Are wing bands harmful?

[TheBajan]

I've been looking into various form of ID for my flock. I have 5 different breeds and I want to be able to track every single bird for breeding purposes. I've heard good and bad about leg bands, zip ties, sprial leg bands, toe punches, etc. I thought I was sold on the idea of wing clips until I read one persons' experience with them and now I'm not so sure. If you've had experience with them, please share. A couple of my questions center around if they cause long term detriment to the muscle in the wing and also, does it cause any discomfort to the bird long term. I'm sure that the initial clipping is not comfortable but I can live with that if there's not any long term damage or pain.
Some of my concerns regarding the various forms of leg bands center around them getting caught on things and causing damage to the legs as well as the reliability of them being able to stay on. Also concerned about them being outgrown and causing damage because I "miss" one in my checking procedures. I have a total of 62 chicks varying in age between 1 day old and 3 months old so they are all at various stages of growth but no one is fully mature yet. Thanks for any advice.

 

[Pyxis]

I've never used wing bands, so I can't help with those questions, sorry, but I can tell you what I use, since I too wasn't really into the idea of the wing bands.

I use the ABA leg bands. They are solid, so you slip them on when the birds are young, but still small enough, and then they grow into the band and it can't come off. I've used these for a couple years now and I really love them. Plus, they always do a different color each year so you can tell their hatch year at a glance, which I really like.

You don't have to be an ABA member to purchase them, but you do get a discount if you are.

Hopefully someone with wing band experience can answer your wing band questions

 

[TheBajan]

I've never used wing bands, so I can't help with those questions, sorry, but I can tell you what I use, since I too wasn't really into the idea of the wing bands.

I use the ABA leg bands. They are solid, so you slip them on when the birds are young, but still small enough, and then they grow into the band and it can't come off. I've used these for a couple years now and I really love them. Plus, they always do a different color each year so you can tell their hatch year at a glance, which I really like.

You don't have to be an ABA member to purchase them, but you do get a discount if you are.

Hopefully someone with wing band experience can answer your wing band questions

Sorry for my ignorance but what is the ABA? How do you make sure you get a size that won't slip off when they are small but still won't outgrow when they are adults? Again, I'm embarrassed by my lack of knowledge here as I suspect you are going to tell me something that should be very obvious and isn't. Do you have a link or a picture of these bands?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Have you thought about toe punching instead? That's easy but I think your older birds are too old to do it

 

[Folly's place]

ABA is the American Bantam Association (I think). I've never used their bands, or wing bands, either.
Every plastic leg band I've ever used will sometimes come off, and twice I've had cock birds slip one over a hock and have injuries. They all need to be monitored, and using them on youngsters does look like a real potential problem, we don't use them for young stock.
Keeping track of exact parentage will require either toe punches or numbered bands of some sort.
Mary

 

[Pyxis]

Sorry for my ignorance but what is the ABA? How do you make sure you get a size that won't slip off when they are small but still won't outgrow when they are adults? Again, I'm embarrassed by my lack of knowledge here as I suspect you are going to tell me something that should be very obvious and isn't. Do you have a link or a picture of these bands?

As was said, the ABA is the American Bantam Association. They have a size chart that gives the appropriate size for each breed.

You usually end up putting the bands on when they are about 8 to 12 weeks old. They go on, and if they slide off, you try again about a week later, until finally they stay on. As the bird grows, they can't slip back down and off.

I've never had any issues with them - once they go on, they stay on, don't fall off, and I've never had any injuries or anything using them.

 

[TheBajan]

Have you thought about toe punching instead? That's easy but I think your older birds are too old to do it

How old is too old? I haven't looked into it too much but I'm open to learning. I just did a quick google search on it and it looks like something I could do but I don't know if it's too late. The majority of my flock are four weeks old today but I have 22 chicks that are between 1 day and 5 days old.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

@The Moonshiner is the knowledgeable one here but I think it's like 3 or 4 days max