Someone Stole My Best Silkie Hen At a Show Today :(

[Sonoran Silkies]

use white ink?

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

How would someone know who the REAL owner was? The other person could just look at the tatoo since it is unlikely the feathers would grow back in the same way again.

 

[Black Feather]

I think the identification ideas are really good, but it won't necessarily prevent the birds from being taken in the first place. It will certainly prevent them from being show by the person who stole them, but that person could just throw them in a breeding pen and you would never see that bird again.

I think the real problem is insecure cages. If the cages could be secured in such a way that they could not be opened easily or tipped up so that someone could get a bird from underneath then I think birds would be much less likely to be stolen.

Locks on the doors and then some way to strap the cages down would probably do the trick in the show room. Of course you'd have to be careful to make sure you monitored the birds closely when they were being cooped in and out of the show.

Just my $.02.

Urban Coyote

 

[Ryu]

You could microchip them...

So sorry about your loss, I hope someone returns her. When we were at Ohio National we bought some show birds, the former owner insisted we buy a lock for the cage door. But you know with the exhbition cages there's no floor so they could just lift it up.

We zip tied our cage doors shut for the last show. I could tell it honked off some of the other exhibitors. I don't know why they would care, but they were giving us wierd looks.

Fingers crossed she comes home.

 

[patandchickens]

I don't understand all this "identification marks would never work" stuff. It's done with lots of other livestock. It works, to a considerable extent. The person finding themselves showing against their own previously-stolen bird would then have something they could DO about it (assuming a police report was filed in the first place)

You can tattoo 4" long salamanders, I am POSITIVE you could tattoo a chicken

The issue of designing tattoos to be tamper-resistant has been well worked out in other species already. And there are other options as well e.g. fingerprinting type ways of establishing identity.

Pat

 

[SunshineSilkies]

Quote:
I will start bringing locks or zip ties and a staple gun. I walked in to a show and saw kids opening the cages to pet the birds and their parents stand there and watch and don't say a word. I guess the next show I'll have to camp out in the exhibition hall.

 

[Smoky73]

Yes, all of the identification works, as long as the bird is shown again. You COULD microchip, it would be expensive, and who goes to a show with a scanner to scan birds? You would have to have an idea of who stole your bird, and see it at a show and have the scanner with you to scan. Of course, this also is to say that any form of permenant identification, if you sold the bird, would still be attached to the bird saying it was yours, so you would have to keep records on what you sold and to who and what if that person sells it after?

The best thing is to try to keep them from getting stolen in the first place. Once its done, it will be difficult to prove a bird is yours if you do see it. I am still going with prevention. I have been wing banding and I put on my entry form (My copy I make) the wing band numbers. So if a bird is stolen from my cage and I have an idea who did it or see someone do it, I can say hey, I can prove this bird is mine it has wing band # ..... But, chances are, your not going to see the person do it.

There has been several birds stolen and they usually get stolen around coop out, or overnight before coop out. One time I know of, a bird was stolen and an inferior bird was put in its place so no one would really notice. Another time, a bird stolen with feed cup, coop tag and everything.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

FWIW, a number of years ago (7 or 8, I think) one of the European silkie breeders recovered a bird that had been stolen at a show 2 or 3 years earlier. The bird had a permanent legband, the breeder had record of the legband number and the reported theft, so he got his bird back when it was entered in a show.

 

[Funky Feathers]

I want my baby back!!!!

I miss her terribly!

http://s29.photobucket.com/albums/c281/Birdy427/?action=view&current=c49542d6.jpg

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c281/Birdy427/c49542d6.jpg

 

[monarc23]

Quote:
I think micro chipping would be the best bet