How to dye vents to determine who lays what?

[townchicks]

My issue is, with exception to one that has slightly lighter feathers, all my RIR pullets look nearly identical.

Colored zipties to band the legs work well, not too tight, and you have to keep an eye on them for irritation, but a lot of folks do that.

 

[aart]

Banded?
I haven't done it yet. I will wait til they appear to have laid today so I don't freak them out prior to laying. Prob do it this evening.

Best to do anything to birds off the roost well after dark or before dawn(I'm an early riser too)

Colored zipties to band the legs work well, not too tight, and you have to keep an eye on them for irritation, but a lot of folks do that.

Yeppers.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/leg-banding-with-zipties.68075/
No sense in painting their butts to stain eggs if you can't attribute that color to a band ID.

 

[MissChick@dee]

Okay I’m confused a colored band on a hens leg will tell you which hen was in the egg box. I get that because they are all RIR’s. But they lay the same colored eggs. So you what sit watch get the egg ASAP because...little miss blue band laid an egg. Wouldn’t that just defeat the purpose??
Why band them if the goal is to go gather egg-s from the box’s and identify the layers.
(Scratching my head)

 

[LulaBell]

Okay I’m confused a colored band on a hens leg will tell you which hen was in the egg box. I get that because they are all RIR’s. But they lay the same colored eggs. So you what sit watch get the egg ASAP because...little miss blue band laid an egg. Wouldn’t that just defeat the purpose??
Why band them if the goal is to go gather egg-s from the box’s and identify the layers.
(Scratching my head)

I think the colored leg bands are just so you can easily tell the birds apart. I bought leg bands at tractor supply and you can write on them. I like to keep track of any illness or incident that happens. Having the leg bands to write a name or number on helps with tracking.

As far as telling who is laying what egg, I have often wondered that myself. I have never heard of painting the vent. I always assumed I would have to seperate them one at a time to see who lays what.

 

[townchicks]

The OP stated that she can't tell her birds part yet , AND she was hoping to figure out which ones were laying already, as they are not all laying. So banding will help her tell them apart.

 

[MissChick@dee]

I think the colored leg bands are just so you can easily tell the birds apart. I bought leg bands at tractor supply and you can write on them. I like to keep track of any illness or incident that happens. Having the leg bands to write a name or number on helps with tracking.

As far as telling who is laying what egg, I have often wondered that myself. I have never heard of painting the vent. I always assumed I would have to seperate them one at a time to see who lays what.

I understand the identification per bird

 

[aart]

Okay I’m confused a colored band on a hens leg will tell you which hen was in the egg box.

The banding will be used in conjunction with the vent dying.

 

[tweetzone86]

The banding will be used in conjunction with the vent dying.

How to do multicolored bands? I saw the ones at TSC online and there's only 4 colors...

Also, one of the colors is red. Won't that cause the others to peck it thinking it's blood?

 

[Chickassan]

It isn't that much! I got a cheap knockoff lot 16 colors for five dollars. It stays on the chicken butt extremely well, the heat melts it into all the little crannies and i'd imagine it offers the same benefits as it does on a mouth. Just don't get the "mood" lipstick, talk about confusion!

Oops! Lol lipstick for real???? Ya know how much that stuff costs??
I don’t see how lipstick would stay on a moist hens ...woohoo.
Maybe I go look it up
And shuudup!

 

[drumstick diva]

You can get cheap lipstick at the Dollar Tree