Zip ties for leg bands?

[cheraboo]

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I've never used the spiral bands before. I'm pretty sure the legband website had sizing suggestions.

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

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here is a size chart http://www.poultrymansupply.com/bandchart.html


RIR hens are a size 11, males a size 12


All you do, Is open the ends of the band, and slide it on.

 

[chickenannie]

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I tried it on their toe nails and found out I had to remark them at least daily.

Whoa, THAT sounds like a lot of work! I can barely get my own toe nail polish on once a week, much less all the chickens... !

 

[ichoosehope]

Hrmm - could you paint a toe or two instead of band?
And how do you remove a band if gets too tight?

 

[cheraboo]

I don't know about the spiral bands, but we just used nail clippers to cut the zip ties. I would imagine the same could be done with the spirals?

 

[Gatekeeper]

Why not just shave their wings and give them a Tattoo? Ummm A heart with "Mom"?

I'm only kidding - maybe.

I have over a 130 birds now I really need to find a way to ID them. I do think that .25 a band is a little expensive.

So I will try the Zip ties or possibly as a 4 year old offered, "Just paint their toenails with polish!" Duhh why didn't I think of that

? NO I'm not going to PAINT their toenails; I don't even paint my own!! *smirk*


Gate

 

[SundownWaterfowl]

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lol. Also, the paint on the nail polish will have to be repainted daily.

Velcro around the legs also works great.

 

[danischi24]

I've had big problems with zip ties. I put one on my adult peahen because she kept getting into the neighbors garden & I had trouble picking her out from all of theirs. It was cut really close to the fat part so nothing could tighten it but it still happened somehow. I went away for a few weeks & when I collected her from my friend, the zip was so tight, it was cutting into her & she could hardly walk. I was horrified & cut it off but it took a long time to heal.

 

[KingsCalls]

I've been doing this for 4 years now and have had no problems. I use colored one's because that tells me who is kin to who! It also tells me when they were born and if they are male or female(on young ducks mostly). I put a different color on each years hatch and I put ties on the left (looking at them from the front) for females and on the right for males. Chickens get colored for the hatch......and when the next hatch of the year comes ties get put on the opp. leg but, with the same color. You can do it which ever way works best for you. The really good thing is that you can tell who is who and what is what from a distance!

 

[chickenannie]

I put zip ties on my adult turkey hens last week, and so far so good. Although I left the ties fairly loose, they slipped down around their "ankles". They don't seem to mind them at all, but I'm going to keep a close eye on them to make sure they don't pinch or get too tight or anything. I'm assuming adult hens are not going to grow anymore.