The initial decision to go thru the process of getting your flock NPIP certified is completely voluntary, yes, but once you get your certification you are then required to comply to the rules and regulations if you want your flock to remain certified.
I was hoping someone that had more than a few months' experience with being NPIP certified or ultimately that a State tester would chime in and address my hatching egg question. As I said in my initial reply to your post about finding eggs and setting them... I didn't question you about hatching eggs from a non-NPIP certified flock along with some of your own eggs to cause an argument. I was concerned that you were putting your flock's certification at risk, nothing more.
Just for my own information I contacted the California State Poultry Board asking if/when I ever decide to get my flocks NPIP certified if CA has any laws, rules or regulations against bringing in hatching eggs from flocks that are not NPIP certified. At least I'll have an answer that pertains to my own State's laws.
Happy hatching, and I hope your flock remains disease free and NPIP certified.
Not trying to put too fine a point on it, but I still disagree with your definition of "voluntary" as it pertains to the NPIP program. It is a voluntary program because of the fact that participation is
not required in order to own, raise and sell poultry. If one chooses to participate, there are rules and guidelines that must be followed to remain certified, if so desired.
Sorry I didn't address the question about the hatching eggs, I thought it was a bit rhetorical. Certainly, if I brought in eggs and hatched them, and the keets carried Pullorum, it can be transmitted to my flock. That's why there is regular repeated testing and the requirement to cull any infected birds in order to remain NPIP compliant. Keep in mind that in NC, finding an infected bird in my flock would not cause my certification to be at risk. Not eliminating the infected bird would, as would failing to keep up with required testing. My certification letter states, "In order to maintain your classification, you must not allow any untested birds into your flock and you must follow all NPIP requirements for this classification. Your flock will need to be retested within one year for the Pullorum Typhoid Clean program." Again, had I intended to keep these keets that I am incubating now, I would have to have them tested before exposing them to my flock since they do not come from an NPIP tested flock.
I don't think you and I would fall into the same classification of the NPIP program, by the way, since you mentioned what it would require for you. My classification is for Subpart E, non-commercial.
ETA: The NPIP breakdown of classifications:
The non-commercial Subparts are:
- B- Multiplier Egg-Type Chickens
- C- Multiplier Meat-Type Chickens
- D- Turkeys
- E- Waterfowl, Exhibition, Game Birds, and Backyard Flocks
- F- Ostrich
- G- Primary Egg-Type Chickens (Breeding)
- H- Primary Meat-Type Chickens (Breeding)
The commercial Subparts are:
- B- Commercial Table-Egg Layers
- C- Commercial Meat-Type Chickens
- D- Commercial Meat-Type Turkeys
- E- Commercial Upland Game Birds, Waterfowl, Raised-For-Release Upland Game Birds and Raised-For-Release Waterfowl
