Sample Collection & Shipping Instructions

Follow these instructions to collect your sample, then review the rules and shipping info below.

How to Take a Feather Sample

What you’ll need

  • Clean tweezers (optional, but easier on small chest feathers)
  • Alcohol wipe for the tweezers
  • Disposable gloves (recommended)
  • One small zip-lock bag per bird

Step by step

  1. Set up. Quiet, well-lit area.
  2. Sterilize tweezers with an alcohol wipe between birds so you do not cross-contaminate samples.
  3. Pick the spot. Use the chest area. Look for clean, undamaged adult-type feathers — not down.
  4. Pluck 3 to 4 feathers per bird. Grip close to the skin and pull firmly in one motion. You should see a small, slightly moist tip at the base of the quill. That tip is what we test — make sure it is there.
  5. Bag and label. All feathers from one bird go in one bag, labeled with the Bird ID.
  6. Repeat for each bird with a fresh bag and re-sterilized tweezers.
Sending it inDrop bagged feathers into a regular mailing envelope. Write your order number on the outside. Do not tape the envelope shut.
Read this first or your sample cannot be tested
  • No chick down. Soft, fluffy chick down does not contain a usable follicle. We need real, fully formed feathers.
  • Feathers must be plucked, not cut. The DNA comes from the tip of the quill, the part that was under the skin. A cut feather has no usable tip.
  • Silkies must be at least 4 weeks old before they have real feathers suitable for testing. Younger birds are still in chick down — use Blood on Paper or Eggshell for them.
Rules that apply to every sample type
  • Do NOT tape your envelopes shut. We have to open them. Tape tears the envelope and can damage the samples inside.
  • Write your order number on the OUTSIDE of your envelope or package. You do not need to use the QR code — the order number by itself is enough. This is the single best way to prevent your order from being delayed or mixed up.
  • One bird per bag. Each bird gets its own labeled zip-lock bag with its Bird ID exactly as you entered it on the website. Do not combine birds, even siblings from the same hatch.
  • Do not reuse Bird IDs for multiple birds in the same order.
Ship all samples to:
The Silkie Lab
740 Shaw Road
Bailey, MI 49303
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