Identifying sets in a flock born over many settings

[aart]

Quote: I have no idea how to manage leg bands on that many birds.
Leg strangling is definitely a risk with zipties, not sure about other bands, the end cutter thru the ziplock is the way to get them off easily tho.
With practice I found to leave it loose enough to stay on foot, but plenty of room for leg to grow, by 12 weeks you shouldn't have to change it again.

Luckily my roosts are easily accessible and I grab the bird off the roost at night with both hands holding the wings against the body, football carry it out to my chair, then roll it over onto it's back on my lap.

You might think about using many pens and keeping sets confined together.

 

[dheltzel]

I use spiral leg bands from Cutlers Supply (great source, they have all sorts of bands and are the cheapest I've found so far). I think they have a bit more give than zip ties, but I have still had a few cause "girdling" problems when I wasn't paying attention to the growth of their legs. I think bandettes might have the same issue if you leave the small size on too long.

Honestly, I don't worry about the different ages across a years hatches. When culling hens, I'd more go by whether they are currently laying or not, by checking the distance between their pubic bones. When culling from my laying flock, I move the ones I suspect have quite laying to a separate pen for a week or so, and if no eggs show up, I know I'm right and they get sold or free-ranged on the farm (my version of literally putting them out to pasture).

 

[CrazyTalk]

Honestly, I don't worry about the different ages across a years hatches. When culling hens, I'd more go by whether they are currently laying or not, by checking the distance between their pubic bones.

The pubic bone thing works if your concern is whether they're 'spent' but it doesn't seem like he's looking for that - he's looking at culling year old birds - so I'd guess he's trying to move forward with a breed specification.


I don't worry about multiple hatches across a year - what's important is who the parents are - and generally my hatches across a breeding season are all from the same breeding groups - they're all genetically equivalent. I do try to make sure that different generations are marked differently.

I'm currently using zip ties, but I don't put them on until the birds are almost fully grown. I'm planning on going to wing bands next year.

 

[NTBugtraq]

The pubic bone thing works if your concern is whether they're 'spent' but it doesn't seem like he's looking for that - he's looking at culling year old birds - so I'd guess he's trying to move forward with a breed specification.

I don't worry about multiple hatches across a year - what's important is who the parents are - and generally my hatches across a breeding season are all from the same breeding groups - they're all genetically equivalent. I do try to make sure that different generations are marked differently.

I'm currently using zip ties, but I don't put them on until the birds are almost fully grown. I'm planning on going to wing bands next year.

Yes, I am doing some inbreeding...7 sets this year made Gen1 layers, 5 sets starting Jan. 6 makes Gen2 layers, 3 further sets make Gen3 layers. That takes me to November next year, and has me with some 400 birds at that time. There's a lot of juggling going on during that time in order to keep the right birds moving from brooder to juvenile pen to sales/processing or main pen at the right time.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Yes, I am doing some inbreeding...7 sets this year made Gen1 layers, 5 sets starting Jan. 6 makes Gen2 layers, 3 further sets make Gen3 layers. That takes me to November next year, and has me with some 400 birds at that time. There's a lot of juggling going on during that time in order to keep the right birds moving from brooder to juvenile pen to sales/processing or main pen at the right time.

Ok, so you're trying to compress the timescale of each generation as much as possible - makes sense - and you've got smaller gaps. My last birds are usually born in August or September, and first are born Feb/March - so there's plenty of differentiation between them, and plenty of time to tag the older ones before I start evaluating. You're not going to have that - your June birds may be a different generation than your July birds. Correct?


That definitely makes it more complicated. Do you have multiple pens, or are you ranging/mixing/etc? It would certainly make the process easier if you didn't have to tag birds until they were atleast a couple months old - that would eliminate a lot of the band swapping - you could probably fit them with adult bands at 16 weeks or so.

 

[NTBugtraq]

Ok, so you're trying to compress the timescale of each generation as much as possible - makes sense - and you've got smaller gaps. My last birds are usually born in August or September, and first are born Feb/March - so there's plenty of differentiation between them, and plenty of time to tag the older ones before I start evaluating. You're not going to have that - your June birds may be a different generation than your July birds. Correct?

That definitely makes it more complicated. Do you have multiple pens, or are you ranging/mixing/etc? It would certainly make the process easier if you didn't have to tag birds until they were atleast a couple months old - that would eliminate a lot of the band swapping - you could probably fit them with adult bands at 16 weeks or so.

My Gen1 layers are already laying. Gen2 layers will start laying towards the end of June, at which point the last of the Gen1 layers will be culled. Gen3 layers start laying near the middle of December, so Gen2 get culled. Laying pullets are being culled at ~31 weeks.

I have;

• indoor brooders for up to 4 weeks
• a juvenile pen up to 12 weeks (pullets) or 18-22 weeks (cockerels)
• a main flock setup for my layers and my 3 BCM roosters.

I have to handle the birds individually at each transition, so banding at those events is no extra work. Hopefully I can figure out how to make a loose enough zip tie that will stay on from 4 weeks to 12. I'll reband the cockerels at 12 weeks also.