Has anyone here put wing bands on their chicks? If so, how hard is it to do and is there a brand you would recommend? I am interested in keeping better records about them--especially the ones I am hatching, but the leg bands are all too big and awkward and I don't want to try toe punching. Right now, with only seven pullets I can keep track of everyone (although the RIRs are challenging). Wing bands sound good. Any experience or advice?
Wing banding chicks?
I haven't tried any banding yet, but there is a leg band
that curls around - not the spiral- it's like a flat plastic
band that is very flexible, and would expand as the chicks
grow. I'll go see if I can find it....
http://www.poultrysupplies.com/index_files/page0035.htm
This one looks interesting to me, and is sold in pkgs of 25,
in a lot of colors.
This message was edited Apr 21, 2008 1:44 PM
hmmm, i iwll be needing numbered leg bands for showing this year. was gonna look at strombergs.... will let you know.
truest--thank you so much! It looks like exactly what I need.
i use colored cable ties for all mine to mark breeders on one leg. then same leg they get a second one for marking if they r mine, dh or one of the kid's with a different color. when i draw blood on my birds i have pa dept of ag #'ed perminant leg bands those go on the other leg for show and crimp at the lock.
if u need a pic so u know what i use i can take a pic of open ones and a chick with them on. they r cheap and so easy to use and can fit new hatched to adults. i get about 100 i think it is for about $3 and they r floresent and i have blacks if older i use spirals also sometimes. u just put it around and through the whole tighten to size and cut off excess with sissors.
TF, i'm a member of ABA u can buy #ed bands on their website for about 30 cents a piece if u do a search u may be able to find them cheaper some where also. i think APA has them too but i'd have to look i don't know if u have to be members to buy them not sure. i haven't joined the other yet but will soon. i used to have a good site saved that had many kinds of perminant ones cheap but i think it's on my old comp i'll look see if i can help u find some, it maybe this comp i saved it on not sure.
hope that helps ya all,
silkie
thx. i counted today and i will need 100+. don't tell DH lol
lol, oh girl ur as bad as me, hehe. i don't know how many i need yet. i sold about 25 birds today. i'm thining out my flock some.
well, i have a trio picked out to sell. but i have two egg customers wanting trios.... they are just bantams...
Hi silkiechick--the cable ties sound like a good idea--where do you get different colored ones? I bought a bag of little ones at Lowes but they are all black. Will also look into buying some bands like the ones truest mentioned. So much help!
i bought my black ones at walmart but they have other colors there around the paint section/electric section. those r small ones but they have all sizes. then i bought the floresent ones here at the hardware store for $3.19 +tax a pack. same thing except i have blue, green, orange, yellow, pink in them.
You can get the colored cable ties, zip ties, at
any electronics store. S'pecially computer parts
stores. Does the bump left behind when you cut
off the extra bother them at all, Silkie?
yes that would be a good place to check also i didnt think of that. nope they never peck at them either. i put them on and they go about their business they don't show they know they r there. i figured colored ones would bother them and attract attention but they haven't noticed them with any of those colors i use all of them.
it works alot nicer on feather footed also. my cochins and silkies sometimes i have a heck of a time getting sprirals on due to such long feathers on legs. these r not sharp and fit better over thicker harder feathers. another thing i like is it is the first thing i have found to fit peeps at hatch. i like that i can buy all same size and i can use them from buff brahmas to hatched chicks i don't have to buy several packs all different sizes i can just make them as i need them. easy to snip off with sissors if they out grow too. spirals i have to cut with wire cutters those things r sharp sometimes they can't be bent to take off and stick them trying to take off and put on. they r also alot lighter and flexable i think they r more comfortable for them too.
Yeah, I didn't like the idea of spirals, much. Looked
like it could hurt trying to fangle it on. I like the zip
ties idea. And, they make them really tiny, too, so will
work for my quail. I wondered if they would peck at them.
I could see a chick in my mind, getting a hold of a
band and just dragging the bejeezers out of some poor
chick! So, that is very good to know. And, while I'm
thinking about it, maybe I could use a hot pen to write
(melt) additional info or numbers on the zip tie. I have
seen hot pens used for cutting out stencil film when
making a piece of sandblasted glass. I wonder if the tip
is fine enough. hmm..
that just might work. on mine it won't they r real little like 3mm by 4" i think it is. not sure where i put the bag to check the size. i'm going to do my cockatiels to mark my breeders in pairs but haven't got that far yet. i have 16 of them and never know who is who's mate,lol. i haven't added breeder boxes this year yet i want to band the bonded pairs so i know which pair breeds with which when i seperate them.
