Minnesota!

[Chickenaddict]

I wouldn't mind getting tested as I know my flock is clean and healthy. However I do this as a hobby on a very small scale with the intention of having my flock pay for themselves. I am unsure how much it would cost or if they would even let me get away with it because of the new ordinance in the area. I know I would feel a whole lot better about buying a bird from a swap that was healthy altho I think i'd still stick to my 30 day quarentine rule. Whats next Craigslist?

 

[destiny_56085]

Well they should be cracking down with those people selling on there too. If some of us have to comply, why shouldn't everyone. Its not those of us that are getting our birds tested that they have to worry about spreading disease. Its all those people that can't follow the rules. If you are raising chickens against your ordinance its only a matter of time til neighbors complain or cops find out and you are shut down anyway.

This is the MN State regulation:

1710.1310 Sale of Poultry and Hatching Eggs: "No person may sell, offer for sale, purchase, or trade poultry less than 5 months of age and their hatching eggs unless they originate from flocks and hatcheries under the supervision of the board and parts 1710.1300 to 1710.1530. Birds over 5 months of age must be tested and be negative for the appropriate required tests before being sold, except those sold for immediate slaughter."

 

[Chickenaddict]

First of all I was raising chickens before they changed the ordinance. The whole reason for changing the ordinance around here was because of all the illegal fighting taking place in the area. IMO you should be grandfathered in IF you had them before hand. Most of the birds here are not for breeding but pets with special needs that noone else would give a crap about. I don't consider myself a breeder, I am not running a business, I don't show. Like I said this is a hobby and I am not in this to make money. Had I known about the laws when I was selling chicks at the swaps I WOULD have done the right thing while it was still LEGAL to have them here. Now that I have bonded with my birds over the past years there is NO WAY I would let anyone take them from me. Id give up my house for them if need be. Does it bother me not to ever hatch out another chick or share some eggs with my neighbors now? Nope! I have never had a problem with the nieghbors, they all love them uncluding the sherriff who is animal control. He drives by and waves as I am out in the yard feeding them tasty treats so I am not tooo concerned about it, in fact city hall told me not to worry about it unless someone complained about them. Going on 6 years now. Like I think I stated before I would be all for being tested and certified if they would let me. If you want to judge my decision to keep my birds despite the local ordinance changing then go right ahead.

 

[sparkles2307]

I like this thread to be "Minnesota Nice"

 

[destiny_56085]

My parents always had a few birds in town too. Basically a glorified pigeon coop with pigeons, doves, a few mille fleuer d'uccles, mandarin ducks, quail, and pheasants. This was all fine with the close neighbors too. All it took was a complaint from someone across town to narrow this down to only the pigeons.

I will just say that the State of MN is cracking down on bird sales due to biosecurity reasons. If you sell birds especially in a public place or via a public ad (CL, kijiji, etc) you better have them PT tested. If you sell anything under 4 months of age you have to have proper documentation to prove that you either got them from a licensed hatchery or your birds themselves are free of disease. They don't care if you are doing it as a business or not. If a disease outbreak were to happen they want to know who people got their birds from and anyone else that may have bought from that source.

Last October there was a huge outbreak of Avian Influenza down here in southwestern MN. It happened at a turkey farm about 12 miles from me. The whole barn of turkeys were gassed. They traced it to the producer that time and also tracked down who else got poults out of that same hatchery. Everyone in the area who has any type of birds got these lovely visits from the state vet for the next 6 weeks. They wanted to make absolutely certain that it didn't spread outside that barn. Another example.... My friend is a manager at a Runnings in the next town. She brought home chicks of various breeds to raise for a 4-H project. Well all the chicks from Cackle hatchery were getting sick and dying right away. Since she was manager, she could pulled records of anyone else who bought some of those chicks from there too. Sure enough, a few phone calls later and found out more people had chicks dying from there too.

This is why the state wants these records. If people all of a suddenly report getting sick birds from you, the state will probably come back on you. What will you have as proof that your birds were healthy at the time of the sale? How are you going to cover your own butt if something happens?

If you don't want to go through the NPIP program, at least get certified as a pullorum testor. If you want your birds tested by someone else they normally charge $0.50- 2 per bird. The state runs training courses a couple times a year. You pay a small fee to take the course and then they send you all the paperwork and supplies to test birds. Its as simple as getting a drop of blood, mixing it with antigen, and filling out paperwork then.

 

[JanieMarie]

Hi Destiny
Just want to say thanks for all the info you put up for all us Minnesotans. Just wish there were more 'chickeners' up in my neck of the woods!

