Paint?

[Greaner_pastures]

So I’ve had these chickens for a few years now. I’ve learned from my mistakes…like putting bands on them when they are babies so I can tell them apart down the road lol. I’ve had a chicken I’ve been trying to get back in with the rest of her flock who was molting then got bullied, long story short she’s back to 100%. I’ve had to take extreme measures though. I barricaded the run in half and let them see each other for almost 6 weeks. When I let them together they were not nice…at all. I’ve recently started pushing one bird in at a time with the bird I’m trying to get back into the flock. The issue is…none of my chickens are marked to be able to differentiate who’s who. I was wondering if there’s some safe paint I could use just to put a colored dot on there black feathers so i know whose rotated through so far.

 

[nuthatched]

Non toxic acrylic paint

 

[Ridgerunner]

Try food dye.

 

[aart]

You could still band them.

 

[Greaner_pastures]

You could still band them.

Yea I don’t think they are going to make that easy at all especially by myself.

 

[aart]

Yea I don’t think they are going to make that easy at all especially by myself.

Yeah, it's not easy to do on your own.....but it can be done.
I learned early on how to handle the birds as it's necessary for a few reasons.
I do it after dark, wearing a headlight and a long apron which forms a bit of a hammock between my thighs that helps keep them cradled as I sit in my coop shed chair. Hold the bird down with your non dominant forearm and that hand hods the legs so dominant hand handles the band and clippers.
I use zipties:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/leg-banding-with-zipties.68075/

 

[Ridgerunner]

I band mine by myself using zip ties. I wrap a towel or small sheet around them to control them. I really like having them banded for record keeping.

But for something like this food dye or a quick hit of spray paint can mark them well enough. I used a light blue acrylic spray once to mark a specific hen. It worked well but got a strange comment from a neighbor. She wanted to know what breed of chicken had that sky blue color.