I'm sooooo happy to know that because I've had a few chickens that had respiratory issues on occasion. Kind of like kids, they seem to get a cold, and I've given them meds and they're fine. Alot of people on this site will recommend you to cull your entire flock if one gets sick. The lady from OPA said, why not get your chicken tested instead of killing it? She told me that, just because you have a chicken that becomes ill once in a while doesn't mean your whole flock is contagious and should be put down. So that made me really happy to hear that from an expert. I really do love chickens. It's great to get the eggs, but they also make great pets and they make my life much more interesting.
In Ohio, it only costs $35.00 for the testing. The gov't provides a grant that pays for the mileage of the tester, plus the test for the avian influenza. If you have 50 to 300 chickens, then the testing will cost you $50.00. It's nice to have that peace of mind that your flock is OK. The lady also checked all my birds for parasited, (and they had NONE!) And she looked at my rooster with the bad knee, and she really was informative and even gave me some gardening advice too. Wonderful lady!
So, if any of you out there, who like me, wondered what this NPIP stuff is all about, have your flock tested! It's inexpensive and I believe it's a good thing to do.
Just wanted to share!
Sharon
