Leg Bands

[Blackjack1392]

I am one of those people that use colored zip ties. I only have 6 chickens, that i got in the first week of January of this year, so zip ties seemed like the easiest thing for me. I just put them on thier leg just so they cant slip thier foot out of them. I had to change them once because they got to small as the chickens got bigger. But so far havnt had any trouble at all.

 

[Lindarelle]

Hi,

I am a new flock owner and I have six white Leghorn hens. I want to be able to tell them apart! I tried putting a colored zip tie on one of them last night, and the others nearly pecked her to death! They are going on 8 weeks old.

Is it too late for this (because of the pecking?) I know it sounds stupid but I probably won't have more than these six and will consider them not only my egg layers but my pets as well, and I want to name them.

Thanks in advance!
Linda

 

[Backyard Bob]

I wonder if when they get older, they would forget about that and not pek them?

 

[HaplessRunner]

Last summer about two months after I got chickens, I placed the colored plastic bands on their legs. There were two senior hens that were just over a year old and 8 red stars that were ~ 18 weeks old. While they squawked from the handling, they adapted quickly. There was a day of checking out the new rings and pecking at them but no issues there after. I place bands on the egg layers that are color coded by year and try to track egg production as best I can.

I have now gotten into breeding some specific breeds and find that banding now is more important to track lines of chickens to avoid inbreeding.

 

[Lindarelle]

Thank you. I found out on another board that because I did a test run on just one bird, the others couldn't resist. So, I'm going to band all of them at once and see how that goes. Thank you!!

 

[Cknldy]

Please remember to check the bands (zip ties) frequently when using them on chicks. They grow so fast and you do need a bit of room to slide the end of scissors (I use wire cutters as it is quick and easy) to cut the band. Don't wait until there is no room to even move the band. Zip ties are pretty cheap so changing often as the chicks grow isn't a problem. When I put the zip ties on chicks, no matter what stage, I leave them loose enough to move and for growth but closed enough not to slide over the back toe or 'ankle'.

 

[DEBlues]

Is banding required for showing purposes?

 

[5SweetChicks]

Is there any cons to leg bands? I need to tell some of my birds apart as they grow older but my mother is always worried about leg bands and collar and such on animals. Like they might get stuck on something.

 

[Whittni]

Is banding required for showing purposes?

Not always, locally--usually no. At bigger shows--yes.

Is there any cons to leg bands? I need to tell some of my birds apart as they grow older but my mother is always worried about leg bands and collar and such on animals. Like they might get stuck on something.

There are--but different breeds need different sized bands. If you wait until they're older you can just buy the plastic ones with numbers of their size and slip them on without a problem. The other problem is you have to buy at least 25 of a size so if you have lots different breeds it can be pricey. This is a list of band sizes for different breeds:

http://www.strombergschickens.com/bird_band_size

 

[5SweetChicks]

Is there any other cons? Like I have most of my chickens that would use around the same size. I'm just worried about them hurting their leg by getting the band stuck on something and tugging on it.