I can just imagine you going out at night and painting your chickens butts...what the neighbors must think!Yes, I really don't like the zip ties.
Oh, one other method I read about to identify who lays where is by using food coloring to paint their vents. Not red and a different color for each girl. Then when you collect there should be smears of that color on the egg.
Yes, I really don't like the zip ties. Though I don't have issues with pecking at them regardless of color.
From far away you can't really see the color. And they get dirty making them faded looking and even harder to see. But the feathered legs really is my biggest problem. Like you say the ties get covered and hidden.
Being able to tell my birds apart is one reason I like having different breeds. But some of my breeds have been super easy to tell individuals apart.. like my FBCM, SFH, and EE. No two seem to be exactly the same. My BR I could tell apart mostly by personality. They had subtle differences but nothing that makes you know who it is right away. And leg band do absolutely nothing for being able to tell which girl it is in the lay box without disturbing them, of course with the intention of knowing who is laying and where.
I have accidentally gotten white paint on 1 bird. It didn't stay on her feathers more than a week or two. But I MIGHT think about a drop of nail polish or something to that effect that wasn't red. I'm definitely in need of a better tagging system!
2 birds went to a new home with their bands still on. I have reminded the people to remove the bands a few times but have no way of knowing they did for sure. They seemed like good folk who loved their kids and the sustainable life type thing. Very animal compassionate. So they probably did and I'm just a worry wart.
Oh, one other method I read about to identify who lays where is by using food coloring to paint their vents. Not red and a different color for each girl. Then when you collect there should be smears of that color on the egg.
I have seen them but not looked into them yet. I definitely will though, thank you.
Those look like nice distinctive colors, and SUPER cheap.
My other Silkies can see well but telling them apart is still very difficult. So circle back to the original subject. Identifying which bird is laying on the floor. 
Standard size. We simply play it by ear on how many times we loop them. They are a stretchy plastic material, so you can stretch them bigger, and double or triple loop them for a smaller leg (like chicks). They are so cheap too, so that's nice.
I put different colored one on each and didn't use red. For some reason, they tightened after a couple days. I didn't put them on tight, and I snipped the extra off. Do they grow that fast? 2 of them were bloody so they must have been pecking at them. I felt bad and one was limping so I decided to take them off and try another way.
I trim off excess 'tail' right at the lock when I put them on.
