So, why do people put bands on their chickens? Im not talking about the silly bracelets. Our bands are solid colors fro the time they are chicks to 14 weeks old. Having chickens from several lines in an undivided area can be tricky.
Banding simply by color can keep originating farms straight, but there are many more things to keep track of as a breeder. This is why I keep an Excel sheet of each chicken’s individual information by using serialized zip tie bands.
Serialized bands are simply bands with unique numbers that can be assigned to each chicken in your flock. You could even go so far as having them personalized with the name of your flock or chicken.
Bands can represent:
- breeds that are hard to tell apart upon hatching
- originating lines and crosses
- birds purchased from other breeders
- egg color, production, and fertilization
- generation and age
- personality and behavioral flaws
At about 14 weeks I switch from small solid-colored bands to serialized heavy duty bands. This is for a few reasons: banding at a young age means constantly changing bands during regular health checks. If you miss even one it could cause swelling in the foot and over time, causing serious life-long health problems. This is a big deal when you have 100+ chicks hatching at a time.
For the first month, I band chicks by farm and breed on the right leg. I only mark breeds that could be easily confused, like Legbar (green) and Bielefelder (yellow). The bands must be checked for tightness every few days as they rapidly grow. If the bands are too tight it could seriously harm the birds; too loose and they could fall off and all your planning will have been for nothing. I may also add another band color on the left to signify an issue that sets them apart from the flock.
Example of why you might band a young chick:
A female chick has a leg issue after hatching late. She needed a little help out of the shell. She was kept in a separate brooder for a couple days until fully rehabilitated. Before integrating her back into the flock, she was given a tiny band on the left foot (green). The right ankle had two bands, one for the farm (red) and another for the breed (yellow). By always placing the breed and farm bands together on the right ankle, they cannot be confused with any bands on the left side. Now you can make note of that chick and those notes can carry over to when a serialized band is used. In the next generation, if that hen has chicks with leg issues, you can assume it’s genetic and keep her exclusively as a layer, not a breeder.
Reasons for banding younger chicks other than just for the farm and breed could be to mark the bird as:
- having pasty butt three or more times
- being a late hatcher or requiring help to hatch
- displaying lethargic behavior at any point
- substantially larger or smaller in size than others
- having leg issues that required intervention
- early aggressive tendencies
- guessing the sex of the chick
At 14 weeks, each bird receives a serialized band on one leg, and sometimes a secondary band on the other if they need to be easily spotted in the flock. This makes it easy to identify them on the spot without having to peek into your records. Each breed gets it’s own band color, and each band has a three-digit number stamped and printed in white text.
NOTE: It’s important to buy quality bands that the numbers will not rub off from over time and can be read from a few feet away.
Why do people put bands on their chickens?
A secondary band on a pullet or cockerel is mostly used for:
- feather pickers
- habitual escapees
- health needs
When our chickens become of breeding age they all get an in-depth health check. Mature birds have different challenges. Once hens begin to lay and roosters have begun courting them the atmosphere in your coop changes.
- egg eaters
- broody mamas
- aggressive behavior
- “best” birds