Do you use leg bands on your chickens?

[aart]

Quote: If you use some end clippers(shown on left below), you can cut right thru the lock, much easier way to remove whether they are too tight or not.
A good, big pair of straight toenail clippers might work for this.


But agrees.... just tight enough not to slip off foot with toes together, can take some practice but pretty easy once you've seen/felt it a few times.
I think I changed ziptie out 3 or 4 times between day old and adult.

 

[enola]

I'm a fan of the bandette. Stays on the leg and will expand if you miss a bird with leg growing larger than the band. They're just a good easy reusable product. I can open one and hold open with two fingers on one hand then grab the bird with both hands, hold bird and slip on the bandette that was still opened by two fingers. Wide band with large easy read numbers and enough color choices for even more quick reference identifiers.

To clarify, you want the band a little loose but on growing birds it can and will still expand and not cause leg issues. The band should be replace for larger one but makes for not feeling I have to constantly check the bands. How stressful would that be with a few dozen or hundred growing birds if using zip ties?

I never found it stressful at all. Not even when I had as many as 300 growing birds at a time. While I was checking zip ties, I was also checking body condition, looking for flaws that would be culled out of the flock and checking for parasites.

 

[DreamsInPink]

Yeah, I really like the sounds of the zip ties... you can customize to whatever size you need and not have to worry about spending $20 on bands that may be quickly outgrown. Not to mention, zip ties are much more readily available.. at least in my area. Any DIY store will have them, even WalMart for that matter... Whereas I'd have to go to a farm store to get poultry bands.

 

[enola]

Availability is exactly why I use them.

 

[DreamsInPink]

Not to mention affordability. Those poultry bands are expensive!

 

[Opendoorfarm]

I'm using rubber hair bands on my pullets come in a multi colored pack. The only way I can tell them apart is by their specific color

And the grandchildren have picked out their names

 

[enola]

I tried rubber bands, but had too much trouble with chickens grabbing them and pulling them off of the leg. Then they swallowed them! Stupid chickens.

 

[Opendoorfarm]

Mine have done well with them no pulling and pecking here

 

[DreamsInPink]

LOL I can see them thinking rubber bands are pretty, colorful worms!

I ordered some zip ties last night... on ebay. Those things are expensive too. Geez. I found a good deal on a colorful pack. They're coming from Greece. The burbs are getting fancy Greek bracelets... yep.

 

[Scram85]

I know this thread is pretty cold right now but I had a question or two about the bandettes.

Where do you buy them? What brand are they?