Marking Chicks???

[heathersboers]

read something about inserting a needle close to the small end of the egg and inserting food coloring-then cover the small hole with a drop of wax- The color you put in-is the color chick you will get until it feathers out. We just try not to hatch similar colors together- a strawberry crate works wonders!!!

 

[PepsNick]

Quote:
That can get bacteria into the egg and kill he embryo. Only in rare cases would that egg make it to hatch. You could just mark it with a pencil...

Not sure if you can mark the chicks without the leg bans without writing on their legs with sharpie or something, which you shouldn't do. Sharpie is poisonous and I assume would affect small chicks even more. Leg bands are the best way to go and I see them in the buy sell auctions sometimes.

 

[forrestacres]

I marked our chicks with a dot on each of their heads using Crayola non-toxic markers. Once the chicks were big enough, I put a plastic spiral leg band on each chick. Here is the link for the leg bands:

http://www.cutlersupply.com/cart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=6_88

I also put a chart in the coop with each chick's name and her leg band color.

Now I know everyone just by sight and behavior. I don't really pay much attention to the leg bands anymore.

 

[Tiffrz-N-Kidz]

We don't name them immediately, once their personalities developed, we gave them names.

Galadriel is a stately white Ameraucana
Goldilox is her blonde sister
Coco and Bluebonnet are the Reds.

Chewie survived the dog attack
Terry looked like a pteradactyl as a tweenie
Duckie looked like a duck as a tweenie
Sweetie is the sweetest one

The meaties have names like
A La King
Kiev
Cordon Bleu
Leftovers
Dinner
Enchalada
but as a group are referred to as the "McNuggets"

As for knowing which hen laid which egg, there are 'trap nests' you can make but you have to let the hen back out once she has laid. Then you can mark the egg with the hen's ID.

 

[BobwhiteQuailLover]

Thanks!!