I will be shipping a package of feathers to Justus Liebig University in Germany Monday for DNA tests for the blue egg gene (oocyanin). Here are the steps and costs so far. These steps are a bit convoluted and I am going to post in detail so be prepared for a LONG set of steps. I am taking pictures and will post them in a few days when I have time to get them uploaded to my website.
Samples have to be packed in foil pouches and heat treated to 320F for 30 minutes. Then they have to be packed and shipped to Justus Liebig University to the veterinary department professor. A lab assistant will then unpack the samples and begin tests. Results will be returned via email.
Costs:
1. Time to gather the feather samples is about 3 minutes per bird sampled
2. $.05 cost for foil each to pack the feather samples
3. $.05 each for ziploc bags for temporary storage of the feather samples
4. $1.25 X 2 for heat sensitive labels to prove the samples are heat sterilized.
5. $.25 estimated for propane to heat my stove to 320F for 30 minutes
6. $? for shipping, estimated to be about $30 for an international small package
7. $31.72 (€28) quoted cost for each sample processed
Taking feather samples was fairly easy. I waited until the chickens were on the roost, then went in with vinyl gloves, a box of ziploc bags, a sharpie marker, and legbands. Wearing gloves, I caught a chicken by the legs and then held it head down with feet pointing away from me so I could easily pull out about 6 breast feathers. Ideal size feathers are about 4 inches long. Apply a numbered legband, place the feather sample in a ziploc bag, return the chicken to the roost, then label the ziploc bag with the legband number and descriptive information. I could do the entire process in about a minute once I had everything in place. The gloves are to avoid DNA contamination.
I carried the ziploc bags indoors and set up a work area to pack the feather samples in foil pouches. I put on a fresh pair of vinyl gloves (did not want any DNA contamination from the gloves I had been using) and started preparing foil sheets. I tore off a piece of aluminum foil (Reynolds heavy aluminum foil) about 6 inches long by 14 inches wide and then cut it in half making two pieces each about 6 inches by 7 inches. I then folded the foil about an inch and a half along one edge to make a V for the feathers. I pulled a ziploc bag and moved feathers into the foil V and then folded the foil 2 more times making a flat strip about 1.5 inches wide by 7 inches long. Then I folded the ends over about 3/8 of an inch completely enclosing the feathers. Using a wide point ink pen, I scored the legband number into the foil. Then I used a sharpie to mark over the number in black to make it highly visible. I was not sure whether the sharpie would survive heating in the oven, but I am certain the foil pouches will retain the number pressed into the foil.
I then pulled off a piece of aluminum foil about 14" by 14" and placed the group of individual pouches on it and made a large pouch around the group of smaller pouches. When finished it was about 8 inches long by 4 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. I could have placed about 20 small pouches in each large pouch. In this case, I put 12 in one and 10 in the other. I applied 2 heat sensitive 320F labels to each pouch in such a way that the pouch could not be opened without removing the label. Then I heated my oven to 320F and placed the pouches in it for 30 minutes. At that time, all of the heat sensitive areas on the strip had changed to black. I removed the pouches and let them cool.
The rest was paperwork. I took the ziploc bags (organized by large pouch) and filled out an email to Justus Liebig University. The email contains the legband number plus descriptive information for each bird sampled.
JLU has been working on a test for the rose comb inversion on chromosome 7. They are going to test my samples to see how many are homozygous for rose comb. The test is not yet accurate enough for general use. I deliberately included a straight comb rooster along with 12 rose comb roosters in my samples. I can tell by looks that most of the roosters only have one copy of the rose comb inversion. If I am very very lucky, there will be a rooster that is homozygous for blue eggs and homozygous for rose comb.
Why use DNA tests that cost roughly $35 for each chicken sampled? Because it would take at least 4 times that much money plus at least a year of time to identify a homozygous rooster using test breeding. I am saving at least $1500 in feed and care costs plus a huge number of chicks to raise trying to find a rooster that is homozygous for blue egg.
Samples have to be packed in foil pouches and heat treated to 320F for 30 minutes. Then they have to be packed and shipped to Justus Liebig University to the veterinary department professor. A lab assistant will then unpack the samples and begin tests. Results will be returned via email.
Costs:
1. Time to gather the feather samples is about 3 minutes per bird sampled
2. $.05 cost for foil each to pack the feather samples
3. $.05 each for ziploc bags for temporary storage of the feather samples
4. $1.25 X 2 for heat sensitive labels to prove the samples are heat sterilized.
5. $.25 estimated for propane to heat my stove to 320F for 30 minutes
6. $? for shipping, estimated to be about $30 for an international small package
7. $31.72 (€28) quoted cost for each sample processed
Taking feather samples was fairly easy. I waited until the chickens were on the roost, then went in with vinyl gloves, a box of ziploc bags, a sharpie marker, and legbands. Wearing gloves, I caught a chicken by the legs and then held it head down with feet pointing away from me so I could easily pull out about 6 breast feathers. Ideal size feathers are about 4 inches long. Apply a numbered legband, place the feather sample in a ziploc bag, return the chicken to the roost, then label the ziploc bag with the legband number and descriptive information. I could do the entire process in about a minute once I had everything in place. The gloves are to avoid DNA contamination.
I carried the ziploc bags indoors and set up a work area to pack the feather samples in foil pouches. I put on a fresh pair of vinyl gloves (did not want any DNA contamination from the gloves I had been using) and started preparing foil sheets. I tore off a piece of aluminum foil (Reynolds heavy aluminum foil) about 6 inches long by 14 inches wide and then cut it in half making two pieces each about 6 inches by 7 inches. I then folded the foil about an inch and a half along one edge to make a V for the feathers. I pulled a ziploc bag and moved feathers into the foil V and then folded the foil 2 more times making a flat strip about 1.5 inches wide by 7 inches long. Then I folded the ends over about 3/8 of an inch completely enclosing the feathers. Using a wide point ink pen, I scored the legband number into the foil. Then I used a sharpie to mark over the number in black to make it highly visible. I was not sure whether the sharpie would survive heating in the oven, but I am certain the foil pouches will retain the number pressed into the foil.
I then pulled off a piece of aluminum foil about 14" by 14" and placed the group of individual pouches on it and made a large pouch around the group of smaller pouches. When finished it was about 8 inches long by 4 inches wide and 1/2 inch thick. I could have placed about 20 small pouches in each large pouch. In this case, I put 12 in one and 10 in the other. I applied 2 heat sensitive 320F labels to each pouch in such a way that the pouch could not be opened without removing the label. Then I heated my oven to 320F and placed the pouches in it for 30 minutes. At that time, all of the heat sensitive areas on the strip had changed to black. I removed the pouches and let them cool.
The rest was paperwork. I took the ziploc bags (organized by large pouch) and filled out an email to Justus Liebig University. The email contains the legband number plus descriptive information for each bird sampled.
JLU has been working on a test for the rose comb inversion on chromosome 7. They are going to test my samples to see how many are homozygous for rose comb. The test is not yet accurate enough for general use. I deliberately included a straight comb rooster along with 12 rose comb roosters in my samples. I can tell by looks that most of the roosters only have one copy of the rose comb inversion. If I am very very lucky, there will be a rooster that is homozygous for blue eggs and homozygous for rose comb.
Why use DNA tests that cost roughly $35 for each chicken sampled? Because it would take at least 4 times that much money plus at least a year of time to identify a homozygous rooster using test breeding. I am saving at least $1500 in feed and care costs plus a huge number of chicks to raise trying to find a rooster that is homozygous for blue egg.
