Registration of backyard chicken flocks

Texican - I am one of those decrying the loss of my "rights" (I'm not sure why you used quotation marks around the word rights) but if I need government help I'd ask for it first. I can't imagine however, in the avian flu scenario you mention, that the government will be there to help me in a very timely or appropriate way even though they've recently allocated a billion tax dollars to the issue. If they're my only hope I'm in trouble.

I'm glad you'd be willing to kill your animals if necessary for the greater good. I would too if it came to that.

I value the health and safety of my family above my animals and my rights and my privacy. I don't however trust the government to make the right decision about whether my animals are potentially dangerous to the public's safety.

The government and the USDA folks who are supposed to be protecting the safety of my food supply already appear stretched too thin to keep the population safe by thoroughly inspecting the meat packing packing plants which feed a much greater population than my little laying flock. How can we believe that they are going to do a better job tracking individual small flocks then they've done with their larger task?

We are supposed to register animals in our town, but I refuse, I read the regulations just for fun, and there were things in there like you have to clean the chicken coop every day and other non-sense like inspections. True some people abuse their animals, but good friends telling them to change is going to work a lot better than inspections, as those that abuse will probably not register. I have a feeling my feed dealer is a little less than legal, so if he squeals on me I will Blackmail

All this comes in the way of "safety", however "safety" comes in way of control, epidemics and food poisoning suck, but I am not willing to give up my freedoms for a guarentee that everything at the farmer's market has been inspected. This "safety" is why all of our food has been pumped with antibiotics, I just wonder about all the polititions sitting around dreaming this stuff up.

Check this out, us homesteaders are all pretty headstrong in our freedoms, but even the "regulars" know when enough is enough. They built all these covanant developments around here where you could live in a "beautiful" neighborhood, because you had to have permision to do anything that would change the appearance of your home, you even had to sign up for lawn service so they made sure all the grass would stay cut. The perfect part of all this is that once all these people moved into their eutopia, they hated it, and now the value of those houses is half of what the same house would be in a non-regulated area.

I did get a letter this spring (from my township) saying that I needed to cut my grass because it was a "health and safety hazard" oh no!! We might all get hay fever!

Sorry about the rambling nature of this post, I am trying to homestead on the job! (banking)

Whoa - and I thought only General Chat had the need for those tin foil hats...

So Ed, you're willing to protect your rights, over a chicken?

My scenario is nasty and ugly. I disbelieve most of what my govt. tells me. BUT, I recollect from my history studies, back in 1918, quite a few millions died, (60 to 100) some of which were my great aunts and uncles, from the flu.

I'm talking end of the world flu stuff. Your electricity has went off, there's no more tv or radio... the last thing you read or saw or heard, was that the flu had mutated and people were dropping like flies.... Now you remember that the virus is hosted in avian species...and you just happen to have a few yardbirds running around... What are you gonna do now? Kill your chickens or Die Yourself???

Remember, I value my livestock more than most humans, so for me to eliminate them, the proverbial manure has already hit the fan... And if TSHTF scenario happens, most feds and locals will be more worried about their own dying family to worry about me and my chickens...

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

And the fed.gov, which has done such an admirable job inspecting meat packing plants (and preventing people from dying of Shiga toxin poisoning related to E. Coli)...welll....they're gonna do a GREAT job staying on top of those yard birds, right?

Like you said, a major outbreak occurs and they'll all be too busy preening for the TV cameras to come get our birds...

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Gun-toting, church-going, homeschooling, right-wing conservative, happily married, stay-at-home mom of three living in the real United States of America!

A couple of weeks ago I posted this on the Poultry Forum. I was watching CNN on the weekend when there was a segment on a new kind of chicken being developed in Great Britian which is resistant to Avian Flu. This is a genetically altered bird.At the end of the segment the scientist said that he hoped they would be able to replace every existing chicken in the world with their new chicken. He said it would take 4 1/2 years to accomplish this. I made my husband watch CNN for another hour so he could hear the segment himself but they never repeated it. Perhaps this is the reasoning behind the RFID of the chickens? SO they can find them to replace them? I am out of tinfoil any one got spare?

It's the principal of the thing.....

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Guess it's good for us "hobbyists" that chickens propagate so quickly, eh?

I'm not averse to have Rhode Island Red x Wyandotte crosses, as long as they have big boobs and lay lots of eggs. What would you call 'em, though?

On a serious note, resistant to Avian Flu? Which strain? So we all have to buy their genetically altered chickens that are resistant to H5N1...what happens when H8N3 comes along? We all have to buy new chickens?

I think I'll take my chances. Oh wait, I can't, that's right...for all intents and purposes, all my chooks were eaten.

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Gun-toting, church-going, homeschooling, right-wing conservative, happily married, stay-at-home mom of three living in the real United States of America!

Puts me in mind of when I was young and the government was talking about mandatory gun registration. My father swore he would never register his, and told us all to keep our mouths shut about what and if he owned any, as it was just another way for the government to control people, and if a law was passed to outlaw guns, they would know who had what and just confiscate them if people didn't turn them in voluntarily. I keep getting cards from the USDA titled "You are the best protection for your backyard flock". Yup, I'm doing my best. Time to grow whatever feed you can for whatever "wild" birds you raise, I suppose. On another, but similar note, at the local auction barn last month, the auctioneer was trying to get a higher bid on a nice Suffolk ram, and told everyone that by mid December, you wouldn't be able to bring any sheep in without having them "tested" 30 days prior to the sale. Haven't seen anything on any website about it, so I'm curious as to what he thought was going to happen.

