Leg Bands Being Pecked

[tracecom]

I have 10 BCM chicks and 3 RIR chicks. I wanted to put leg bands on them when they were very small, but had trouble getting the right size. Now, they are six weeks old and I finally got some bands to fit.

Yesterday, I put an orange band on one of the BCM pullets, and the rest of the flock went crazy pecking at the band. Even the pullet with the band was pecking at it, so I removed it.

I wonder if I put bands on all 13, will they stop that behavior? Has anyone else had this problem, and what did you do?

Thanks.

 

[EggresiveAli]

Hi there,
I've never put leg bands on my birds, but I assume if you put them on all 13 of the birds, that should maybe stop it.
They will probably all peck their own, and give up after a while.
As long as a bird isn't getting hurt and pecked by the others, it should be fine.
Good Luck!

 

[aart]

I used zipties on my chicks, avoiding the color red....they all picked at them at first.

One even tipped itself over by grabbing and pulling on it's own band and pulling it's leg out from under it, that was funny.
After a day or so they left them alone most the time.

I don't know if the orange color(close to red) is more attractive to them, or it's just something new to check out.
My bet is, they'll stop once they realize it's not something they can eat....and I do think it would be better to put the bands on all or at least 3-4 of them to spread the attention around.