Chicks I want to keep... How do I mark them so I dont get them mixedup

dustponds10

Crowing
13 Years
Apr 18, 2010
387
37
256
Rigby, Id
Well I am getting into some chickens that I want to keep just because they are nice birds and I am attached to them. How do you mark chicks so you dont get rid of the wrong ones? Any ideas would be awesome. Dustin
 
My daughter-in-law has small rings made for just that purpose, BUT someone else mentioned that after looking at them closely they thought they could easily make them by cutting small sections of those coiled bracelet-like things that people often wear on their wrist to hold a key, or that are used at casinos to carry a "frequent user" card. They give them to customers for free. Here's a picture of one .
 
I used colored zipties as well. Lowes sells a tube full of different sizes and colors for I think $6. I like them because they are floresent colors like Hot pink, hot blue, lime green.
 
I use washable crayola markers. One dot on the head is usually enough.

"Okay, you're green....your name is orange...you're bluuuuue......and you're purple."

Avoid using red, however, because they may confuse the marker ink for blood and peck the poor bird to death.
 
Caught my 11 year old daughter writing their names on tiny slips of paper & using scotch tape to labor them. They had little flags on their legs. She wanted to make sure the new owners knew their names! Within a few hours they had pecked most of them off, so I finally was able to get her to understand they will choke on their name tags. If I did color zip ties I am sure it would encourage her WAY too much

How do you get the zip ties off? Scared I would hurt the chick.
 
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The thought of zip ties on chicks feet scares me ever since a friend of mine told me the story of her bird. One day the bird's leg was swollen and her mom tried to cut the band off the leg (thinking it was too tight) - she cut the bird's leg off!!! I've had nightmares ever since I heard this story!

Of course, this is the same mom who closed her little dog in the car door, broke the cat's back because it slept in the elevator shaft (yes, they had an elevator in their house!) and then ran the cat over with the car twice. I miss my friend Marie - she told some great stories!!!
 

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