Keeping records/Identification on your flock - Need suggestions!

[CowgirlHC]

Hi everyone! Newbie here! If you haven't seen in my newcomer post, I was into chickens probably 10 years ago starting with 4-H projects. As high school activities came followed by college, the chickens were too much for my grandparents in addition to the rest of the farm, so they had to find new homes. Fast forward, this past Easter we decided to get our daughter, now 19 months old, 8 peepers from tractor supply. She LOVED them! They started laying and seeing her face light up when she finds an egg in the box is priceless! Well, fast forward a little more, we have so many fans of her eggs we got a few more young hens and we're up to 1 rooster, a buff orpington she named Guke, aka Duke lol, and 19 hens, 6 ambers, 6 red star, 2 plymouth rock, 1 buff orpington, 1 golden star (I think), and 3 middle aged girls that I'm not 100% sure what are, but I think some kind of red star or some sort of cross there of. Anyways, what my intentions are is to be able to keep track of who we raised ourselves, who we bought, age, etc. I don't want to do wing bands, I want some sort of color coded leg bands. The problem I'm finding is you have to buy so many in a bundle and then they're all the same color, well unless you get the assorted option, but I just dont like those spiral kind for some reason. What do you all do to keep track? Especially when you have a lot of the same breeds that look identical? Any and all suggestions are welcome and very appreciated! Thanks!!

 

[HEChicken]

A lot of people use colored zip ties.

 

[CowgirlHC]

Are the zip ties safe to use? I guess I dont see why they wouldn't be, just wondering! I ideally would like something color coded I could also personalize even if with a sharpie marker. Like we have 6 ambers, 3 we raised 3 we bought. I'd like our 3 to be say pink and the other 3 say blue. I would write 2012 A1 on a pink, 2012 A2 and 2012 A3 on a pink. That way if someone needed special attention, I would know which individual bird. Then on the 3 purchased ambers, I would use blue, and write the same, so I knew they were all 2012 hatched and who was bought vs raised, etc. I'm looking way too much into this aren't I? lol I'm OCD!

 

[centrarchid]

I have had issues with zipties getting to tight or coming off owing to bird's activities. Wingbands are my preferred method of marking anything over 4 weeks of age but by accident found bluecoat sprayed onto feathers is legible for as long as marked feather is retained. It could be applied a particular part of wing, body or tail to provide unique mark.

 

[CowgirlHC]

That was my concern over the zip ties. If you catch the tail, even if you cut it off shorter, wouldn't it pull it tighter? I used wing bands on my 4-H projects because I was also certified to bleed chickens for pollorum-typhoid and had to wing band those bled, but it's not something I can see quickly and distinguish "who" it is.

 

[centrarchid]

My wing bands are pretty easy to read in good light while wearing glasses.

 

[CowgirlHC]

LOL, in good light, wearing glasses, outside in the summer time, if the feathers are laying just right is that what you're saying?! No, I know they're legible if you grab your chickee and read it, I just wanted something easier and faster!

 

[centrarchid]

You can get larger tags light used for research birds that you can read with naked eye from several feet away. They have numbers written on them.

 

[centrarchid]

See link and scroll down to see bird with 23 on arm. http://www.nationalband.com/nbtpoult.htm

 

[DMRippy]

I use velcro.... you can buy them in colors too.... very cheap rarely every do they come off. You can adjust the size as they get bigger. I have had them come off... but if it is just one you can figure out who it belongs to.