NPIP folks, Pullorum, Salmonella

[Sparklee]

What are the stats on Salmonella or Pullorum in regular backyard laying flocks? Do they tell you that in NPIP classes? How many people who take the NPIP test on their flocks end up having Salmonella or Pullorum? 10% or 75%?

Maybe Pullorum and Salmonella are the same thing. Just one chicken with Salmonella infects the whole flock, right?

All my layers seem perfectly healthy, but I was wondering what kind of risks I'm taking eating the odd raw egg now and then. I don't sell any eggs.

Now if I get hatching eggs from a breeder, then Pullorum can hatch along with the chicks and then I'd have an infected flock, right? And the chicks won't necessarily show any signs of any trouble, right? I'd not necessarily know if the chicks were sick, right?

Can a flock that has some Pullorum in it, get rid of it over time through good practices? I guess I'm thinking that it's not likely that we've never had Pullorum in our flock and yet we haven't had any signs or sickness so maybe our flock could have had it and now doesn't have it since we take really good care of them. Is that possible? And if they always are carriers, how are they carrying it? Why can't they get over it? Can they maybe slough off less bacteria at different times in their lives? Like maybe they are only contagious during times of stress like if you move them to a new coop or something like that?

Oh, and what are the percentages of chickens that carry salmonella and then don't have the salmonella in their eggs or egg ducts? Anyone know? Do the NPIP people go over that?

Thanks for answer to even just one question.

 

[NanaJune]

Typhoid Pollorum and Salmonella are the same thing. It is carried in the blood and in the eggs/eggshell. It is transmittable through the eggs/eggshell. Therefore, it is passed to the chicks the same way.

If you are really worried about it, you can go online and get a kit to test for it (Cutler Supply or other online poultry suppliers). However, you have to prick your chickens foot and drop some blood on a plastic square and then add the TPollorum stain and watch for a reaction. If no positive reaction in 5 minutes, you are TP clean. Or you can call your local extension agent. Here in Texas, you can call the State Diagnositcs Lab. They will usually come out and test for it if you want to get your flock checked annually.

I have no idea what the percentage is for TP in tested flocks, but I don't believe it could be very high. Most chicks and chickens are originally from hatcheries or breeders that test for it frequently. Therefore, their hatching eggs and chicks are all clean. We've never tested positive for it, and we raise hundreds of chicks and hatch thousands of quail and chicken eggs per year.

 

[Oregon Blues]

According to the state of Oregon, the last case of pollorum in Oregon was in 1992.

So I would say that a positive test is probably pretty rare.

 

[Chickenaddict]

I just had the whole flock (45 birds) tested here in MN and the test per bird was no longer then 2 minutes, costed me about $25 to have a tester come out and git r done. All mine were negative.

 

[Sparklee]

Last case of Pullorum (one of a few salmonella types) was 92 in Oregon. Mighty rare, then. Also taking into consideration that it's not a huge egg producing state like Iowa.

Wikipedia says, with plenty of footnotes to back it up, that (not verbatim, but condensed) the egg shell may be contaminated with Salmonella (eteritidis, not pullorum) such interior egg yolk contamination is theoretically unlikely. Even under natural conditions, the infection rate was very small (0.6% in a study of naturally-contaminated eggs and 3.0% among artificially- and heavily-infected hens). Please read the direct info from Wikipedia under the title "Salmonella" down in the Deaths sub-section.

I don't know. Seems like a tempest in a teapot for the small flock owner who eats all the eggs themselves and never gets any symptoms and all the chickens in the layer flock are out kicking up their healthy heels in the tall grass.