Alton Williams, who
has
tested our birds for the last three years retired at the end of last
year
and J.C. Essler has taken over his section of Texas for NPIP
testing. |
J.C. arrived about
30 minutes
early, but we were ready for him. I took a personal holiday from
work to assist, and document the testing for the website. |
Testing a
Lakenvelder hen.
A few feathers are pulled from the first joint under the wing to expose
the large vein that is present. The vein is quite obvious in this
photo, as are the two parts of the testing tool.
 |
The needle and loop
tool
is used to pierce the vein and collect a drop of blood for testing. On
flocks of less than 500 birds, each bird is tested. In flocks
over
500, a representative sampling of each pen, cage, and/or breed is
tested. |
Here the loop end
is being
used to collect a drop of blood from a Silver Spangled Hamburg hen.
|
The drop of blood
is then
mixed with a drop of "antigen" on the test plate. The tool is then
wiped
clean for the next test. Here there are 3 tests remaining before the
plate
is full and must be wiped clean to start over for more testing.
|
The antigen is
engineered
to react quickly (15-20 seconds) to the presence of Pullorum or Typhoid
in the blood sample. The blood will "agglutinate" (clump up)
quickly
if the diseases are detected. If there is no reaction fairly
quickly,
the bird has tested negative. |
Here's a closeup of
six
negative tests and a couple of drops of antigen that haven't yet been
used.
I hope we never see a positive test result to document
here.
A positive test would look like it had grains of sand or breadcrumbs
mixed
with the blood. |
J.C. has a laptop
computer
and printer in the van to document the test results and print out our
NPIP
Test Certificate before he leaves. |
Well, it's all over
for
another year. Once again we have a clean slate for Pullorum and
Typhoid.
Don't you just love happy endings? |
NPIP
Flock Testing
