How old is it okay to use chicken leg tags?

[iheartnh]

I've always wondered if people have issues with injuries caused by pecking at the leg bands. Forgive me if that is a stupid question, but this is my first year and my chickens like to peck at anything abnormal.

I was wondering that, too!

 

[Gavwyn]

I've used tags (the temporary Ziptie variety) as early as 4 weeks old, and have observed that the other chicks don't bother with the bands after the first initial pecks to see if the band is food. Of course, the earlier you start getting your birds used to the sensation of wearing a bracelet the better, but you do have to be diligent to watch for the band getting too small if you're using say a Ziptie (which is inflexible, and when it gets too tight, it can lame a chicken). If you're using the leather kind like at the ones on the Etsy FeatherWare store, then you can just unsnap & remove a leather band if it gets too tight as the chicken grows.

Certain colors are more "interesting" to chickens - red, in particular, but I've noticed that even bright red bracelets don't get any more notice from my flock of birds than any other bracelet color.

Hope that helps!

 

[Ohgrr]

Very much so! Thank you for the reply. Right now all my girls are very distinct but I'm sure that will change as my flock grows.

 

[chrisnjenny]

Is this somthing that could be used for identification of my chicken vs someone else if there was a dispute as to whom the chicken belonged? Just curious because the band discussed here seem pretty easy to remove