Does Anyone Use Wing Bands?

[3KillerBs]

I'm starting to think that a number system might work better for me than the colored zipties alone and wonder if anyone has experience to share with wing bands.

 

[KsKingBee]

Here at Spring Creek Peafowl we use a combination of Jiffy wing tags and colored zip ties on the legs. We have 30 different breeding pens so the colored zips tell us from a distance which pen the bird came from and the wings tags gives the serial number of the bird. Other pertinent info is recorded in the journals for that year. The wing tags has the year and the same serial number on both wings and our name and telephone number on the back side. We also have leg closed butt bands for our breeders.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Wonders if @ChickenCanoe is still around, he might use wing bands or have knowledge about them.

I use wing bands exclusively now. For years I used colored, numbered bandettes but they kept getting lost. If I didn't replace them frequently enough, too many would be lost to know who was who. I resisted wing bands because as @aart noted, you have to handle the bird to read the number. My system for using the bandettes was to go with the same color system as used for queen bee colors. This way I could tell the age of a bird from afar. They were fairly easy to read the number from a distance. The red bands were too difficult to read the number from a distance so I substituted orange for years 3 and 9.

After losing control with the bandettes, I needed more control.
I finally relented and went to wing bands.
Like @Punkybrewster, I wait till they are a couple weeks old to apply the wing bands and if I need to differentiate at hatch, I use colored zip ties temporarily. You are supposed to be able to apply the wingbands to day olds but once I put the band through the elbow joint and had to amputate so that was the last time I did it so young.
I was told a long time ago that any serious breeder uses wing bands.
I use the Jiffy type. They also come in colors and if you get contrasting color numbers, they are fairly easy to read when holding the bird. The plain metal ones are a little hard to read the numbers on (for an old guy). At least they are permanent for the bird's entire life - unlike leg bands.
I really liked my bandette routine and even went so far as to get duplicates of everything but still couldn't keep up with those being lost.

 

[aart]

There aren't many serious keepers, let alone breeders here anymore.
I remember a couple threads about wing banding in the past,
but it's been at least a couple years.
One guy did a pretty good video on it.

One thing about wing bands is that you can't read them from afar,
but they do seem to be a viable long term solution over any kind of leg band.

 

[3KillerBs]

There aren't many serious keepers, let alone breeders here anymore.
I remember a couple threads about wing banding in the past,
but it's been at least a couple years.
One guy did a pretty good video on it.

One thing about wing bands is that you can't read them from afar,
but they do seem to be a viable long term solution over any kind of leg band.

I'm getting lost trying to begin keeping track of my birds when I have to refer to a bird as "Black-Yellow Welp 2021" and was thinking that numbers would be easier.

I know that some people can attach and keep track of names for dozens of birds and tell every one apart from subtle details of their appearance, but I don't even remember people's names very well so once I got over 12-15 hens only the most distinctive-appearing got names.

(I also have to stop using pink zipties because after a few months it's almost impossible to tell the pink from the red).

 

[Jaime918]

I'm not familiar with those. Any photos, sources, etc?

 

[aart]

I'm getting lost trying to begin keeping track of my birds when I have to refer to a bird as "Black-Yellow Welp 2021" and was thinking that numbers would be easier.

Numbers might be easier.
Colors available are limited, and yes many colors are too close to bother with.

I've used zipties, various colors and alternating legs for year of hatch.
Have a spreadsheet to list them and keep notes.
After ~5 years started kinda running out of color leg combos, had to use multiples.
Also learned that the ties should be replaced yearly because they do break,
especially some of the 'cheaper' ones.
I stopped hatching a couple years ago, but now find I have to reband with whatever to tell the plethora of broodies ID'd.

 

[SueT]

You can write numbers on the snap on plastic leg bands.....
I didn’t since I only have 5 look-a-likes of one breed and 2 of another.

 

[3KillerBs]

These got good reviews
View attachment 3166553

Thank you, but for positive ID over a number of years of use in my environment, I don't think I can trust any sort of ink-on-plastic.

 

[3KillerBs]

Probably hard to see at a distance but maybe the adjustable metal bands (sort of look like a belt) could be an option if you haven't tried them yet?

I'm not familiar with those. Any photos, sources, etc?

Here at Spring Creek Peafowl we use a combination of Jiffy wing tags and colored zip ties on the legs. We have 30 different breeding pens so the colored zips tell us from a distance which pen the bird came from and the wings tags gives the serial number of the bird.

Thank you. That's very helpful.