registering chicks?

"Very true, for the diseases that are 100% fatal. Few are. If what you say were true, most poultry and livestock disease would have died out years ago. They haven't. Then how are livestock diseases spread? Most often it is be direct contact with the animal or feed, water or soil that sick animals have had contact with."

Exactly, so why would they need your info for baby chicks which have yet to be exposed to the outside world?

Rambler the problem I have with your defense of the big chicken houses is this -- water quality control! I don't know if you live in the city or in the country, but just north of me - I live in town btw and can have 10 chickens here - on a 4 mile stretch of country road there are 34 chicken houses.

All 34 chicken houses have 3000+ chickens in them. They sit at the top of the acquifer that feeds water to our town. There have been accidents in the past and with more than one chicken house at a time, where our water has been contaminated from spills. And we always find out after the fact.

Me personally I don't see how 102,000 chickens in a 4 mile stretch, and that's the chicken houses I can see and count from the road w/o going back onto private property to see if there are more of them, can be safe. Typically it's the same 3-4 guys running these chicken houses so hopefully they are not brooding any germs themselves that the chickens will catch.

AND if the chicken houses are so safe WHY then do they have to dope the birds so much with antibiotics and steroids?

Oh yeah and I might add the air in that 4 mile stretch is just beyond horrid.

And for those who don't know how infested we are with commercial chicken houses there's something like 10K chicken/turkey houses between Des Moine, IA and the Minnesota border.

Kimberly

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“I am not afraid, because I was born to do this."

Joan of Arc

http://www.survivalkitchen.blogspot.com

Someone above said "follow the money" and I have to agree.
Someone also said government = the people and I couldn't disagree more.

Factory farms have huge presence on K street and an extreme amount of influence in Washington. The backyard farmers have no such lobby. The food scares in recent years have not been from the backyard farms.

It is not in the governments nor the factory farmers best interest for the people to be able to provide for themselves. NAIS and the "voluntary registrations" are another means of the government taking rights from the people and has been rooted in the illusion of food safety. As we have all seen in recent events, nothing is farther from the truth.

A frightened populous is easily manipulated and it sounds like a few are lined up and ready to be lead.

I agree, good post!

I don't think it will be a phone call to warn you that you may be in possession of diseased birds.

It will be: We have an outbreak of bird flu here. Here is the list of everyone within x number of miles of the outbreak that owns chickens. They show up with bio hazard suits. Stuff all you birds in a big heavy duty plastic bag, spray all your poultry equipment with some heavy duty disinfectant and drive off.

There will be no testing to see if your birds have it.
There will be no voluntary acceptance of this procedure
There will be no reimbursement for the birds.

Just you......standing in an empty coop........with however many months until next spring when you can start rebuilding your flock.

Has anyone ask for the law/rule that requires them to collect this data? Is there a law you have to provide it?

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Gary in Central Ohio

[QUOTE=haypoint;3748289]
"By this first step, giving our I.D. numbers when we buy chickens, we are giving government control of our food supply. It's animals now, who knows what later. They already have seeds that can't be saved without penalty of prosecution. If that's what you want, so be it. I am not going along with it."

It does help make your point by calling your mailing address your ID number, but if you'd read the beginning of this thread, the feed mill was getting just addresses. When you buy patented seeds, you know from the get go that you won't be able to save the seeds. You can't expect a great yeild by saving seed from hybrid seeds. That's not new. Been that way for nearly a hundred years. It has been illegal to sell named varieties "one year from certified" without paying the royality. That's been that way for a very long time, too. Most farmers leave hydridization up to the seed companies and don't bother saving seed.

The OP was asked for a Driver's License number which is now increasingly used as an I.D. # when they can't require you to give your SS#. I wouldn't do either, but most certainly TSC would not be getting my DL#. I am also not talking about plain old patented hybrid seeds. Everyone knows it's "illegal" to sell them, but the gov will not be knocking down your door if you plant them next year. I am talking about Monsanto seeds. Funny, it costs much more than $68 to chip a parrot. The problem here is that Perdue will not be chipping or filing reports on their chickens individually, but I will have to. If someone walks out with 100 chickens out of a barn of 100,000, who would know? Belittle all you want, I'm not buying it.

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Cindy in PA

If you plant Monsanto's copy-written seeds, the government isn't the one that's knocking on your door. It's the holder of the copyright. Plain old hybrid seeds you are fine with, the fact that you can't sell your crop for replanting, but you see the end of the earth coming because Monsanto says it. Or is it because you don't understand the technology?

So what if it costs over $68 to chip a parrot. It costs a penny to chip a potato. Now what? Meaningless. No one is requiring any poultry implants. Nobody.
If someone walks out of Purdue with 100 chickens, their records would show it. If someone walked off with a dozen of your hens, no one is going to know it. I think you've got it, no one really cares how many chickens you've got, UNTIL there is a disease outbreak.
Part of NAIS gives an exception to livestock raised together from birth to slaughter. That's the same for little farms and big. It is a bit of a red herring because very few operations, big or small operate that way. Some do. It makes no sense to tag livestock that never come in contact with other livestock. It is the mixing up, buying selling, trading that the exposure develops.

Moonman, you were correct there for a minute.
I have seen the Michigan Department of Ag do a scenario for a situation just as you've suggested. The MDA owns an enclosed trailer fully loaded wit the bio suits, boots, hats and gloves. It is also loaded up with blood draw kits, vials and swabs. They are trained to test birds. Throwing them in a sack for incineration would come after the tests come back. There is always reimbursement for livestock. They pay market price for infected livestock that in reality would be worthless. If you have infected livestock, your farm will be quarantined, as it should be.

"Exactly, so why would they need your info for baby chicks which have yet to be exposed to the outside world?"

A hatchery is the outside world, a USPS van is the outside world, the feed mill is the outside world, the dozens of local folk that handle those chicks at the feed mill live in the outside world.

So many folks here want to hide from the USDA survey, hide from the censis, but the cry a river because Washington won't represent them.

When the chicks are in a box and not mixed with other chicks or in contact with the soil or water in any of the areas through which they travel, they are not co-mingling and are not being exposed to illness.

Not crying because Washington doesn't represent us, crying because in spite of protests Washington politicos still follow the Almighty $$$ god. Just like the gun situation on many points, you don't want tptb knowing you have guns because they could come and take them, by force if necessary, but you want the freedom to have guns. The only reps gun owners have is the NRA which does have political power and money behind it. There are no reps behind livestock owners who are in favor of the little guy and are willing to fight to keep the govt out of our business.

Chickens are not the root of the problem. Substitute any merchandise (except motor vehicles) for chickens in the above scenario. Maybe use "dog" instead of "chicken" and see how many people don't want to give their DL# or location in order to buy the product. (yes, I protest having to give my DL# to buy sudafed but when you need it to breathe they have you in the palm of their hand) And if the census asked how many tv's you had or how many movies are in your collection would you not feel that is just TMI.

Actually, if the info is needed for purposes of tracking disease, why aren't the chicks behind locked glass doors? What about all the people who have touched those chicks but will never be identified? Suppose one of them gets sick from the birds. Just how would TSC notify everyone who came in contact with those birds since they don't know who they are?