The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[SallyinIndiana]

Quote: time to make a decorative but functioning outhouse and dig a real well under one of those wishing well lawn ornaments.

Quote: I'm sure you have posted it, but what bands did you use. My numbered plastic bands just broke off of my rooster #1. It was the right fit as far as I could tell.

 

[TeaChick]

time to make a decorative but functioning outhouse and dig a real well under one of those wishing well lawn ornaments.
I'm sure you have posted it, but what bands did you use. My numbered plastic bands just broke off of my rooster #1. It was the right fit as far as I could tell.

Yup. That'd be great weekend fun!!! lol
My girls are city kids; they prefer not to go rather than going in the woods. smh
We'd do stuff like filling the bathtub and milk jugs and we keep bottled water in the house, so we'd be alright.
It's a lot more fun to pretend your camping b/c you have to use flashlights and cook outside with fire, than it is to pee in the woods and figure out water to wash with.
I feel ya; you do whatcha gotta do. ;-)

Yes, what kind works/lasts. I don't want a bunch of plastic bands round my yard and I don't want them to be able to peck them off of each other. I know they have keen eyesight, are there colors I should avoid? (like red looks like blood, etc????)
Could I just use yarn or something from around the house just to be able to tell my Leghorns apart instead of buying the bands? I could see them costing a lot or having to buy a billion of them and never using them all.

 

[aoxa]

time to make a decorative but functioning outhouse and dig a real well under one of those wishing well lawn ornaments.
I'm sure you have posted it, but what bands did you use. My numbered plastic bands just broke off of my rooster #1. It was the right fit as far as I could tell.

http://www.strombergschickens.com/product/2527/numbered-plastic-bands

I use #9 for young cockerels and hens and #11 for roosters (standard sized boys). #9 also works for silkies, as their foot fluff helps keep them on. Don't band pullets too young, as the #9 will fall off. I banded the girls around week 12, and they are still on.

So my suggestion is to get both #9 and #11.

 

[delisha]

I see chickens with bands on their legs in some pics.
Is that like putting ribbon around the necks of puppies, so that you can tell apart the ones that look alike? Or do they serve some other purpose?

yes..it is needed for showing and records too.
As chicks I like to guess and use zip ties for sexing. Right leg is female. I am usually wrong..lol

Quote: I like these..they can be put on at a few weeks old and you never have to change them

 

[lindz8504]

http://www.strombergschickens.com/product/2527/numbered-plastic-bands

I use #9 for young cockerels and hens and #11 for roosters (standard sized boys). #9 also works for silkies, as their foot fluff helps keep them on. Don't band pullets too young, as the #9 will fall off. I banded the girls around week 12, and they are still on.

So my suggestion is to get both #9 and #11.

Have you tried the zip-tie ones? Would they be easier to fit multiple size birds without having to order different sizes? I've never banded mine so I don't know?

http://www.strombergschickens.com/prod_detail_list/Numbered-Zip-Tie-Poultry-Bands

 

[armorfirelady]

I use plain old zip ties from the dollar store. The only thing is you must keep an eye on them as they grow so they don't get tight on their legs.

Of course I only have 8 hens so I don't need numbered ones lol

 

[aoxa]

Have you tried the zip-tie ones? Would they be easier to fit multiple size birds without having to order different sizes? I've never banded mine so I don't know?

http://www.strombergschickens.com/prod_detail_list/Numbered-Zip-Tie-Poultry-Bands

I haven't. I'd be afraid they'd overgrow.

 

[Jewelwing]

I think they've started saying Climate Change. But here in the desert it is getting warmer. I am in the foothills and this summer saw 115 degrees for only about the second time in my life here. On the other hand we've had about the second or third mildest Dec ever. Just barely a skim of ice on the waterers in the morning. 20 years ago it snowed on Thanksgiving and then every couple weeks through Easter. The last few years it barely snows in Jan/Feb and not nearly enough rain in any season.

I agree. They call it Climate Change, and it sure has! Apparently, we're currently in the middle of an extinction event at least as big as the dinosaur one. Horribleness.

On a brighter note, I love your avatar picture! That's quite a cat!

Everyone, this is Gatsby. He is my pick cockerel for the breeding pen. I think he is gorgeous. He has the rock type that I so need.

Wow, he is GORGEOUS! I showed him to my kids, and they said he looked so much like a zebra that he should be called a "zicken."

 

[ki4got]

regarding banding, I use the split bands (like key ring loops) in a variety of colors to identify keepers from one another, within a certain breed. I also wing band everyone (jiffy bands, takes a special tool to crimp them on but they won't fall off accidentally either). my wing bands are numbered so I can keep track of who's who, hatch date, breeding line if I know it, etc. whatever info I've got. they get banded anywhere from a day old to adults and then if I have a number of birds that look alike, the colored bands help me tell one from the other. like my silver grey dorking girls. I have pink/white (aka pinky), orange, green, white, yellow and dark blue.

for now, everyone else I can tell apart, those that I need to at least.

 

[TeaChick]

yes..it is needed for showing and records too. As chicks I like to guess and use zip ties for sexing. Right leg is female. I am usually wrong..lol I like these..they can be put on at a few weeks old and you never have to change them

Those look like metal. They look flat. I guess they give as the bird grows and there's no concern of it growing into the leech or damaging the skin?

I use plain old zip ties from the dollar store. The only thing is you must keep an eye on them as they grow so they don't get tight on their legs. Of course I only have 8 hens so I don't need numbered ones lol

This sounds like a good solution for me. I don't have many chickens that I need to mark. Thanks for the tip!