Not sure what happens when you order our avian testing services, or what happens next? Here's the information you need.
To order a bird DNA test, add your chosen service to your basket and go through the checkout process. You can pay online by credit or debit card.
Our bird sexing tests do not need a sample collection kit, you send the sample directly after following our instructions. This speeds up the testing process and ensures a cost-effective testing service for our bird-owning customers.
As soon as your order is received our system sends you an automated email with a set of instructions for how to collect your sample and return it to us. We can accept plucked feathers or a blood sample.
The instructions tell you to register your sample on our customer portal using your order number. This will give you a unique sample number that you must write onto your feather/blood sample so we know who the sample belongs to when it arrives at our laboratory. We always recommend sending samples via a tracked service, like Royal Mail Special Delivery.
So what happens when my bird's sample arrives back at the laboratory?
Good question!
The morning your sample arrives at the lab we'll send you an email to say that it has arrived. We then get to work isolating and purifying DNA from the feather/blood sample.
Once we have isolated the DNA we perform some initial tests to check the quality of the DNA. If the sample has produced enough DNA to test we will proceed with your testing order. If the sample has not produced enough DNA to test we will let you know and ask you to provide another sample. The main reason that feather samples fail is when an owner has sent us shed feathers rather than plucked ones. Shed feathers do not contain enough DNA to test and send these will just delay finding out the exciting part - the results!
As soon as your results are ready you will receive an email from our system asking you to log in to the customer portal. You can view the results on the portal and also download a full test certificate from our laboratory.