Chick leg bands. Any recommendations?

[TRALALARA1]

Does anyone have any recommendations for good leg bands for chicks? I’d like to have them numbered. And what size fits regular sized chicks? I have 30 eggs in the incubator and I’d really like to be able to track each one.

 

[MGG]

Does anyone have any recommendations for good leg bands for chicks? I’d like to have them numbered. And what size fits regular sized chicks? I have 30 eggs in the incubator and I’d really like to be able to track each one.

I don't think there are any small numbered leg bands that would work well. They would have to be changed out weekly at least until they're done growing. You could use colored zipties. Sometimes those have numbers on them.

 

[BeefQuesoritto]

I've been thinking about wing bands, since they don't need to be changed out with age, but once the chick is feathered, the band will be covered up. So it may not be a solution. But if you have a sudden death, you can have a 100% certain ID on the bird.

Just personally I don't want to catch up 12 chicks every week or so to cut off zip ties or plastic leg bands and replace with new ones.

Once they're fully grown, I'll probably put legbands on the difficult to identify ones, like the 5 leghorns I've got...

 

[TRALALARA1]

I mostly just want to be able to tell who came from whom. I have Rhode Island reds, Americanas/ee and Olive eggers hens. And a barred rock rooster now.

 

[BeefQuesoritto]

Gotcha. Yeah, I'll still suggest wing bands. Maybe you could have different colors for each breed? I know they come pre-stamped on amazon with different colors.

National Band has them too, but they have a 4 - 6 week lead time. They also have adjustable leg bands, but I can't find anyone who's used them on this site. So I have no idea how they're adjusted.

 

[TRALALARA1]

Yeah I’ll look those up on Amazon. Thanks

 

[Ridgerunner]

If the Barred Rock is the father then they will probably all look quite a bit alike. And you do have to check regularly with leg bands so they don't get too tight.

One possible solution. Use small colored zip ties. You do have to regularly check them, if they get tight they can cut off the foot. But you don't have to change them every week but you do need to change them. The chicks have two legs and you can get many different colors of zip ties. Work out your own code but a chick with a red band on the left foot is a different chick than one with a red band on the right leg and is different than a chick with a red band on both legs. It is different from a chick with a red band on the left leg and a blue band on the right leg. Or a blue and yellow on the left leg. Or a green and purple. You have two legs to work with and many different combinations.

You can mark chicks with a drop of food coloring. You can usually get four distinct colors and a chick has many different body parts. A drop of one color on the forehead is different than another color. Add combinations of different colors on the left chest, right chest, rear, top of the left leg, top of the right leg. you can come up with a lot of different patterns. The food coloring will need to be refreshed as down becomes feathers and they go through juvenile molts so there will be maintenance, but I could distinctly mark 30 chicks with four different food dye colors.

Do a search on toe punching. That's where you punch a hole through the membrane between their toes. I don't do this and don't much like it but some people use this method. With two feet and several membranes between toes you can come up with many different patterns.

How do you plan to keep them separated in the incubator so you know which is which?

 

[TRALALARA1]

If the Barred Rock is the father then they will probably all look quite a bit alike. And you do have to check regularly with leg bands so they don't get too tight.

One possible solution. Use small colored zip ties. You do have to regularly check them, if they get tight they can cut off the foot. But you don't have to change them every week but you do need to change them. The chicks have two legs and you can get many different colors of zip ties. Work out your own code but a chick with a red band on the left foot is a different chick than one with a red band on the right leg and is different than a chick with a red band on both legs. It is different from a chick with a red band on the left leg and a blue band on the right leg. Or a blue and yellow on the left leg. Or a green and purple. You have two legs to work with and many different combinations.

You can mark chicks with a drop of food coloring. You can usually get four distinct colors and a chick has many different body parts. A drop of one color on the forehead is different than another color. Add combinations of different colors on the left chest, right chest, rear, top of the left leg, top of the right leg. you can come up with a lot of different patterns. The food coloring will need to be refreshed as down becomes feathers and they go through juvenile molts so there will be maintenance, but I could distinctly mark 30 chicks with four different food dye colors.

Do a search on toe punching. That's where you punch a hole through the membrane between their toes. I don't do this and don't much like it but some people use this method. With two feet and several membranes between toes you can come up with many different patterns.

How do you plan to keep them separated in the incubator so you know which is which?

I have each egg numbered. And I’ve got a list of the numbers and what color egg they are. I write pertinent information about each egg and track when I candle them. Info like not much movement, iffy development, or any uncertainty I might have. But it’s mostly the color egg that tells me who it came from. I have 5 Easter eggers who lay very blue eggs, 3 Rhode Island reds who lay brown and then 3 that are last year’s chicks from EE rooster and the rirs that lay green eggs. Mostly I’d like to be able to tell anyone that takes and raises the chick what color egg they might lay and what genetics they have regarding future generations. I do realize that with the barred rock rooster the colors will mostly be brown or green. Unless I replace my EE rooster with another blue gene carrying roo I will eventually lose my blue eggs. I’d love to buy a Americauna rooster in the future as people love all the colors of egg’s that I share with them. I don’t show or anything. It’s just a fun hobby for my retirement years. I love my chickens.

 

[Ridgerunner]

After the chicks hatch they will be crawling all over the place and getting mixed up. With a Barred Rock father the chicks will probably all look pretty similar. Good luck being able to tell which chick came from which egg after they mix.

 

[Silexian]

I use numbered and colored zip tie leg bands. I just use colored leg bands on young chicks. I keep notes that a certain color band is from which mating and hatch date. After the chicks are mature enough and I have decided to retain them in my flocks. I switch to a colored zip tie band with a number. The color lets me know the year hatched. The number is identification of the individual bird. I keep a record of each bird by number on my computer.