Getting testing done next week!

[duluthralphie]

I know that. There is still a difference between just doing testing and filling out an actual certification.

As always you are correct. There is more to NPIP than just the testing. Just because you test your birds does not authorize you to fill out a 9-3 form..

 

[duluthralphie]

Blind Squirrel-acorn....... Blind Pig-Truffle....

 

[BantyChooks]

Blind Squirrel-acorn....... Blind Pig-Truffle....

Well, yeah, but up until now I hadn't managed to make you admit that I was right.

 

[Tavia Rose]

Thanks! I plan to cage them and have them inside my shop where it will be lighted since she is coming after I get off work and it will be dark. I have had both tests done at shows in the past so I am familiar with that procedure so I kind of know what to expect as far as that goes. I only have two ducks currently and am hoping that she will test them as well. I doubt I will have an assistant so hopefully having them penned off will help. The last show I went to my white call drake was tested and I had spent so much time cleaning him. He bled AWFUL. I was not prepared for that so I had to do the best I could to clean him up. I'm glad after I get this done he will not need that done at shows anymore!

Oh ok. So yea, you're pretty understanding of the testing process. They dont give you a big worry about anything else, in Texas, from what I can tell. And you're right after that you get this nice piece of paper that you can take everywhere with no worries lol. All my flock was TP certified from one test. I eventually want to pay for Avian testing, even if I don't need it, it's on paper.

 

[Tavia Rose]

Eat the dux, ( or compost them like @BantyChooks does) is the only thing I can think of.....

Lol wth?? I missed that

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I'm getting someone out to test my birds so I can eventually sell eggs at the FM and babies too. Is there anything special I need to know. I house my chickens and ducks together in a big 20x12x5.5 pen..with a coop in the middle. The ducks pool is in the back corner and chickens roost and all up front. It is covered with wire top and bottom with metal panels along the bottom perimeter. We will be moving all the roosters out to a bigger space on family land soon. They don't inspect that kind of thing do they? Either way, I'm excited to have it done. My dream since a kid was to own a ranch farm. And, I'm in my early 30s and taking the steps to eventually get there...on a budget.

I have no idea about Texas rules but here Ducks and Chickens have to be housed separately.

I think because bird flu is passed from waterfowl to chickens that you may not be allowed to keep a mixed flock of both chickens and ducks and still sell eggs to the public. That is my opinion. If you find otherwise let me know.

As far as I know The only test that is mandatory is the NPIP tests for Pullorum and this test is REQUIRED before you can ship eggs or birds in Interstate Commerce.

 

[duluthralphie]

I think because bird flu is passed from waterfowl to chickens that you may not be allowed to keep a mixed flock of both chickens and ducks and still sell eggs to the public. That is my opinion. If you find otherwise let me know.

As far as I know The only test that is mandatory is the NPIP tests for Pullorum and this test is REQUIRED before you can ship eggs or birds in Interstate Commerce.

15 states require ms/mg testing..several require AI testing to import birds to them....

 

[Tavia Rose]

I think because bird flu is passed from waterfowl to chickens that you may not be allowed to keep a mixed flock of both chickens and ducks and still sell eggs to the public. That is my opinion. If you find otherwise let me know.

As far as I know The only test that is mandatory is the NPIP tests for Pullorum and this test is REQUIRED before you can ship eggs or birds in Interstate Commerce.

Yep. I'm aware of that now but I'm not trying to go interstate lol. Texas has enough going on and there's no problem keeping my birds together here.

 

[BantyChooks]

Well, that was rather snarky. I was not going to offer anything else to the OP but since you have so swiftly insulted me, let me continue a bit, then I'm done. I am breaking no rules, contrary to your accusation. To sell eggs and chicks off the farm, I do not have to register with any government agency. If you show or mail birds and eggs all across the country, you must belong to the government program. I said that, in case you missed it. I do neither.

And actually, I am not in the minority. I bet the majority of folks selling hatching eggs and shipping birds over state lines here on BYC are not NPIP nor do they have a vet's certificate of health. Most are just casual backyard flock keepers trying to sell extras to make up some feed cost.

Again, NPIP was not created for backyard flocks and it was never intended for them. It is an ineffectual program for preventing disease as it only tests for the rarely seen P/T and sometimes, depending on the state, AI, and it relies on the honor system from its members. It lends a false sense of security if people believe it to be more than it is. There is no way that registering your flock to be tested for two almost eradicated diseases yearly can protect your flock. Are they going to come put a dome over your house? I think not. They will, however, know where to come kill your flock if you are in the kill zone during a major outbreak among commercial flocks, which I truly believe is part of the point of pushing for this by the USDA, but I digress. The false sense of security of an NPIP flock is all I hoped to impart to the OP, if she was going to buy and sell to other NPIP people.

To illustrate the inadequacy of the NPIP program, it was an NPIP breeder in Washington State responsible for the spread of ILT, a particularly nasty and reportable disease that will necessitate the government coming out to kill every bird on your property if you have one test positive for it.
I know of a case in Indiana of one NPIP breeder selling an ILT carrier rooster to another unsuspecting NPIP breeder, who properly quarantined him for literally months. With no symptoms showing in him, she put him with her breeding hens and they all became ill. She called out her tester, who found ILT, which meant the rooster had to have been infected and recovered, or been vaccinated with the live vaccine. The government folks took every single bird on her property, even coops that were far away from the affected one, and put them all in a gas chamber, one by one, then gave her a list of rules telling her what she could and could not do from there on out. Again, an honor system fail and one reason NPIP is not what it is cracked up to be.

When people seem so happy and positive about being NPIP, I want them going in with open eyes. That was the purpose of my original, and this, post.

Interesting points... thanks.