blood testing (do not look if you are squeemish or do not like blood)

[chicken_boy_Kurt]

I had to get my birds blood-tested so I could enter the 4-H fair. Here are a few pics. I hope this is in the right place.

first, you have to catch the bird (I think you all know how to do that)

after that, the tester (in my case one of the kids in the club's mom) sticks the bird with the needle:

then you have to take the blood out with the needle:

then you have to hold the bird for a few minutes while the blood clots:

that wasn't too hard

I hope this helps some people. I am making a poster on blood-testing for the fair and this will help me. Testing is not nearly as complicated as it seems. I thought that I wouldn't be able to show at the fair because I wouldn't test because it was too complicated but I did it.

 

[Psittizen Shikkin]

That's exactly how I have my vet do it when I have a parrot DNA sexed. Some clip a toenail and I feel that's way unnecessary and a bit inhumane. Good pics and explanation.

 

[Jillylam]

Thanks for posting this. I have never done blood on a chicken and I have a couple questions.
1. It looks like you are drawing the blood somewhere under the wing. Is that correct?
2. Do you just stick the needle in anywhere or do you have to find a specific vein?
3. Is there any sterilizing of the area or do you just go on in?
4. What do you do with the sample afterwards? Does it have to be kept cool or warm?
Thanks,
Jill

edited for sloppy typing

 

[tiki244]

you have to hit the vein under the wing

it doesnt have to be sterilysed, but the equipment would be better off sterylised

another way is to poke with a needle and there is a tool that looks like a dental cleaning instrument and has a small wire loop on the end of it (the whole thing is stainless steel I believe), just get enough blood to fill the loop and.....

There is a bottle of (whatever they use to test the birds) which costs about $90 and put one drop per bird on a n opaque plastic window that is covering a light source underneath,,,,,,,,one drop and then each bird gets his blood put on the drop,,,,,,,,wait 1 minute and if it doesnt clot than your bird is good. A positive test would be clotting. At least that is what is done for pollurum, I am not familiar with any other tests.

 

[tiki244]

Chicken_boy_kurt those are some nice pictures

 

[chicken_boy_Kurt]

Thank you my mom took them but I cleaned them up and made them look better. We had to take alot more than one drop of blood. We had a vial for each bird and we took alot of blood. When we tested the younger birds I was concerned that they might pass out from loss of blood.

When it came time to do the Polish the lady could not find the vein. So she shot in the dark and hit (she had a general idea where it was) but we did not get enough blood on that side so we turned him over and again shot in the dark and hit again.

You have to band the birds before (I guess I should have mentioned that) so that if a bird tests "suspect" the people come back and test that specific bird.

If you have any other questions then you can ask, me and tiki244 will try to answer them (at least I will).

 

[tiki244]

Do you just test for pollurum or for other stuff too?

I will try to answer any questions also if I can.

 

[chicken_boy_Kurt]

For the fair the requirments are that they have to be tested for pullorum and AI (avian influenza). Don't the shows you go to make you test for AI?

 

[tiki244]

No. And in Wisconsin it has been decades since any chicken has tested positive for pollurum.

 

[pips&peeps]

There is a better spot to get the blood than what you have found. There are two veins that cross each other at the "elbow" region.

And that chicken is awful small to be testing for pullorum. I thought they were supposed to be over five months old to test.

My vet always sterilizes the bird injection area and everywhere else he is working. Why take risks especially if they are handling everyones birds???????

Don't the shows you go to make you test for AI?

AI is a swab in the throat.​