Do you know how I can find out when/where the state offers the training course to get certified for testing?

I'm in the process of getting NPIP and yes you need a hatchery permit but thats the easy part. Cant find anyone to test around here.

 

[destiny_56085]

All you need to do is call the MPTL. They had a training course this last April. They said they would offer another as soon as enough people showed interest. Their number is (320) 231-5170 or look on their website: http://www.bah.state.mn.us/ . They should also be able to tell you the closest people that are already certified testors too.

I am also the secretary for the BCPPA. Our club hosts alot of these huge swaps and 2 of the big fall shows. I'm the one the state vet gets in contact with. If we want to continue to host these events, we have to follow their rules.

 

[JanieMarie]

Thanks! Yea I had a list of 4 names 3 of which don't do the testing anymore and 1 maybe! Frustrating!

 

[Chickenaddict]

I really do appreciate the info destiny. I had no idea about alot of it and felt like if the feed mills were holding these swaps I just assmued it was legal. I will do what I need to do to get my birds tested so I will have proof they come from a healthy flock. I have kept good records of any birds I have bought and where I got them from. Either it was a hatchery or breeders who were npip certified and tested or hatching eggs. I do this so if something does happen I know who to go to. 1 question, If you take birds to the swap and pay to have them tested do they provide paperwork for you to pass on to the buyers as well as myself for records?

 

[destiny_56085]

I've battled this all spring. You wouldn't have believed how shocked we were when we saw the state guy's truck at our first swap. It was like going fishing and have a DNR officer standing over your shoulder. He handed us a sheet of regulations and said these HAVE to be met. Some is understandable. Half of the crap was just for the sake of paperwork to keep some government guy's job. Like this.....waterfowl have never had to been tested for showing purposes because they aren't affected by PT like landfowl is. So why all of a sudden are we testing them for a disease that they don't even have to worry about? Also have you ever tried to keep a band on a duck or goose? Vet couldn't answer us on that one. Another good question brought up by the president of the MSPA..... pigeons are not considered poultry, so why do they have to be tested and banded as well? They don't even fall under the category of livestock.

I now have the MPTL and state vet's private cell phone number on speed dial on my cell phone. My mom and brother have been certified testors for a few years and I had always thought that was good enough. Came to find out I couldn't legally sell chicks this year without a hatchery permit or proof that the whole flock was tested. Well getting my mom out there for a whole day of catching birds and bloodtesting was not fun. If you include all our peacocks, ducks, geese, pheasants, chickens, etc you are talking close to 400-500 birds total. I figured I had gone that far and might as well just apply for the dang permit. Vet eventually comes out and inspects everything. Gets even better..... Up til then the location of my farm has not been broadcasted anywhere. I live in town and that is the only address given out to people. A few weeks after the NPIP paperwork was complete, I had someone break into my barn and steal some of my best show birds. Same thing happened to a friend of mine a few weeks later. Her farm site was only available through NPIP too. So now I'm in a no win situation. If I want to legally sell stock, and the majority of my sales are out of state, then I have to be certified. If I'm certified my info becomes public. Ughhhh. Got 2 guard dogs, motion lights, a new rifle, game cameras.....

chickenaddict....when you get your birds tested at a swap, you will probably get the pink or yellow copy off the PT paperwork. This is your copy as proof that those birds are disease free. You really have no way of passing paperwork on to the buyers unless you go make copies quick. I suppose if you sell out all of them to just 1 buyer you could just give them your copy. If you have multiple buyers, you are stuck. We run into this down here more. We often time get buyers from SD or IA up for our swaps. Well to cross the borders back into their state with livestock they have to have paperwork on them. That's why the NPIP stuff is nice. I have a little book of signed forms already in my hands. When someone buys from me I fill out a form with both our addresses, variety of birds, how many, etc. It is also their copy that their stock is from a NPIP flock and disease free.

Those forms are also there to protect you as a seller. After one of the swaps, I sent in a whole envelope full of forms to the MPTL. I got a phone call the next monday and they said that I really didn't need to fill them out on in-state sales. No???? After I argued my point they agreed and said just keep sending them. First of all that is the buyer's proof that they got healthy birds from you. Secondly that is your proof of selling to them too. Say by chance someone does have a batch of sick birds and they try to pin it on you. Well what if you never sold anything to this person and they are just trying to cause trouble for you? This way I have documentation of everyone I've sold to including the breed, age, etc. Those slips are kept in my files and by the state too. All I would have to do is look back and have proof that I have never sold to this person.