leg bands

[DaggerD]

how many people use leg bands... and what size is your flock?

 

[Mahonri]

I don't, but I wish I did with my barred rocks and RIRs.

Some folks go to home depot and buy the colored zip ties and use those.

 

[CMB]

K, here come my newness and ignorance. Why would one want to band their chickens?

 

[Blackbird]

Its mostly for showing and breeding purposes.. and for large flocks..
Alot of places require them.

I buy smaller sized leg bands from Strombergs for my breeding pigeons.

 

[wings]

Quote:
I will do it with my chicks, even though I will get five. It's nice because you can tell them apart before they get marks that make them unique. You do have to keep on top of changing them. If you don't, their legs can get swollen and then you've got a problem...

 

[CMB]

O, ok thank you. I guess if I had a large number of birds to keep track of or something like that it would make sense, but since I only have 18 hens...

 

[FarmGirl01]

I used leg bands on my laying flock. I could tell which hen was in the nest box. In a few months I could tell who was doing all the laying, who caused trouble, who was the top hen and who was low man. I bought the bands out of a catalog. Don't remember which one. Sometimes the bands would come off.

 

[Blackbird]

If your banding them really young I wouldn't use the cable ties, incase one gets too tight, they can be a hassle to cut, especially if its tight around the leg. I like to wait until their older so that the leg band fits over the foot snuggly so it won't fall off. But then again I use the sealed ones.

For my show chickens this year I am thinking about using leg bands.

 

[CovenantCreek]

I'd like to put bands on some of my flock this year. I tried using the cable ties on my first hatch, but because I left them loose enough to grow into they were also loose enough to fall off. I'd really like to put something on my little house chick, once I return her to all the other white Leghorn pullets it'll be hard to recognize her from the crowd.

What's the best type for growing chicks?

 

[wings]

I have a poultry section of my local farm supply place, and they have different colored plasic ones.