B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[ki4got]

Quote: no, it's not bad to be excited, but i'm also curious why you can't get any this year? there are plenty of people out there with eggs and sometimes chicks or started birds available.

 

[bethbug74]

Does anyone here wing band their Dorking chicks?

I'm looking into getting the numbered bands for mine.. but all the sizes and types are a bit confusing especially when they just list sizes but don't tell you if they are for quail, large fowl, bantams and so on

So basically what I am looking for is what kind of wing bands do you prefer and what size are you using on young Dorking chicks?


also I read on an old thread where someone had issues with the colored wing bands causing allergic reactions in their birds.. any experience with this?
I'm thinking it may have been a fluke since I have only seen the one complaint.


thanks in advance!

Leg bands are way simpler. And removable. And cheaper. And pre-sized if you search ebay. and they don't mutilate your birds. Anyone who tells you that having metal punched through muscle tissue isn't painful has no compassion, whatsoever, nor have they ever spoken to shrapnel survivors.

 

[pysankigirl]

LOL I just meant it is bad because you will be sufferring!

 

[yinepu]

Leg bands are way simpler. And removable. And cheaper. And pre-sized if you search ebay. and they don't mutilate your birds. Anyone who tells you that having metal punched through muscle tissue isn't painful has no compassion, whatsoever, nor have they ever spoken to shrapnel survivors.

they don't go through the muscle tissue.. just through a bit of skin (much like an ear piercing). Which is the webbing of the wing.. if they go through muscle then they have been applied wrong.

The reason i am avoiding leg bands is because they ARE easy to remove. Plus with numbered wing bands I can keep better track of who is who.
I have heard of a lot of horror stories about leg bands.. but I have only heard of one with a wing band.

besides.. the cost doesn't matter to me if it can provide accurate record keeping.

 

[bradnchristina]

Me and my wife recently bought some dorkings off of craigslist and wanted to know if there is anyway we can tell for sure if they are actually dorkings? When we got them we didnt know much about the breed at all, my wife just thought they were cute. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[pysankigirl]

Me and my wife recently bought some dorkings off of craigslist and wanted to know if there is anyway we can tell for sure if they are actually dorkings? When we got them we didnt know much about the breed at all, my wife just thought they were cute. Any help would be appreciated.

throw some pictures up here and I am sure people can tell you whether or not it is likely.

dorkings have whitish skin and legs and 5 toes on each foot. but I have a dorking/barnevelder cross that also has those markers so overall looks and shape count, too. dorkings are shorter legged than most other breeds also

 

[ki4got]

Quote: actually wing bands don't go thru muscle tissue at all... they pierce the web at the leading edge of the wing. i won't say it doesn't hurt, but they forget it quickly. much less painful I would think than piercing an ear, since there is essentially only a few thin layers of skin in that spot, and is healed completely within a few days.


as adults you hardly even notice the tags, so it's still good to use some kind of colored leg band for individual identification. i can use usually 2 spiral plastic (key ring style) bands on my birds for identification, top color for hatch group, bottom one for individuals of that group.

like Pinky here... she was my first dorking to hatch, and i hadn't finalized my banding plan at the time, so she has an aluminum band on her left leg (crimped on permanently) and 2 spiral bands for ID. blitz next to her, is wing banded with just a red band for individual ID from her group. but then she was also the only 'dark' dorking i kept, so double banding wasn't really necessary there. (from sandhill, and moulting so her neck feathers are thin right now).



to be NPIP (i'm working on mine), each bird must be permanently marked, either leg bands or wing bands. I've had several birds lose their 'permanent' aluminum leg bands, and watched one girl remove a plastic spiral band from her own leg as well, that's why i went with wing banding... and i have wing banded adults as well but it requires hubby's help. once it's over and they're fed, they seem to forget about them entirely.

 

[yinepu]

actually wing bands don't go thru muscle tissue at all... they pierce the web at the leading edge of the wing. i won't say it doesn't hurt, but they forget it quickly. much less painful I would think than piercing an ear, since there is essentially only a few thin layers of skin in that spot, and is healed completely within a few days.


as adults you hardly even notice the tags, so it's still good to use some kind of colored leg band for individual identification. i can use usually 2 spiral plastic (key ring style) bands on my birds for identification, top color for hatch group, bottom one for individuals of that group.

like Pinky here... she was my first dorking to hatch, and i hadn't finalized my banding plan at the time, so she has an aluminum band on her left leg (crimped on permanently) and 2 spiral bands for ID. blitz next to her, is wing banded with just a red band for individual ID from her group. but then she was also the only 'dark' dorking i kept, so double banding wasn't really necessary there. (from sandhill, and moulting so her neck feathers are thin right now).



to be NPIP (i'm working on mine), each bird must be permanently marked, either leg bands or wing bands. I've had several birds lose their 'permanent' aluminum leg bands, and watched one girl remove a plastic spiral band from her own leg as well, that's why i went with wing banding... and i have wing banded adults as well but it requires hubby's help. once it's over and they're fed, they seem to forget about them entirely.

Thanks!
Which brand of wing band do you prefer and is there a particular size that you use for the Dorkings?

 

[ki4got]

Quote: i like the jiffy bands. it's pierce/crimp in one move. the tab type can be removed and both tab and zip bands (push thru then crimp) leave pointy ends that could potentially cause irritation down the road. the jiffy bands (i get mine from www.nationalband.com) have a rounded end once they are crimped. the point folds into a catch.

just ordered 200 more, it's $10 extra for color over plain silver, and 7.00 per hundred. the crimper pliers are another $9 or $10.

i use a numbering system, the first digit is the last digit of the year ie 201 would have been the first band for 2012. if 1 band more than 100 birds, i'll just get a 4-digit number to cover the rest of the year. (2100 and up)

i just ordered 200 bands, to cover what i missed from last year, 100 for this year and 74 for next... (275-474 - the highest # of the ones i kept was 272, even tho i used all 100 i had)

 

[yinepu]

i like the jiffy bands. it's pierce/crimp in one move. the tab type can be removed and both tab and zip bands (push thru then crimp) leave pointy ends that could potentially cause irritation down the road. the jiffy bands (i get mine from www.nationalband.com) have a rounded end once they are crimped. the point folds into a catch.

just ordered 200 more, it's $10 extra for color over plain silver, and 7.00 per hundred. the crimper pliers are another $9 or $10.

i use a numbering system, the first digit is the last digit of the year ie 201 would have been the first band for 2012. if 1 band more than 100 birds, i'll just get a 4-digit number to cover the rest of the year. (2100 and up)

i just ordered 200 bands, to cover what i missed from last year, 100 for this year and 74 for next... (275-474 - the highest # of the ones i kept was 272, even tho i used all 100 i had)

NICE! thanks for the info. Looks like I'll be ordering them soon.