The Conyers Backyard Poultry Club

Folks, if you buy Dumor chick starter, check this article for the date codes in the recall.

The recall on Southern States feed has been expanded. If you have any, please check the date codes on it. There's an article here - https://www.whsv.com//Cargill-recalls-Southern-States-feed And a list of everything in the recall, here - https://www.fda.gov//cargill-expands-previously-announced-

Hey, folks, there's a recall on a bunch of Southern States feed. If you buy it, check your bags for the dates listed in this article - https://www.wdbj7.com//Cargill-recalls-Southern-States-fee

Hey folks, It's the first day of Spring, and with chick season in full swing, I want to remind everyone to pay extra attention to their flock's biosecurity. Waterfowl are migrating, bringing the risk of avian influenza along with them. A little extra vigilance on all our parts will help keep our flocks safe. I know I've been mentioning biosecurity a lot lately, and I'm sure some of you are wondering what the heck I'm talking about. So I thought I'd write up a quick expl...Continue reading

Hey folks, remember that outbreak of virulent Newcastle disease near Los Angeles, that I posted about a few times over the last several months? It's still going on. There have been 299 cases confirmed, and now it's been found in a 3rd commercial poultry facility. But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that people have been ignoring the quarantine areas. That's a large part of why the outbreak is still spreading. Now Newcastle disease been found in Utah, in b...irds that someone just moved there from the quarantine area.... Info from the USDA is here - https://www.aphis.usda.gov//sa_by_da/2019/january/vnd-utah Info from the CA Dept of Food and Ag is here - https://www.cdfa.ca.gov//Anima/Newcastle_Disease_Info.html And an article summarizing a good bit of it is here - https://plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov/wordpress/ PLEASE do not order chicks or hatching eggs from anywhere in southern California until this outbreak is over.

Folks, as spring approaches and many of us are starting to think about buying chicks or hatching eggs, I want to remind everyone to please be careful about your biosecurity. If you're ordering hatching eggs or chicks from California, please be VERY careful about where they'll be shipped from - the Newcastle outbreak in southern CA is still ongoing. There are quarantine zones still in place, as well as 4 areas with mandatory euthanasia of all poultry. Yet it's still spread...ing, and has been found in a commercial poultry facility. Please take care that you don't order from that area! The USDA APHIS site is not being updated right now, due to lack of funding from the partial government shutdown, but the CA State Vet's site has info. Here's a link to it for anyone interested - https://www.cdfa.ca.gov//Anima/Newcastle_Disease_Info.html Also, if you're going to have eggs or chicks shipped to you from out of GA, please make sure the sender includes all the required paperwork. Current requirements to bring birds or eggs into GA are NPIP cert and a VS Form 9-3, or alternate health certification, which looks like it includes the same testing that NPIP does. If you're buying from someone out of GA without NPIP cert, you'll need to contact the state Dept of Ag for specific info on what testing and paperwork is required. (There are fines if you're caught importing w/out the right health paperwork.) There's info on each state's import requirements here - http://www.poultryimprovement.org//stateImportationRequire

Hey folks, if any of you are building coops or pens... Check your nearest Walmart. The one on Salem Road in Covington just put hardware cloth on clearance. 2'x10' rolls for $7, 3'x10' for $11.

To keep everyone updated.... the Newcastle outbreak in California is still ongoing. There were 7 new cases confirmed last week, in 3 counties. Yes, this is a long ways from us, but please take this as a reminder to review your biosecurity measures, and improve them if you can. Updated info on the confirmed cases is here - https://www.aphis.usda.gov//04_iUlDg4tKPAFJABpSA0fpReYllm/ And a quick summary of what Newcastle disease is, and the basics of protecting your flock, is here - https://www.cdfa.ca.gov//Animal_Health/pdfs/VNDonepager.pdf

Hey folks, I know this is 3000 or so miles away, but it's important. There's an outbreak of Newcastle disease in backyard flocks in Southern California. Quarantines are in place there as of today, poultry movement is banned, and it looks like any poultry that cannot be contained in pens, etc, is going to be euthanized. Info on the quarantine and movement ban is here - https://www.cdfa.ca.gov//V_N_D_SB_Riverside_Area_Quarantin More info on the cases confirmed by the USDA... is here - https://www.aphis.usda.gov//04_iUlDg4tKPAFJABpSA0fpReYllm/ Edited to add links: More details on the outbreak are here - https://www.cdfa.ca.gov//Anima/Newcastle_Disease_Info.html And info on Newcastle disease, including biosecurity measures you can take to protect your flock from exposure to it, are here - https://www.aphis.usda.gov/publica/animal_health/fs-vnd.pdf

Hey folks, due to too many of us having schedule conflicts, we'll be skipping a meeting for May. The first weekend in June is busy for me - do we want to see about moving our meeting back a week, or skip that and plan on July? Your thoughts?

Hey folks, just a quick reminder about tomorrow's meeting. I hope to see you all there!

Urgent*** . For those of you who live in Georgia, we have been notified of an opportunity for you to adopt/rescue a number of White Leghorn hens who will otherw...ise be killed. If you are interested, please fill out the following sign up form - https://goo.gl/forms/nDGT6riIbB6GKdbU2 Update: the hens are in Clarke County, roughly 90 mins east of Atlanta.

Hey folks, it looks like one formulation of Safe-guard has now been approved for use in laying hens, with NO egg withdrawal! It's a low dose, given over 5 days, then repeated after 10 days... but it means no need to toss out a week of eggs after treatment! Info is here: https://animaldrugsatfda.fda.gov//public/d/downloadFoi/389