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NPIP is not NAIS. You don't have to put numbered bands on your birds or keep track that closely. It is simply once a year testing for Pullorum/Typhoid & testing every 90 days for AI. Benefits: You can legally sell & ship birds & eggs out of state, you can only buy from other NPIP participants, you get a number (mine is #51-370) on a permit to sell eggs & birds, people will know your birds are clean (better sales), and you will know your birds are healthy. You have to get birds tested anyway in order to show. Downside: your Dept. of Ag is in your face, in your business (kinda like Santa Clause on Xmas eve), they know everything that goes on regarding your birds, the inconvenience of having to bring birds to them for testing, paperwork (sales reports), you are limited in who you can buy from, you cannot buy at local auctions (non-NPIP birds!), or even eggbid or
eBay unless the seller is NPIP. It is only a requirement if you want to ship birds & eggs or show them out of state.
It's not NAIS, but you're giving the same info to the same people, so...your call. I have been an NPIP participant for a few years, but I do believe that NPIP is just another way for the USDA to know what you are doing.
Does NPIP make it legal to ship to all states? I thought that there were a few states with more strict testing requirements. I could totally be wrong about this.
You
can buy birds from non-NPIP participants, but you have to quarantine in an area where the birds are sufficiently separated from your tested flock and get the new birds tested before you can integrate them. And NPIP does not = healthy birds. You only have to do PT and AI testing for the program, and we all know that there are plenty of other icky chicken diseases floating around out there (as well as a lot of other ways that birds can be unhealthy). I think the fact that a person makes the effort to participate in NPIP counts for something, for sure, but I wouldn't trust the label 'NPIP' as some sort of certification that the birds are disease free and healthy. NPIP is good, but smart bio security and
quarantining everything are the ways to ensure you don't bring nasties into your flock.