Jan in Co

[QUOTE=texican]So Ed, you're willing to protect your rights, over a chicken?

My scenario is nasty and ugly. I disbelieve most of what my govt. tells me. BUT, I recollect from my history studies, back in 1918, quite a few millions died, (60 to 100) some of which were my great aunts and uncles, from the flu.

I'm talking end of the world flu stuff. Your electricity has went off, there's no more tv or radio... the last thing you read or saw or heard, was that the flu had mutated and people were dropping like flies.... Now you remember that the virus is hosted in avian species...and you just happen to have a few yardbirds running around... What are you gonna do now? Kill your chickens or Die Yourself???

If this thing has mutated to infect human to human, your chickens won't be the problem. At that point you will not be catching it from chickens.

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Cindy in PA

Gun control, livestock control..

What's that they say about ABSOLUTE CONTROL?

This type of thing litterally makes my stomach turn, because of the history of this type of control. Hitler first had everyone register their guns, then decided that it would be best if everyone turned in their guns. Everyone had to comply, since the government already knew who had guns. When the people have no control, they loose their freedoms, no one else is going to look out for them.

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Hitler didn't stop with registering guns. He also had 'defectives' registered and screened by doctors then euthanized those who didn't 'pass' inspection. Then he had the Jews register........

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Cyngbaeld's Keep Heritage Farm, breeding a variety of historical birds and LaMancha goats. (It is pronounced King Bold.)

Mmmm, I don't have any guns either. They were all eaten, along with the chickens.

Did I just say that out loud?

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Gun-toting, church-going, homeschooling, right-wing conservative, happily married, stay-at-home mom of three living in the real United States of America!

[QUOTE=Cindy in PA]Here's to hoping you are an avian influenza resistant specimen of the homo sapien sapien species.

Na. Barely a whisper. I don't think anyone heard except me. I know nothing. I already forgot what you were talking about. Yes, I'm showing signs of early alzheimers. I wouldn't be hard for me to forget if I even had chickens, or where I'd put them.

Registering chickens isn't going to stop avian flu. What, the flu's going to say, "Oh, that chicken's on the registery, I shouldn't infect it?"

Pbbbb.

Look. Avian flu scares me spitless. It's a real threat.

But the threat is PANDEMIC flu, where the flu has mutated and is spreading person to person. If it does that -- and it may -- registering chickens in the back yard is simply a waste of time. Because they wouldn't be the primary vector. Your coworker who comes in hacking up a lung, the cashier at the grocery store with a snotty nose handling your money, or the kids at your child's school dropped off sick because the parents didn't want to keep them home -- THAT would be where you'd get pandemic avian flu. Not my chickens.

If avian flu does happen in an area, spreading bird to bird, the government's going to need to go door to door anyway to find every bird they need to take out (and if it's H5N1 a total depopulation of the area would be appropriate). They'd have to go door to door because people WILL refuse to register them, there will be wild/feral poultry in some city neighborhoods that people feed but don't consider "theirs," and there will be birds not covered by the registry that need to be depopulated -- pet parakeets, wildfowl, etc. Unless they knock on each and every door in the area, they're not going to find everything. But quite frankly, if it's H5N1, bird owners are going to be noticing anyway. The stuff's rather dramatic when it hits.

Registering would be pointless. THey'd still be going door to door.

Leva

The cost is going to be transfered to the bird owner...just like licensing your dog.

How do we become more aware of what's going on and fight things like this? Is there an NRA for homesteaders? Do we have to join the Monsanto's of the world to know about a tacked on piece of legislation?

Our rights are being eroded tiny bit by tiny bit. I'm really tired of it and fear for my grandkids lifestyle. We all talk, but where's the action?

Point the way, let me know, I'll be right there.

Kind'a like a catch 22. Who want's to join an organization to fight things like this from happening, and let big brother know who you are.

This is on the USDA website, very long and very boring, but it does make some mentions about "biosecurity" measures for poultry, including backyard flocks.

Transcript of Technical Briefing regarding Avian Influenza U.S. Department of Agriculture - Washington D.C. - October 26, 2005

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[QUOTE=pickapeppa]
Like ThreeJane said...guns, what guns...

but if I did have an ol bb gun or something, and TSHTF, it would be zeroed in for a 400yd shot...let the worms take care of the carcasses...

my current bb gun is set on a 200yd zero, with a 3" - drop at 300yds...

I think we're all on seperate but equal pages here...

I under no circumstances, will be depending on Uncle Sam for help or assistance. If he shows up at my place, it won't be to give me anything, but to take.

IF the SHTF and it if there is a Wild Bird/Poultry connection, it will be difficult to maintain my flock in mosquito free quarters... and I'd have to make a decision to kill or spare them, and risk my life and those of family and friends who will inevitably show up because they are 'grasshoppers' and I'm an 'ant'...

I have plans upon plans upon plans. None of them involve calling USDA FBI CIA, the DNC or RNC...

One of those plans has some fears based upon Stephen King's "The Stand" where a contagion is spread by human contact.

I have no plans or worries over the girlie man flu that hits each year... never had a shot for the flu, and no plans on taking one. However, if we start seeing a death rate that starts taking out a percentage of the population each week.... 1% is almost 3 million people... a few weeks of a million or so a week, and the country will be in a world of hurt....

did I mention I like my chickens more than most humans?

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Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

[QUOTE=texican]That's a good book! And scary because the basic plot has the potential of really happening.

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