What information are you trying to track? Mine is pretty basic, sounds like you may want to get more complicated.
My mutts are split into black or red feathers. I don't do white.
Regardless of feather color the single zip tie on the left leg denotes the year of hatch.
I identify individual birds within their feather color by the right leg. That can be a single band or two different colors. I've never had to go with three different colors on the right leg, I don't have that many. I can have a black hen or pullet and a red hen or pullet with a blue on the left and a green and yellow on the right, for example.
I rotate my hens by age so I need to be sure of the year they were hatched. I evaluate my pullets to decide which I want to keep as replacements, eating the rejects. Egg laying is a significant part of that but other things factor in also. That's why I keep notes.
I hardly ever zip tie the boys. I start freezing the obvious rejects at 16 weeks. By the time I get to my final for replacement at 23 weeks I can easily identify which mutt cockerel is which. With my goals in playing with genetics I generally switch breeding males every year.
I can easily tell which is which when they are walking around, I don't have to catch them. With some marking systems you may need to catch them for closer inspection. If they are on a nest laying or on the roosts hunched down I can't see the zip ties. That adds certain complications as to which is which.
I try to contrast the zip tie color with the leg color. I avoid a yellow band with a yellow legged chicken.
