Chick Leg bands, Confused? Spirals, zips, others, Pros & Cons

[gabbyscritters]

This is the first year my daughter is raising more chicks, so we have divided the hatching tray by breeding pens and are marking the chicks so she knows who is from who.

Need leg band ideas for chicks, especially small breed bantams.

What do you use for leg bands to mark you chicks. I got tiny colored rubber bands from ebay but they are rapidly outgrowing them. Have about 70 Dutch, Ameraucanas and Seramas with more to come.

I hear a lot about zip ties, I can see they are cheap & easy to put on but how the heck can you cut them off a tiny bantam leg. Daughter was a nervous wreck when dad had to cut off a rubber band that was twisted tight on a chicks leg. Even the skinney small zip ties are not going to cut off easy, especially on a little Dutch le, am I wrong?

Spiral bands? Have not used them before on adults only plastic numbered bandettes. The bandettes are a little tricky to remove on adults, you need to open the band wide to get the leg out. So I am wondering about the spirals are when you need to change size on a little chick?

Other ideas, would like to find different colors. Right now they are in # 3 rubber bands but need to move up to #4 and so on. Help here everyone, the chickies keep growing and the rubber bands need to go!

 

[ChestnutRidge]

I am interested in the answer to this question as well. Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[psycoforsilkies]

I raise bantam, cochins and Silkiies, I use the itty bitty zip ties they are in floresent colors so i can mark sell babys keep babies etc. I found them in yellow, bule, pink, orange. they work great for splay leg too much better than tape. the bigger bands wont fit till they are big. here is a pic of a baby I have hobbled with them


I bought them in an assorted container had big sizes and the tiny ones at home depot

 

[The Breaker]

I wonder if O rings would work?

 

[sager:)silkies]

im curous what ppl use too

 

[sunny & the 5 egg layers]

I used some colored velcro strips from my local craft store. They lasted forever! I put them on my girls when they were about 5 weeks old and they are now 11 months old and most of my birds still have them on.

A lot of people use zip ties, and since they come in such a wide range of colors that may be your best bet. They are very easy to cut off, you should be able to snip them off with a simple pair of scissors. Just be sure that you watch your birds as they grow and make sure the zip ties don't get too tight.

 

[yinepu]

I have used colored zip ties in the past.. for the emu I am going to be using different colors of velcro

 

[psycoforsilkies]

Yinepu I see you are in texas What part? I am Just north of Austin, I was interested in an emu, how hard are they to hatch and how hard are they to care for?

 

[yinepu]

Yinepu I see you are in texas What part? I am Just north of Austin, I was interested in an emu, how hard are they to hatch and how hard are they to care for?

I'm also north of Austin..
incubation in a bator takes around 50 days (give or take 5 days).. I did have a breeder tell me that her male takes 60 days to hatch out any eggs he sets..
for natural incubation the female lays the eggs and the male broods them.. most females will not lay eggs unless they have been bred.. and then they quit laying eggs once the male starts to set the nest
they incubate at a lower temperature than chicken eggs (97.5 is said to be the optimal temperature).. as for humidity you are better off weighing the eggs since the porosity of the shell makes a big difference.. so weight loss is the determining factor for humidity
.. you can't candle the eggs since they are very thick shelled and a dark emerald green.. so it's a waiting game.. around day 33 to 35 they start to wiggle if they are alive and growing.. there is no "lockdown" for emu eggs.. they actually hatch better if you tap on the eggs and whistle or talk to the baby to encourage them to hatch.

The first year is the hardest and when most losses happen.. since they grow so fast they really need a proper diet to make sure they don't develop any leg problems.. emus also live much longer than chickens.. the last egg I got was purchased locally.. the parents are 19 years old and still going strong.

the babies need lots of exercise.. and as adults they tend to run along fence lines and chase after anything that moves .. although they do have nice personalities they can be like little brats.. getting into everything and eating all sorts of things that you wish they had never discovered lol

There's actually a lot of info in the emu hatch thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/607761/anyone-up-for-a-hatchalong

and now back to the leg band thread! lol