Zip ties as leg bands

[Feathered Wings]

Quote:
Thanks thats cheaper than what i pay never thought to look at the dollar tree BRB

 

[sangel4you]

where abouts in dollar tree? Like what were they with?

 

[sangel4you]

and no, no electrical supply stores...we really dont have much.

 

[Tala]

From WalMart we got a big plastic jar of them, hundreds of them in various sizes. They come in basic electrical colors like yellow, white & black. At Home Depot, Lowes and TSC I have seen NEON colored ones!!!

But I only have 3 yellow/white chicks so I didn't need a lot of colors. I put a black one on one, and a yellow one on one, and the third has none. I did it because I really had no way of knowing if I was picking up the same pullet 3x!!
I didn't even cut the ends off very close just used plain scissors. The chicks picked at it for about 30 seconds or less, and have since totally ignored it.


Here is one wearing one.

 

[firedove]

I found Goody brand small rubber hair bands (ouchless) at Wal-Mart. The pack I got has 3 sizes. One good for day olds (5/16ths" inside diameter so about a size 5), one size that fits my 8 weekers with room to grow (5/8" inside diameter size 9 or 11 or so), and a big size that I might try on my grown hens just to see if it fits (1" inside diameter about size 12 or 14). My chicks are mostly Wyandottes. The package of bands came with bands of several different colors (pink, green, yellow, white, blue, purple, and orange). There were supposed to be 250 bands in the package but I haven't tried to count them

The chicks didn't like me putting them on (you have to stretch them between two fingers and maneuver the foot through) but once they were on they completely ignored them. I banded the chicks to mark who I am keeping and who will be for sale. I can tell the difference between most of them but I don't have a good memory for it, and with 28 chicks to keep track of it just is quicker to look for the bands. My 13 keeper pullets all have green bands, my keeper cockerel has a white band. The sale cockerels all have blue bands and the sale pullets have no band.

The thing I like about using these bands is that they don't come off without a lot of work (very strong, I tried to break one to see how easy that would be and no matter how I pulled it wouldn't snap), they are thin and easy to cut off or stretch back over the foot when the time comes to take them off, the chickens seem to ignore them, I think because they are not very wide so not particularly obvious. I will try to remember to get a pic of one of the chicks with the band on it and add it here later.

The bands were $3.50 I think, for the 250 multi color pack. Not much more than zips and much nicer IMHO. If nothing else you don't have to worry about them being pulled tighter by another chicken or popping off because you cut the tab too short. Plus I think WalMart carries most of the same stuff across the country.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Ya, just be super careful with these! Chick legs grow super fast and before you know it they will have zip ties constricting their legs. We tried this once and were amazed at how quickly our chicks filled up the space in the ties and had a hard time getting them off. We'll probably not do this method again.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

i get my cable ties at big lots now in neon colors!! they r 500 for $5. u get pink, green, yellow, orange and blue half in the small ties and half in big ties. i just cut em off it isn't sharp. i have never had any of them peck at em or bother them. i use on entire flock and other birds we have.

i use them from hatch to adults on chickens all my breeds and adult turkeys for our friends at show time. we use them for our birds to band for several things. one leg gets a band color for breeder/bloodline and marked also males or females when younger. when older the other leg gets a color for which of the 7 of us is showing each of us has r own color. when we go to shows mine is pink large bands so i know which r all mine i just grab and find the cages it makes it so much faster to unload em and set up. my daughter is sm pink so i know to grab em and walk till i find where hers go ect.

i also use them on my cockatiels and pigeons to mark the pairs and the babies have matching as well and to tell what year they r born. i also buy them at walmart to sometimes and hardware store in black, white, clear and neons too but it is less amounts and usually costs more. on clears i use sharpie marker on the rigged side and turn it marker side in/smooth side out. worked about a year and i think most still have the marker on them but i'd have to check again to see. it allowed us to have more colors to use.

 

[therealsilkiechick]

Quote:
if that happens there is a lock on the zip tie use something small to lift up or down (can't remember which) and hold it the little piece sticking out the lock is what u move it will release and u can pull the tie back open. i always add extra space and watch them so i usually just cut them off and use a new one made bigger as they grow. my kids decided to make flags one day with all the ties.

had to sit there and get like 200 ties apart.

i had to learn the hard way,lol. but that is the easiest way to get them off if they can't be cut off with scissors.

 

[AkTomboy]

At http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/cableties.php along with home depot and such they have the ties that are releasable. Also Ebay has legbands cheap and in many sizes.

 

[texas_chick]

I bought colored poultry spiral leg bands. They were nice because when they got too small you could just uncoil them.

I used 4 out of a package of 100 so if you want to have some just send me a SASE and I'll ship you 5.

They're size 9.

Or buy a small quantity off Ebay like here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/20-leg-bands-yo...ryZ46532QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem