I've never used the wing bands but the pros often used coded ones. You can also get coded leg bands, but again I've never used them. I use colored zip ties. You just have to come up with your own code to cover the information you want. I use the 7" long zip ties and cut off the excess. The legs will continue to grow so you have to check regularly to make sure they are not to tight.
I use the left leg to tell which year the chicken was hatched. A yellow zip tie on the left leg might mean hatched in 2017, a blue hatched in 2018. If you are just worried about generations that should cover you.
Don't use clear, those can be hard to see, but you can get a lot of different colors. I don't now how many chickens per generation you have, but I use different colors and color combinations on the right leg to identify individuals. A single pink on the right leg would be a different individual than a pink + green, a single green, or a pink + orange. A blue on the right leg would mean something different than a blue on the left. I've used bright red without any pecking issues. I find it helps a lot to keep notes on colors used and to keep tack of individual traits, such as are they good egg layers.
If you are not worried about individuals but want to know which hatch they came from (assuming multiple hatches per year) use one color on a specific leg to show year and a color or color combination on the other leg to show first or second hatch. Come up with your own code for the information you want.