So you will let them choose who they like, then
put them in pairs after that? Do they always choose
one and stick together 4 ever, or just the season?
i got them from a lady getting out of breeding them. they were her breeders and 2 babies. a few i had before that. all he breeders r already bonded pairs they picked on their own. mine and the babies r working on it. the ones already bonded will be leg banded different colors for each pair so i know when i move them to the breeder cage who goes together. also so i know what breeders throw what colors since tiels can be split for other colors.
they have a huge cage but the boxes r to heavy to hang on the sides of the cage they will flip it. it is to messy in breeding time to put boxes in the cage plus they r big enough so mom and dad can nest so it will take up alot of cage room too since so many would have to go in for them. so this is the easiest way i could think to do it and keep records so they don't double clutch either. when i used to breed them a few years ago i breed them for about 6 years before i sold everyone to move, in my experiences then once bonded they stay together till death of one or if one is younger the older one goes sterile then the unsterile one will move on. they can be seperated but it is very hard on them and they get lonely and sick and sometimes die. it's kinda like they die of a broken heart.
i had a pair male went sterile his female was many years younger. he was 12 and she was 4. when she couldn't hatch eggs cuz of him she plucked him bold many times. i moved her to a younger breeder she became a mom never did it again and bonded with her new mate. her old mate died a few mths later for no reason but he was always depressed looking stopped whistleing, i think he died a broken heart and loneliness. i don't seperate them now if i know they r bonded since i know it is to stressful for them.
Silkie,
Once you've id a bonded tiel pair it's not necessary to separate them. If you remove nesting boxes and any place for them to set up housekeeping most pairs will stop with the eggs and wait. If you have them in a flight without nesting boxes most likely they won't have any eggs. Occasionally a pair is stubborn and tries to have a clutch on the floor but the presence of the other birds is usually distracting enough that they give up most of the time.
I had a sterile male, his mates never left him. First mate died. Second mate later on had an aneurysm and died. He was a great foster dad to any orphaned eggs.
They do get deeply attached to their mates. I had a male who's hen died and he cried so much for her. I had to walk him all over the house so he could see she wasn't in another room. After that he would sit quietly in a corner looking very unhappy. He was a widower for over a year before he mated again with another hen.
btw it's never a good idea to set a pair up to nest with other birds around. They're territorial and will attack the other birds, even their older young. Other males will attach the pair too. Some to get the hen and others to get the nest box. When you want to get chicks you should move the pair to their own cage by themselves. You'll know who they are by their behavior towards each other. They will spend hours grooming each other. Eat side by side and spend 99% of their time in each other's company.
MollyD
thanks, i used to breed them and hand rear babies for about 6 years, the last 3 years i've had them but not bred them. last time i had 18 breeders. when i had them they were one - 2 pairs in one cage so i didn't have a prob their nest boxes went on the cages. i keep a journal so i know what pairs throw what colors and to make sure girls don't double clutch so they have breaks.
these ones r in a like avarie cage but to flimsy a cage to do boxes with it. the cage is about 5ft tall x 2ft deep x about 4-5ft wide. i know who the pairs r but when i go to catch them to put them in a seperate breeding cage i'll not be able to tell who the pairs are once they scatter in the cage. the reason for that is like i have 3 latinos, 4 whiteface charcoals, 2-3 pieds a few cinnamons and a few normal grays. since i've only had all but 3 since november those i haven't learned who is who enough to recognize them. my 3 i know by calls or features and they r handtamed. her's only one i can because she looks older. the rest there is to many birds of one color to tell apart yet. so i'm banding the pairs each a different color. then when i'm ready for them to breed i know who to catch to move by looking at the bands. this way when i name them i know who is who also. without the bands i can't keep logs yet because i have noway to distinguise who 12 of them r,lol.
thanks again,
silkie
Well the lutinos are most likely hens since males are rarer! I had lots of the whiteface greys. I also had a whiteface lutino male (all white with dark eyes), not an albino which have red eyes. Turned out to be such a whoose he never fathered anything. So the breeders birds weren't hand tamed? Makes it a bit harder to work with them.
Molly
i think the 3 lutinos r girls, my origional breeders i had 2 males that color sold all them when we moved. some i'm not sure sex of them so we thought mabe banding everyone 2 times. pink for girls and blue for boys, then second bands different colors to tell pairs. i have to vent sex some of them can't tell always on mutations just going by colors. vent sexing works on any colorations. she told me they were hand tamed. mabe for her but only one is for me and some r nasty bitters,lol. i've been bitten abit from about 3 of them. i'm trying to work on that with them. whites r weird i've had albinos and whiteface lutinos before. they can be sterile depending on what genes were used to create them or if they r bred with certain colors it can cause sterility.
don't have timet o read and catch up at the moment, but wanted to mention they have bands listed on eggbid right now, plus i was refereed to a site called smith poultry supplies. i will likely order from there. they have littel plastic oclored ones for chicks and then larger numbered ones also colored for adults...