Leg bands

[Livvydays]

Is there a good brand of leg bands to recommend? Or bad ones to avoid? I may try them temporarily or intermittently. Thanks in advance!

 

[wrathsfarm]

I just use multi colored zipties. Have for years now because they're cheap and easy to replace as the little ones grow out of them.

Sorry if it was no help...

 

[Livvydays]

Simple enough. I will keep that idea in mind. Thanks!

 

[Susan Skylark]

I’ve tried the plastic ones on Amazon, they are a pain to put on and can be hard to get the right size and they don’t maintain sharpie writing very well. I actually like the zip ties too.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What do you hope to achieve with leg bands? That might help guide us to a better suggestion for you. How any chickens do you have?

One potential problem with leg bands is that as the leg grows the band can get tight enough to actually cut the foot off. You have to pay attention and curt the band off and replace it if it gets tight.

Some people put a lot of information on one band. This generally requires codes because of limited space. If you are using the bands to identify them you have to catch the chicken to take a close look.

You can get some hard split plastic bands that you can put on the feet. These come in different colors and have to be the right size for the specific chicken. With these you can tell at a glance which chicken is which if they are colored similarly. I don't like these because they have to be a specific size, it is not as easy as one size fits all.

Many of us use colored zip ties. You still have to pay attention and make sure they don't get too tight but you adjust them to the right size when you put them on. By varying which leg you out different colors on and how many different colors you can put on a leg you can come up with many different combinations. For example, a specific color on the left leg tells me which year the chicken was hatched. The color or colors on the right leg identify specific chickens. My chickens have different feather colors too so that is another distinct way to identify them. A black chicken with a blue on the left and a yellow on the right is a different chicken than a red chicken with blue on the left and yellow on the right.