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  • Clinical Techniques
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Techniques for collecting blood from the domestic chicken

Abstract

As the use of chickens in biomedical research is increasing, demand is growing for technical skills involving poultry, particularly techniques such as venipuncture. Phlebotomy (blood collection) is an important diagnostic tool for determining causes of morbidity and mortality and for collection of other research-relevant data. This column describes four standard methods of blood collection from the domestic chicken.

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Figure 1: Brachial wing vein location.
Figure 2: Medial metatarsal vein location.
Figure 3: Jugular vein location.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mr. Greg Eidson for providing access to chickens as photographic subjects and Ms. Allison Watson and Ms. Liz Stich for assistance with photography.

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Correspondence to Lisa M. Kelly.

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Kelly, L., Alworth, L. Techniques for collecting blood from the domestic chicken. Lab Anim 42, 359–361 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/laban.394

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