National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP)
What is required to certify your backyard flock in the NPIP?
Site Inspections
To become NPIP certified, a WSDA veterinarian will perform a site inspection of your premise and your flock. The veterinarian will do an assessment of the biosecurity and sanitation of your premise, including poultry houses, outdoor runs, brooder houses, hatching rooms, egg handling rooms, etc. To remain NPIP certified, your premises must be inspected by a WSDA veterinarian annually. You can review the Site Inspection Checklist to see the criteria and how to prepare.
Disease Testing
To become NPIP certified, and to remain certified, you must have a minimum of 30 birds, over the age of 16 weeks, tested for Pullorum Typhoid (PT) and Avian Influenza (AI) on an annual basis. These tests will be performed by the WSDA veterinarian during site inspections. To facilitate the testing process, it's helpful if owners can provide a table, shelf, or other surface to organize testing supplies. During inclement weather, a covered area to perform testing is required. If you have multiple species of birds on your premise, each species must be tested. For example, if you have chickens, ducks, and geese, then representative samples from all 3 species must be included in the 30 birds tested. You will be notified how many birds of each species you will need to have tested before the site inspection. The 30 birds must come from the flock owner's physical premise and cannot be birds commingled from another flock or premise. Birds under the age of 16 weeks cannot be PT or AI tested due to the inaccuracy of test results and the risk of reporting false positives.
Commingling birds from another flock or premise or presenting immature birds for testing to meet the 30-bird requirement, will result in disbarment from the program. Participants can choose to participate in the H5 / H7 AI Clean Program, but this is not a requirement of joining the NPIP. If choosing to participate in the H5 / H7 AI Clean Program, 30 mature birds will need to be tested for AI 3 or 6 months after the annual site inspection and testing. This depends on the NPIP SubPart; game birds (J) vs. traditional backyard flocks (E).
Reporting flock numbers and breeds
NPIP requires flock owners to annually report accurate flock numbers and stock codes for all birds on the premise at the time of reporting. The total flock number needs to include birds that are not old enough for testing. Because sexing is difficult in younger birds, flock owners can be flexible when listing the gender of the birds. Most owners simply choose to list half of their sexually immature birds as female and half as male. The most important thing is to report a correct head count and stock codes. Stock codes are the industry codes that are assigned to each species and breed of poultry and can be found by searching the stock code document. Flock numbers and stock codes will be reported on your initial application and during your annual site inspections.
Charge to participants
WSDA will charge flock owners for PT testing. The fee for testing is $85 an hour. Having the birds penned and easily accessible before the veterinarian arrives on site will reduce the amount of time necessary for the PT testing. If the veterinarian must assist with catching birds before testing, this takes a longer amount of time and results in an increased fee. Participants are encouraged to assist veterinarians with the handling of their birds as this makes the process go faster and causes less stress on the birds. When federal funding is available, WSDA will pay for AI testing. WSDA will send a bill for the PT testing after the appointment. Veterinarians cannot accept payment during the premise visit.
Stock replacement and commingling birds
Participants may not buy or receive birds for any purpose from non-participants. Commingling birds from another premise that is not NPIP certified can be a reason for being debarred from the program. A list of certified NPIP producers and dealers, organized by state, can be found on the NPIP website. Clicking on the state that you would like to review will bring up the current list of NPIP members in that state.
Flock health
As an NPIP participant it is the flock owner's responsibility to keep their flocks healthy. Flock owners are required to report any suspected illness or high mortality rates to the Avian Health Program. It is also the flock owner's responsibility to provide sick or dead birds to a diagnostic lab for examination. NPIP participants are not allowed to ship birds if their is a suspected illness of any type in their flock.
Record keeping
Record keeping is an important part of the NPIP as it assists in disease containment and provides the ability to track animal movement in the event of a poultry disease outbreak. NPIP participants are required to retain records of all purchases and sales. Participants selling, transferring, or exhibiting poultry to states other than Washington must submit VS Form 9-3s for each shipment. These forms are created electronically and participants can request access to the database after becoming certified. Participants selling birds inside the State of Washington can create their own invoices for sales. Please include your assigned NPIP number on any invoices. Copies of these invoices, along with any VS Form 9-3s or invoices that you receive when purchasing poultry, will be audited annually to ensure that participants are remaining in compliance with NPIP requirements.