08/31/2026
🤪 Unpopular opinion of the day: NPIP edition.
I don’t think being NPIP carries quite as much weight as people sometimes give it.
Don’t come for me — I’m NPIP too. 😂
NPIP testing is absolutely valuable and tests for specific diseases that matter. BUT being NPIP does not mean someone has a completely disease-free flock.
There are other contagious illnesses — especially respiratory diseases like Mycoplasma — that can get into a flock, spread bird to bird, and potentially leave birds as carriers even when they look perfectly healthy. And those aren’t automatically ruled out just because someone says, “My flock is NPIP.”
Personally, when I’m buying birds, I care just as much (if not more 👀) about the breeder’s actual flock health, biosecurity practices, history of respiratory illness, and how they handle sick birds.
NPIP = an important piece of information.
NPIP ≠ a magical certificate saying every bird in the flock is healthy and disease-free. 🤪
Am I the only one who thinks people put a little too much weight on those four letters?
