LegBands

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

Question: I have some legbands as I would like to mark my chicks. For example 1st hatch, 2nd hatch, 3 hatch, etc., They are different color Legbands. But...years ago I had a chicken for the kids that we bought at the flea market. We didn't notice it had a legband on it and before we knew it, it was embedded in the chickens leg too far. So not I worry about the bands getting too tight as the chicks grow. So...about how big or how much room should I leave when putting the band on? I have silkies, polish, cochins, and frizzles. Thanks!

 

[HorizonSon]

Someone correct me of I'm mistaken...

Bandettes are in 1/16 of an inch increments... So a size 8 would be 1/2 inch. The most common sizes are as follows:

Size 7: for ringneck pheasants, mallard, wild ducks, bantams (hens), feather leg and runt pigeons. Also baldpate and pintail ducks, ruffed grouse(male) and sage grouse (female).

Size 9: for wild ducks, pheasants, leghorn hens, anconas, bantam (cocks), silkie, runner, campbell and magpie.

Size 11: for rock hens, wyandotte hens, rhode island reds, leghorn cocks, plymouth rock hens

Size 12: for wild geese, rocks, turkey hens, geese, juersey giant cocks, canadian geese, peacocks

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Basically, at full maturity:

7 for bantam hens

9 for bantam roos

11 for large fowl hens

12 for large fowl roos




I'm (going to be) using the four above sizes to start banding while they are younger, for behavioral record keeping.

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

Thank you so much chillin. Great information. How did you memorize all that? I'm trying!

 

[spottedtail]

Was it a metal type band that got imbedded?

The plastic types are spiraled so they can expand as the chicken grows.

spot

 

[FarmGirl01]

I've never seen one get embedded. Ouch. I use size 7 for my birds. OEGB. I was afraid to use the bands on really young chicks. Legs are sooo small.
The spirals are suppose to expand some with growth. I would get a size you think you need and a size smaller and a size larger. It never hurts to have to many, and they don't cost much.

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

Tell you the truth, I don't know what kind it was. It must have been on there for a long time. We got her and didn't even noticed she had that band on her. But it actually looked like string with tissue or something like that.