Bailey’s English instruction sheet. Open the PDF and select Print.
Print a sheet to send with your samples
Open the PDF and print on US Letter paper (8.5 × 11 inches). Fill in your name, date, and each Bird ID. Leave the results columns blank for the laboratory.
Also write your BES order number at the top. For Emu or Ostrich tests, write the test name in Description. Include the sheet with your samples.
How to collect your samples: a detailed video guide
Watch Bailey’s demonstration before you begin. Pause or replay whenever you need, and follow the written instructions below.
Prefer to read? The written steps below and the printable instructions cover the same ground.
Start here
Before you collect
You may use your own supplies or purchase a DNA Collection Kit from Bailey’s.
Supplies: nail clippers, alcohol prep pads, disposable gloves, a blood card, small coffee filter piece or PCR tube, small resealable bags, a permanent marker, bird leg bands or another way to identify each bird, and styptic powder, Kwik Stop® or cornstarch.
Work in a clean, well-lit area. Wash your hands or wear gloves.
Clean and disinfect tools between every bird. Let the alcohol dry completely before collecting.
Label each bag with the Bird ID you entered in your order before collecting.
Use separate collection materials and a separate labeled bag for each bird. Never let different birds’ samples touch.
Blood sample
Bailey’s recommended option
Gently and securely hold your bird. Using clean nail clippers, trim only the very tip of one toenail.
Collect only 1–2 tiny drops on a blood card or small coffee filter piece, or into a PCR tube. Do not overfill.
Apply styptic powder, Kwik Stop® or cornstarch to stop the bleeding.
Let blood cards and coffee filters dry completely before packaging.
Only a tiny amount is needed. Too much blood can interfere with testing. If you need help collecting, call or text Bailey’s before starting.
Feather samples
Collect 4–6 freshly plucked chest or body feathers. Pull in the direction the feathers naturally grow.
Keep the quill and tissue at the base intact. This is the end that attaches to the skin and contains the DNA. Avoid touching it.
Allow any blood to dry completely, then place each bird’s feathers in its own labeled bag.
Do not use naturally shed feathers or chick fluff.
Egg membrane sample
Best suited to newly hatched chicks in small hatches.
Find the inner membrane attached to the eggshell after hatching.
With clean hands or gloves, gently remove the membrane.
Let it air dry completely.
Place the dried membrane in its own labeled bag, matched to the chick’s Bird ID.
Ready to send
Package and mail your samples
Keep each bird’s sample in its own labeled bag. Make sure samples are completely dry before sealing.
Write the matching Bird ID on every bag. Do not use duplicate sample numbers for different birds in the same order.
Place the individual bags together in one protective mailer. Include your BES order number.
Mail to the address below.
Bailey’s Exotic Silkies DNA LABMelana Bailey3087 Palomino WayHollister, CA 95023
