Leg bands

[Newchickadee30]

Hello,

what are some safe leg bands for adult chickens? I don’t hatch my own chickens and I like that I have a few birds from here and a few birds from there in my very mixed flock.
Some are easy to tell part appearance wise and of course those one’s have names haha.
I’m interested in having bands on them for the ones I can’t tell apart (ex:leghorns) so I know age, health care done, etc. I’ve seen spiral ones, zip ties and ones that almost clip on.
with the right size of course can someone let me know of a good safe brand? They all seem different.

 

[cavemanrich]

Let me offer you my view on these you mention.
Spiral; I personally do not favor this type, because it tends to stay kind of tight on chickens leg. (meaning, unless you go to the effort to stretch to size, band stays close to chickens skin) especially if spiral is small, and chicken's leg is big.
Clip-on, is an ideal one, since most come numbered, and in different colors. The problem arises, when you need different size openings, for different size chicken's feet. I used this type for my pigeons, in 8MM size. The problem, is finding other larger sizes, that would be for chicken feet size. Not impossible, but also not common= equals higher price compared to the common 8MM size
Zip-ties are the most common used on chickens. Adjustable to size of foot. You can purchase assorted colors, and width sizes also. They are inexpensive. I did want to make you aware of potential problems with their use. Some peeps placed too tight on foot, and caused strangulation of foot. Others placed loose on foot, but left a slight length of strip sticking out past the locking portion. Chickens with their beak, pulled on that, and tightened the zip-tie themselves. If you go the zip-tie route, place loosely, but not to point where too loose. Then with a nail clipper, clip off the tail portion as close to locking portion as possible. You can additionally secure the locked portion with a small drop of nail polish.
If you have many chickens, and run out of colors to ID, then you can inscribe numbers on the larger bands. There are multiple ways to add distinguishing marks, and you would have to keep a chart to keep track.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[Ridgerunner]

With any leg band you need to check them for fit on a regular basis. The chickens' legs grow pretty fast when they are young but will still increase in thickness even after you think them grown. They need to be loose enough that they can slide up and down some but not be loose enough to slip over the foot.

I tried the hard plastic colored bands and did not like them. Different chickens have different sized legs so you probably need different sizes. That means getting different bags which gets expensive. They were kind of hard to get on and off with my arthritis.

I use the colored zip ties, the 7" ones. I think you are wanting something you can see from a distance and maybe at a glance. The 4" are too thin for me to be able to see them that easily. Zip ties are easy to put on and you adjust them to fit when you put them on. You still need to check them for fit on a regular basis, their legs can grow. I use wire cutters to trim off the excess when I put them on and to cut them off if they need to be replaced.

I don't know how many birds you have to mark or what information you want to record. My system is that the color on the left leg tells me which year they hatched. I use the right leg to mark the individuals. I might have one with a red tie, another with a blue, and another with both a red and blue. I also use green, yellow, purple, and orange. By mixing those you can come up with a lot of combinations. I've never had to go with three colors on a leg. These are just for my red birds. Since I can tell red birds from black I can repeat the colors on the black birds. Since the left leg tells me years the colors on the right can repeat each year. You'll need to come up with your own code for the information you want.

Before someone comments, I use red zip ties and have no pecking problems.

Pay attention to the color of the bird's legs when selecting colors. Don't use clear, they can't be seen. Avoid using yellow zip ties if their legs are yellow. Avoid black on black though black on yellow would be good.

 

[aart]

With any leg band you need to check them for fit on a regular basis.

Ditto Dat!!

I like the smaller zipties.
Tho long term some can break and fall off, not all zipties are created equally.
So as well as watching they don't get tight as they grow, I swap them all out once a year.

Easy to cut off with end cutters.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/leg-banding-with-zipties.68075/

 

[Thunder344]

Do loom bands work at all?

 

[cavemanrich]

Do loom bands work at all?

I have a feeling that loom bands would be something a chicken could bite off, since they are somewhat soft and pliable.

 

[Thechicksdigme]

Do loom bands work at all?

We used them until they were 8 weeks then switched to the plastic ones from TSC.

 

[aart]

We used them until they were 8 weeks then switched to the plastic ones from TSC.

Started using them at 3 weeks. That chick is 5 weeks in that pic

View attachment 2330787
Yes they worked. Still using on one Leghorn.