Blood Samples from Jugular Vein of Turkeys

Abstract

INTRODUCTION METHODS for obtaining blood samples from chickens have been described periodically for many years. Garren (1959) reviewed earlier reports and outlined a procedure and apparatus suitable for sampling from the heart or from a vein of chickens. Most of the reports referred to by Garren related methods of heart probe whereas a report of Fredrickson et al. (1958) illustrated a one-man technique of bleeding from the brachial vein. The procedures of Briles et al. (1950) and those mentioned in other papers on blood groups in birds suggested slitting an alar vein with a scalpel and collecting the blood directly into a tube. The purpose of this report is to describe a method routinely used on young chickens by Cornelius et al. (1959) and its application to turkeys bled repeatedly for serologic studies.1 PROCEDURE The larger of the two jugular veins (the right—rarely the left) is located by separating …