- Aug 16, 2010
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I debated writing this but it's been kind of festering in the back of my mind and I don't really have many I can discuss this with without feeling sad and disappointed in institutions we look up to. I try to balance my personal sensitivities with common sense and mostly just feel kind of "stuck" with no good outcome for any decision.
Our flock consists of very rare breeds, 57 birds, we've bred for four years. Last month we opted voluntarily to have our birds tested. Our young birds we'd hatch each year and mix with the adults would get a "crud" during cold weather then get over it and the whole flock would seem fine until the next year of young ones. The outcome was mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) and infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT). Our state vet was alerted by the testers and we effectively have a lock down on our property. No more birds in, no birds or products out. We have the option to cull everything but that decision would have wounded me enough to never have poultry again. With how prevalent disease and carriers are, there's the very real possibility it'd happen to a new flock.
I knew with testing birds comes with risk but didn't quite know to what extent. What was the most frustrating was not being even to sell eating eggs. I've phoned and emailed various vets from Georgia and Pennsylvania State University who treated my diagnosis with (summarized) "not a big deal, there are vaccines and treatments" where as my state, using the term the Penn State vet said on the phone, feels like house arrest.
I understand each state enacts its own rules as they see fit depending on a lot of factors. What was galling was getting treated so strictly without any other general precautions taken by my state to prevent diseases like MG and ILT. I'm a member of several local forums and clubs and cringe when I see birds getting swapped and sold and feel like if we would have never tested, we'd be just as under the radar. From talking with vets and reading, MG is very common and many flocks have it. Our assistant state vet asked if we had gotten creditable birds and both sources we did get adults from were NPIP. So then it was stated NPIP doesn't mean they're free from all disease. We never purchased birds from fairs or swaps or the neighbors, never opened our place up for farm tours, and were mindful of observation and month-long quarantines for the NPIP birds we did get. That some of our birds were handled by my state ag to get them NPIP approved when they clearly had other diseases seems like a hypocritical system.
Don't get me wrong, I am currently practicing husbandry practices to stop ILT and agree both diseases are not great to have. But to not even be able to sell eggs for eating is not exactly great when we're swamped and used to donate them to a food shelf and sell them just to offset feed prices. There's no way we can eat them all or have them leave the property so we'll have to find some other way to dispose/deal with the eggs.
After all was said and done it feels a bit like getting betrayed by the people you go to for help, but too late now. Vets on the phone have told me not to get testing done, which is pretty sad. The vet from Penn State said she'd be willing to write a letter on my behalf. I thought that was kind of her. One of the things I was wondering is how each state decides on how to react to reportable diseases and work to perhaps getting them adjusted. Or not. But I will never have testing done again.
We never made profits off our flock, I was really excited and proud to be able to conserve endangered breeds. All for naught. Please know your local regulations if you get testing or necropsies done. And all the health to your birds!
Our flock consists of very rare breeds, 57 birds, we've bred for four years. Last month we opted voluntarily to have our birds tested. Our young birds we'd hatch each year and mix with the adults would get a "crud" during cold weather then get over it and the whole flock would seem fine until the next year of young ones. The outcome was mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG) and infectious laryngotracheitis (ILT). Our state vet was alerted by the testers and we effectively have a lock down on our property. No more birds in, no birds or products out. We have the option to cull everything but that decision would have wounded me enough to never have poultry again. With how prevalent disease and carriers are, there's the very real possibility it'd happen to a new flock.
I knew with testing birds comes with risk but didn't quite know to what extent. What was the most frustrating was not being even to sell eating eggs. I've phoned and emailed various vets from Georgia and Pennsylvania State University who treated my diagnosis with (summarized) "not a big deal, there are vaccines and treatments" where as my state, using the term the Penn State vet said on the phone, feels like house arrest.
I understand each state enacts its own rules as they see fit depending on a lot of factors. What was galling was getting treated so strictly without any other general precautions taken by my state to prevent diseases like MG and ILT. I'm a member of several local forums and clubs and cringe when I see birds getting swapped and sold and feel like if we would have never tested, we'd be just as under the radar. From talking with vets and reading, MG is very common and many flocks have it. Our assistant state vet asked if we had gotten creditable birds and both sources we did get adults from were NPIP. So then it was stated NPIP doesn't mean they're free from all disease. We never purchased birds from fairs or swaps or the neighbors, never opened our place up for farm tours, and were mindful of observation and month-long quarantines for the NPIP birds we did get. That some of our birds were handled by my state ag to get them NPIP approved when they clearly had other diseases seems like a hypocritical system.
Don't get me wrong, I am currently practicing husbandry practices to stop ILT and agree both diseases are not great to have. But to not even be able to sell eggs for eating is not exactly great when we're swamped and used to donate them to a food shelf and sell them just to offset feed prices. There's no way we can eat them all or have them leave the property so we'll have to find some other way to dispose/deal with the eggs.
After all was said and done it feels a bit like getting betrayed by the people you go to for help, but too late now. Vets on the phone have told me not to get testing done, which is pretty sad. The vet from Penn State said she'd be willing to write a letter on my behalf. I thought that was kind of her. One of the things I was wondering is how each state decides on how to react to reportable diseases and work to perhaps getting them adjusted. Or not. But I will never have testing done again.
We never made profits off our flock, I was really excited and proud to be able to conserve endangered breeds. All for naught. Please know your local regulations if you get testing or necropsies done. And all the health to your birds!
