The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Housing, Health & Hatching

can anyone give me some tips?

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Jean:
Mike, that will work for the strain that one may have on their own property, but when you start showing, you expose your birds to other flocks\' germs.... there are many different strains of MG floating out there.

It is not a requirement of NPIP to test for MG.  Yes, you would get false positives, but there is no reason for the State to test for it unless your are selling a bird and someone wants to make sure it is MG negative.

It can also cause false positives on your pullorum test if given within a few weeks of testing.  Older birds can also cause false positives on the pullorum tests.  (I know these facts from personal experience.)

Beth C:
It\'s not required for NPIP, but if you send a bird to the state lab for a necropsy (which I\'ve done), they are tested for MG. If you sell a bird to someone else and it comes up positive, the flock of origin is tested (this happened to a guy I know, but fortunately for him, his flock was clean, the birds were apparently infected after he sold them). If you are found to have a positive bird, your entire property is put under quarantine. While it is my understanding that they cannot force you to destroy your birds, they become essentially worthless because you can\'t sell or show until the quarantine is lifted, and it\'s lifted when your entire flock tests negative (i.e. all the positive birds are dead, since that is the only legal way to get rid of them).

Commercial poultry is big here - NC is the 4th largest state for broiler production & the 2nd highest for turkey. The big boys (Tyson, Perdue, Sanderson, Raeford, etc.) pretty much own the state. Neither vaccinating nor breeding for resistance (btw, Mike, I agree with you) is cost effective for them, and the rest of us have to bend to their will...

Edited to add: If I understand Dr. Mason correctly, if you report to the state that you are vaccinating you won\'t be put under quarantine, as long as nothing is showing symptoms.

John:

--- Quote ---The big boys (Tyson, Perdue, Sanderson, Raeford, etc.) pretty much own the state.
--- End quote ---

And, if they had their way none of our flocks would exist.  They have the money to lobby to get their way and would love to have the government regulate fanciers and small farmers right out of owning chickens and other livestock.   :(

Beth C:
It\'s really scary. They control everything. Other than hobbyists like us, there really aren\'t any independent growers anymore - every single farm (at least here) is under contract with one of *them.* We\'ve got guys who\'ve been on the land 6 generations but have no say over what goes on there anymore, because they went so far in debt building the facility the company demanded that they can\'t stay afloat if they lose their contracts. Several growers were very much opposed to switching from roll-up walls to the new style housing where the birds are raised completely in the dark,  but they had no choice if they wanted to hold onto their farms.

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