Identification methods

[Snow]

What are some good methods of marking chickens so they can be identified and tracked?

 

[Yoshii]

Food dyes are pretty harmless and effective, as are leg bands, which can be made of small zip ties.

 

[speckledhen]

Strips of colored velcro around the leg, color-code zip ties, leg bands made for that specific purpose.


I have a splash Ameraucana hen named Snow. Welcome to BYC!

 

[Snow]

Thanks. I have some twist ties but no zip ties. Is this anything like you meant with Velcro?

I have these newly hatched chicks, some of which I hope are purebred Barred Rocks and I really want a son of my rooster who died just before I started incubating these eggs. These three mostly black ones look like purebreds I think, and one has a larger white spot on its head which is usually an indication of being male in that breed. I want to see if I'm right.

Do they look like pure Barred Rocks to you all? The possibilities are Barred Rock, Dark Cornish, a cross of those two, or a cross of one of those with Rhode Island Red.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Depends on how permanent you want it. Food coloring works short-term. Sometimes, they can work the twist-ties off. With a few birds, you can often learn to recognize the different ones visually, even if they are the same breed. Leg bands and toe punching are better for long-term identification. This site gives some good info on legbands and toe punching.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=126202

 

[Thomas423]

Thanks. I have some twist ties but no zip ties. Is this anything like you meant with Velcro?

I went to Lowes today and picked up double sided Velcro ties. It was in the electrical section. They came in 5 colors about 8 inches long. I cut them in half lenghtwise and then about 2 inches long. Now all my girls are identifiable and now have their names. If you go to JoAnn (fabric).com and do a search for velcro you can see a pic of them but Joann's only sells them online. The girls kinda walked funny for a bit but they are not bothering them at all now.
A lot of people have recommended zip ties but we tried them last night and didn't feel comfortable with using them for little ones since they have to be cut off. We tried one but left too much room and she slipped it right off.
Also, people have spoke real good about the bands and we would have liked to try them but were unable to find any at our local feed stores and don't want to buy online since it's hard to tell what size.
So anyway, velcro seems like a good and easy solution. We wrapped it around their leg about twice and plan on adjusting it as they grow. We tried the way you have in your pic before I got the double sided but I was afraid they would pick it off too easily.​

 

[Snow]

Thanks for all the info. Is there a thread with instructions for using food coloring to mark them? I'll get some double sided velcro and some zip ties just to have around and see what works best for me. If I need to cut zip ties off I have some suture removal scissors similar to these:

http://www.allheart.com/ah1520.html

that might be a good way to cut them off without injuring a bird.

 

[speckledhen]

I have these newly hatched chicks, some of which I hope are purebred Barred Rocks and I really want a son of my rooster who died just before I started incubating these eggs.

Same here. My flock rooster died suddenly last April 15 and I kept three of his sons because he was so very special to me. Barred Rock, too, like yours. The oldest is in my avatar.

The Velcro I have used was cut into long strips and wrapped around and around itself to make a thick band around the leg of the bird. It's not perfect, though, because on occasion, a bird will manage to remove it. Zip ties are better, but must be removed as soon as they begin to get snug and replaced.​

 

[Nicola]

with the food dye u dilute it in a water spray bottle and spray the chicks