flu testing in texas, should i say yes??

[AccidentalFarm]

Shhhh! Don't tell them I live in Texas, too! LOL, just kidding. Good Luck with all that and keep us posted.

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

I recently had my birds tested for avian flu.

This is what they did, and what was told to us.

They held the bird, opened it's beak, put a swab into their throat and moved it around a little bit. Then they rinsed the swab into a tube of soultion. They swabbed 5 birds for every tube of solution.

They have to put the tubes into a cooler and send it to New York for results. Our tubes were Fed-Ex'ed on a Monday, results were back by Friday, (we were notified by e-mail) but we had to wait for it to come in the mail to find out.

It was negative!!!!

We were told that if the tests came back positive, they would buy out our chickens, either state level or federal level, depending on whether it was a low or high pathenagenic (sp) strain. They did not know any details of a buy out.

Jean

 

[robin416]

All they did was swab the throat of a bird. My District Vet did the swab, it was over so quickly I almost missed him doing it. That's another thing that's different in TN a vet actually shows up with the person doing the testing.

 

[MarkR]

Now this just old parnoid me, but my answer would have been "NO NO NO NO NO". There's no reason to do it.

If you ran a huge house for Tyson, I'd understand and say, "sure, test away". But flu isn't spread in small yard flocks or even bigger free range flocks. It's spread in cramped poultry houses where no one cares about the chickens other than forcing them to live in inhumane conditions and produce, produce, produce.

He should feel sheepish for asking. And he should get a lot of rejections. It's invasive and unnecessary. I really wish these people would spend their time and money looking at the places the flu is likely to pop up and leave the rest of us alone.

Heck, I even chased the cable guy out of our driveway. He just wanted to "check" something. Well, I don't think so bucko. I don't even have cable and they don't have an easement across my property. Give me a freakin' break.

Uh. . . right, sorry about that, I lost control for a minute. Sore subject. I've been to a lot of meetings about NAIS, and it just gets me all riled up. I'll go have a lie down I think.

Granted, I'm just a cranky loudmouth who flies a black flag over his house. I don't think of myself as being reactionary, but . . . right, shutting up.

Mark

 

[Wes in Tx]

During the last outbreak of Flu here in Texas there was atleast one backyard flock that had to be depopulated because the flu spread to that flock from the commercial facility over 1 1/2 miles away. The first time the flock was tested it was negative and the second time 3 weeks later they were positive. This was during heavy bird migration season also.

Robin IIRC the people that do the NPIP testing and all testing here in Texas are Vets also. Texas doesn't have any testers other than those that work for the Texas Lab system which is run by Texas A&M.

 

[Rafter 7 Paint Horses]

When my birds were tested, I too had gotten a call from Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC).
It was TAHC employees that tested my birds, not a vet. The solution was sent to NY for the actual reading of tests.

TAHC is trying to conduct free testing mainly under migratory paths.

I just want to state that I am against NAIS, and have been doing what I can to make sure it never becomes mandatory.
I do however, do what the law requires of me at this point.

But if my birds get sick, I would also destroy them rather than risk an epidemic, so when TAHC offered to test them for free, I said yes.


Jean

 

[MarkR]

Sorry everyone. Didn't mean to start anything. I just have pretty wound up on the subject.

Fortunately, NAIS is not the law of the land yet, and you don't HAVE to register and chip your birds. . . for now, it's voluntary. That's nationally, so don't let anyone tell you that you HAVE to do it. Lawmakers are working in that direction, unfortunately. It's going to make it ultimately very difficult for anyone to affordably and legally keep a backyard flock. Even as pets. The only poultry keepers that will be able to afford to keep their birds are the big houses, often the root (or at least an incubator) of the flu problem.

Sorry to hear about your flock Wes. Fortunately all the big poultry houses are over the mountain from me in the Shenandoah Valley (40-60 miles away). I just hate that those places exist. They are breeding grounds for disease. I'm hope I'm far enough away that, should something happen, it won't easily spread in my direction. One of the easiest ways for the flu to spread is having inspector, who have tromped through a poultry house, come stomping through my yard. That's why, should an inspector ever come here and I were feeling benificent, he better be sterilized and wrapped in saran wrap. Otherwise, I'm more than happy to show him the way back to where he came from.

I know why those houses exist - to make affordable food for all of us. They can no doubt produce low cost chicken and eggs for our grocery stores. And don't get me wrong, I'm all for food that we can afford, but I'm not sure our way of accomplishing this justifies it. You all might want to check out a book called "Dominion: The Power of Man, The Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy," by Matthew Scully. He was a speech writer for Bush I, but nonetheless, has written a great book about the inhumanity of the meat industry.

Also, check out anything by Joel Salatin, especially his book on pastured poultry. He's about an hour away from me and has totally changed the way I think about raising meat and eggs (okay, their pets too, but let's not stray to far from what chickens are to humans, i.e. food). His farm is astounding and if you're ever around here, I'd heartily reccomend visiting.

Believe me, I didn't used to be this way, but I grew up on a family farm, and I've spent too much watching the "agriculture industry" screw it up for the rest of us.

Okay, I'm done, I feel better.

Mark

 

[wynedot55]

oh boy that joel salatin can sure stir up a hornets nest.thats for sure.ive read some about him.an the thread got locked pretty fast.

 

[MarkR]

Unfortunately I can't blame Joel. I was this way before I met him.

Mark

 

[Wes in Tx]

LOL Mark. Also wasn't my flock but just someone I knew.

Jean do you remember whom it was that did your testing from TAHC?