, I bought brand new shoes to wear and didn't even put them on until I was at her place, washed all my clothes prior to going and the moment I came back.
I don't require anything of anybody except when they come onto my property. What they do with their flock, what they'll put up with on a daily basis, is up to them. I am doing what I can to protect my flock from carrier diseases and I refuse to let down my guard or change my strategy that seems to be working so far. If it stops working, I'll do something different.
You cannot compare human disease with avian disease, because they are not the same. Humans get colds all the time and don't remain carriers. Chickens don't get head colds and recover; they get diseases that make them Typhoid Marys in the flock. Those are similar to herpes type viruses. You try to avoid exposing them to those germs, but the main thing you want to do is develop strong immune systems in your flock by proper management. The ones that become sick have weak immune systems. Those are the ones you cull, even if they seem to have recovered. The others may have been exposed to the same germ, but if they did not become ill, it may be just that their immune systems were stronger. Keep the ones that never became ill and you have the ones with stronger immune systems. If you keep ones that became ill, even if they got over their symptoms, they are the weak links in the flock, not the strong ones. But, you don't continually play Russian Roulette by throwing germs at them, testing them constantly, because eventually, they'll meet a germ their immune system may let in, so that's where biosecurity comes into play. I think some are making this harder than it needs to be.
