Kim,
What are they charging you $50.00 per year for? The test is a yearly test.
If you do decide to get certified, I would recommend getting the AI testing done also on a quarterly basis. This puts you in the AI free category which most State require when shipping in and to get those permits. It also provides coverage should there be an outbreak of AI and the come to \"cull\" your flock. You will get $$$ to replace your flock.
Jean,
I contacted the person in my state that does the testing and what not. I had some questions for her and to see if things had changed since last year. Here are her answers. Perhaps the question you asked of what they are charging me for is answered.
Hi Kim
Thanks for getting back to me with questions… nothing has changed since we first communicated, but I will clear up a few things for you…
1. While the small flock program is in effect, you do not pay for someone to draw the blood samples, nor do you pay the lab fees. The CA Poultry Health Board (me) pays for both while I have funding for the program. The “state” isn’t paying the fees, the CPHB is paying the fees. If I lose my USDA funding for Avian Influenza monitoring, then the flockowner would be responsible for both these expenses. We will be testing for Pullorum Typhoid and Avian Influenza.
2. $50 is payable when you send in your application form to me. I hold on to the check until the blood work is complete and then deposit it once the flock inspection is done. This fee is then billed April 1 of each year as the Annual Fee. The $50 flock certification fee is paid after you have completed the steps to join and receive your official NPIP member number. You will receive a VS 9-2 when your flock is certified, and an invoice for the flock certification fee will be attached. So, these 2 fees are billed at different times, I do not collect $100 up front to cover the year. But, each year it will cost you a total of $100 to maintain membership.
3. If all of your breeder birds are purchased from NPIP primary breeders, we will only test for PT when joining initially. But, if you continue to breed your birds and their progeny, you will be considered a primary breeder and we will test once a year for PT and 2x a year for Avian Influenza (AI). So, PT and AI will be tested at the same time and approximately 180 days later we will come back and test just for AI.
4. A CA Dept of Food and Agriculture veterinarian will do the flock inspection upon joining. This is a one-time event…. They do not inspect every year.
5. My budget only allows me to send a tech out one time to do the blood draws when joining… so if you want all your birds to be certified, then we need to wait until they all are over 16 weeks, which sounds like it might be late summer/early fall. I cannot send someone out now to test birds of age, and then again in a couple of months to test the remaining birds as they become the right age. You will need to wait until the entire flock is over 16 weeks.
6. Once we start, the process could take 1-3 months to complete. Reasons for that are: if you have positive reactors to the blood tests, those birds need to be quarantined and we test again 30 days from the original test date; the CDFA fits us in for inspections, so I am reliant on their schedule and when they can get the time to do it.
