Chicken Leg Bands & Quail too!
When you're first starting out with birds, you can name them and know their personalities. You can tell them apart and look on your phone at the bazillion pictures to see how old they are or how they have changed over time. I have to admit, I do have my favorites and have named them. I am not very original in my naming, 5 is an older Chicken Roo and he has 5 points on his comb. Big Mac is just a giant bird. Red is well, red. Those were the good ole days when we had 10 birds and they cuddled and ate out of my hand. Now we have a bazillion birds and while some still have names, most do not. Therefore, I had to come up with a better plan.
Let’s start with the quail as they are easier. If the birds are feather sexable then I just write any info on painter’s tape and stick it right on the cage. If they aren’t feather sexable, then I band boys with a black zip tie on their left leg. I have found that going ahead and closing the loop, slipping it over their feet up to their leg and tightening it, is easiest for me. Left leg because I am right handed, no other real reason besides that. If they have been confirmed celadon through test breeding, I then band any leg with a blue zip tie. Blue is for CELADON! yayayyy. Now that I am further along in my breeding program and need to mark lineage, I have been notching foot webbing. Not a huge fan of it and not sure if I will continue to do it, but I can see it as a useful tool. The tiny zip ties I get here, and just in full disclosure I am an Amazon affiliate and make a small percentage for the click through, and I appreciate it.
Let’s move back to chickens! For hatching eggs, I use a pencil and just write the pen number or color on the egg. When it’s time to move to a hatching basket, the pen number or color is written on tape and fixed to the hatching basket. When they hatch, I do put them in individual brooders. I love them the smaller brooder set up. The tape with their pen identifier follows them to the brooder. Since I do buff Orps and black Cochins, I can mix one pen of orps and Cochins together since you can’t confuse them. Now, once they are 2-3 weeks old and the healthy ones are pulling ahead in the vigor race, I wing band them.
Wing bands can be purchased here, in many colors and they can even put your farm name on them! I like the Zip brand and don’t forget to order the pliers too! Before you say you can’t wing band, let me tell you it’s same as piercing your ears. The band is placed behind the wing tendon and there is no meat or blood vessels there, only two layers of skin. The band has a point on it and it pushes straight thru. If you wait til the bird is 2-3 weeks, you can feel it really well and there is plenty of space. The band is good for life and does not inhibit the bird’s activity at all. I like to turn mine under so the point is tucked and the skin will grow to it and keep it that way. Remember when you got your ears pierced and they said “turn them often!”, same concept.
Now they are numbered, what do you do? I use Dropbox. It’s free and easy. I create folders, like Orpington and Cochin, I know- real original- and then I have subfolders with the band numbers. Inside that subfolder, you can take a picture straight into it and make notes. This picture wont get lost in your phone either or add to your bazillion photos.
Couple last ideas. I like white boards from the dollar store, I write on them hatch date and pen number/color and take the baby pics in front of the board. When you're doing 50 chicks, it makes the process faster. Also, when you set up breeding pens, use a colored leg band, say orange, and make a note in Dropbox of the band numbers in group orange. This way, when you pull the group apart later and the baby grows up into a wonderful show stopper, you know who its parents are. Don’t rely on your memory if it’s important. If you're not sure what you want to do yet, painter’s tape is your friend and zip ties. You can do everything else in hindsight if you decide to. Or you can leave the hard work to me and just enjoy your birds!