Leg banding ducklings - orthodontic elastics?

[TXChookstead]

I learned from our last Welsh Harlequin hatch that you can't leg band according to sex quickly enough. Less than a week and *poof* all the bills were dark.

I had thought of using colored orthodontic elastics next time. Has anyone done this, and if so, what size would you recommend?

We are raising some of them to sell, and the thought of a new owner forgetting to remove a rigid band in time (like a zip tie) concerns me a bit. They grow faster than lightning, which takes even me by surprise sometimes!

 

[Canadian Wind]

Do you have two brooders that you can separate them into by gender? That would be my first choice.

I used a small piece of twine on my ducklings to tell one from the other, but I'll be replacing that when she outgrows it.

 

[TXChookstead]

Theoretically yes...a good idea for the future.