Do you have identification on your chickens? Leg bands?

[ThinkingChickens]

Someone asked me recently if I wanted to purchase any leg bands or wing bands? for my pet chickens. We are picking up three girls on Sunday and I never thought about it. These will be pets used for egg laying and enjoyment (hoping to convince the hubby we need a large coop and more chickens next year). So, do you guys have bands on your chickens? What type are safe? What other creative identification do you use, or do you use nothing?

 

[aprhardy]

I've been wondering the same thing! Glad you posted this! I've been considering, and researching leg bands. I'm thinking that way I can track who's babies belong to which chickens and which chickens I bought from others, hatcheries and ect. I look forward to seeing what others say about this topic!

 

[autumn11]

you dont have to use leg bands I dont use them

 

[bethandjoeync]

honestly once they are grown and really are your pets, you can tell the little differences between them. whether it's their personalities or (for me) their combs and feather patterns. if you only have a few girls, I wouldn't worry about legbands.

 

[CMV]

I have 19 chickens and can tell each one apart, but I also have mixed breeds, so they are all different. I think once I start hatching some eggs I might need to invest in some bands because I have a few birds that I cannot breed. They are decent egg layers, but have some physical imperfections I do not want passed on. Not enough of a problem to cull the birds in question, but enough to warrant keeping tabs on who's laying which eggs. A camera and some colored leg bands should be able to sort out the issue. If I weren't pursuing this breeding program, I wouldn't bother with differentiating between the birds. I can do that by eye.

Good luck.

 

[FlickiChicki]

Ours came with bands from the shelter. I never look at the bands to see who is who, I can tell them apart well enough now.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

I purchased leg bands for my girls... I only have 11 and they are different breeds/colors and telling them apart is very easy, since I only have two of each breed/color.. I just wanted the bands.. I thought it would be nice to have different color bands on each of the girls in a breed.. BUT I have had the bands for 6 months haven't done it yet... I purchased several different colors and sizes.. Maybe when we move them to our farm I will put them on...

 

[speckledhen]

ID bands are most needed in breeding programs. For example, I will be hatching Barred Rocks from two very prestigious lines this month. I want to make sure I know which bird comes from which line for the future chicks I will hatch from them. I ordered 100 assorted color/size spiral bands for that purpose, but probably won't ever use them all.

 

[clairabean]

Some of my flock have coloured bands. I have mixed mutts, some lay greeny eggs, other white, others beige. I am trying to figure out who lays what. Most of the flock is identifiable by looks, but there a few that are close to triplets that gets me every time!

I use the spiral hard plastic bands that twist on and expand as the chicken grows.

 

[hokankai]

Each of my girls is a different breed. That's how I tell them apart!