Washingtonians Come Together! Washington Peeps

[Amberjem]

I was wondering if anyone has been thru the NPIP process here in wa and if they could share their experience with it

 

[Hinotori]

I'll be putting more fencing up around my pens. Zip tying down what's out there more securely will help as well. I don't have any waterfowl and the chickens are several hundred feet from the pond.

The dogs have instilled in all the wild birds that they are not welcome. I'm still not letting the chickens out and they are all very angry with me right now.

 

[SunnySky]

I was wondering if anyone has been thru the NPIP process here in wa and if they could share their experience with it

Hey Amberjem! I've been through the NPIP process and it's pretty easy. (the hardest part was getting ahold of the state inspector to schedule a time to come out).

First off, here in this state initial AI testing is a mandatory part of the NPIP certification process. After the initial test you can become part of the AI-clean program where they test your birds every 90 days free of charge or you can opt out of the AI testing after the first initial test.

So they test 30 birds (unless you have several hundred then they test more) over a few months old (I can't recall the specific age they must be). They have you catch and hold each bird while the tester takes a drop of blood from under the wing. He places it on a plastic table over a light and adds a reagent to it. The tester is looking for agglutination or no agglutination. You get those results immediately. That is the test for salmonella pullorum / typhoid. Then he swabs the throat of each bird with a long q-tip and takes those back to the lab. That's the AI test and takes a week or so to get those results. After you pass you can get a book of VS form 9-3 forms that you send with each bird or egg shipment.

He records the age and breed of each chicken.

Then he inspects your coops and pens for sanitation and cleanliness. He inspects all feeders and waterers. He also inspects how and where you store your feed.

He inspects your incubators, hatchers, and brooders for sanitation and cleanliness as well.

He asks you how you control rodents.

He asks you about biosecurity. He wants to know that you don't let every Joe-blow onto your property to visit your birds.

He wants to know that you don't visit every other chicken owner's coops also as that is a HUGE biosecurity issue.

It costs around $80/hour and took us about 3 hours.

Hope that helps.

 

[Amberjem]

so if you have less then 30 birds or all 30 birds are under a certain age what then? thanks alot for sharing the info and everything...had kinda hoped our state was a free testing state but guess not..so it cost you about 240 to get n go thru the certification process? is that a one time fee or reoccurring?

 

[SunnySky]

so if you have less then 30 birds or all 30 birds are under a certain age what then? thanks alot for sharing the info and everything...had kinda hoped our state was a free testing state but guess not..so it cost you about 240 to get n go thru the certification process? is that a one time fee or reoccurring?

I think, in the case of less than 30 birds or birds under a certain age, they'll just test all the ones who are old enough. I want to say it's like 3 months or older. Also, the state vet only charged me $45 lol. He told me why but I honestly can't remember. I'm actually not sure if it's a one-time fee or not come to think of it. Good question! The AI-portion is free, I do know that.

One other thing I forgot to mention is that once you're NPIP certified you can only purchase birds and eggs from other NPIP certified flocks.

 

[Amberjem]

ever? I mean would you be disqualified from the program you couldnt retest or whatever?

 

[SunnySky]

ever? I mean would you be disqualified from the program you couldnt retest or whatever?

Yes I believe so. I have been meaning to ask them if I were to purchase a bird from a non NPIP certified breeder if I could have it tested by the state or if that would DQ me.

 

[Carolei]

so if you have less then 30 birds or all 30 birds are under a certain age what then? thanks alot for sharing the info and everything...had kinda hoped our state was a free testing state but guess not..so it cost you about 240 to get n go thru the certification process? is that a one time fee or reoccurring?

Here's info on free testing in WA:

http://agr.wa.gov/FoodAnimal/AvianHealth/Docs/AI-WA-FlockTesting.pdf

 

[jbkirk]

I think, in the case of less than 30 birds or birds under a certain age, they'll just test all the ones who are old enough. I want to say it's like 3 months or older. Also, the state vet only charged me $45 lol. He told me why but I honestly can't remember. I'm actually not sure if it's a one-time fee or not come to think of it. Good question! The AI-portion is free, I do know that.

One other thing I forgot to mention is that once you're NPIP certified you can only purchase birds and eggs from other NPIP certified flocks.

Sorry for my ignorance but what does NPIP stand for

 

[Carolei]

Sorry for my ignorance but what does NPIP stand for

National Poultry Improvement Plan

My understanding is that it is a national program designed to monitor and eliminate disease in poultry.

"The National Poultry Improvement Plan was established in the early 1930's to provide a cooperative industry, state, and federal program through which new diagnostic technology can be effectively applied to the improvement of poultry and poultry products throughout the country."
http://www.poultryimprovement.org