The Official Forum of the Ameraucana Breeders Club > Breeding

Tracking chicks?

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Mike Gilbert:
I also toe punch,  but on a limited basis.  It can be very difficult with bantam chicks.   One alternative is to slit the skin about halfway to the foot between the toes instead of toe punching.   I believe it should be done soon after hatching, before they start eating and drinking, otherwise it is easy to forget which chick came from which mating.   And it does not seem to be hard on them when they are first hatched.   

Sharon Yorks:
I use an alternative method to toe punching. It’s more expensive, but reusable. I use colored “poultry” rubber bands for their first month, then I go to leg Bandettes (pictures below). The rubber bands come in a pack of 100 for $7 (free shipping) and have 6 different colors in the one package…15-18 of each color. I buy three sizes which gets me through their first month, and like I said, they are reusable.

Age 1-10 days-old, size 4     (Be sure to check these and don't forget - they grow out of them fast)
Age 11-20 days-old, size 5
Age 21-30 days-old, size 6

At a month old, I switch to colored Bandettes that I buy at Twin City Poultry. At a month old, I put on size 7, then switch to size 9. I can’t remember at what exact age I switched sizes, but sometime around 3-4 months old, I think. My 8 month-old birds are still in size 9. At some point you will have to move to size 11 once they reach adults, but that really varies on each bird. The Bandettes come in the same six colors as the rubber bands, with the exception of purple rubber bands having to be replaced by white Bandettes. The Bandettes are more expensive. The boxes of 25 (one color per box) is $5.65 for size 7 – and $6.75 for size 9. Each band is numbered, and you can chose which sets of numbers: 1-25, 26-50, 51-75, 76-100 which is helpful if you have multiple generations of the same line or are just in need of more bands for more pens. The picture below shows 4 colors of Bandettes, but there are 6.

I’m not sure how many pens you’ll need to keep track of, but if you like this idea and want to give it a try, I can help you set up your pens to where it makes more sense and help you get a mental picture of who gets which color. Below is an example of how I will be using them for 2013. I will have 7 breeding pens, using 5 roosters. Each of my breeding pens has full hatch-mate females, so there is no need for me to keep track of each female in any particular pen unless I wanted to for a specific reason. “I” place the colors according to the names of the females, (which helps me mentally remember which color goes with who without looking it up) – (too hard to explain) but you could just use the number of the pen, such as:

Pen #1 blue - #2 green - #3 red - #4 orange - #5 yellow - #6 purple/white

I place all of my bands on their right legs, but since I have 7 pens, I also plan to use the other leg which would allow a person to go up to 12 pens. My blue male, Goliath, will be servicing 2 pens. One of his pens will have the blue band on the right leg and the 7th pen will have the blue band on the left leg. When choosing one color for two pens with the same male, it may be easier to remember if you use the same color. It's just another mental picture that helps me.

I hope I didn’t confuse you. It seems easy for me because I’ve put a lot of thought into this and I have a mental picture of my birds having specific colors so I actually AM able to do what you said…walk out into a group of birds and know who is out of which parents. Plus, the option for multiple numbering helps, too, and is much easier to read than toe punching when their feet are muddy. But the downside is it’s much more expensive. I personally think it’s worth it.

Again, If this is something you are interested in and would like help figuring it out and how it could work with your pens, I would be happy to help you set it up where it would make sense to you.

Birdcrazy:
Sharon, I use the same system as you do with banding my chicks (rubber bands, colored spiral bands then colored number bands). I added a twist last year on one of my Blue/Black breeding pens. One pullet was laying an extra large egg and another was laying an egg with extra blue egg color. So from that breeding pen I have chicks (now adults) with 3 different color of bands.

Sharon Yorks:
Thank Goodness! I'm glad someone else sees a method to my madness and understands what I'm doing. I was wondering if everyone looking at my post reply was thinking, "This woman is weird." The idea (though it may vary some) really does work great, doesn't it? Do you have made-up reasons why certain pens get certain colors, like:

Black/Black pen - gold gene - warm colors - yellow band
Blue/Blue pen - silver gene - cool colors - blue band
Black/Blue pen - mix of yellow and blue make green band
Or blacks with most green sheen gets green band
Splash females - white bands (even if they are bred to blacks and all chicks are blue)

There are all kinds of silly mental ideas a person can come up with to fit a certain pen with a certain color, and once you've get locked into one, it makes it so easy to remember who they all are when they are all running together as youngsters.

Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone :-)

Birdcrazy:
When my chicks reach adulthood and I have culled to keepers for my breeding pens, I leave a colored spiral band on the corresponding leg to designate what breeding pen they came from. Then on the other leg I put a numbered colored band. I make this a single color for the year (for all my breeds of birds). Example White designates 2012, Blue 2011, Red 2010 etc. That way I can look in my breeding pens and see if some of my older breeders may need to be considered for replacement. I rarely keep breeders past 4 years of age. Sorry to say there is no method of madness to the selection of the colored spiral band to designate which breeding pen the bird comes from-I keep a small notebook to notate this along with remarks of chicks I have culled from that pen and the reason why I culled them. This helps me to determine if I may need to break up a breeding pen for better results the next year. This works great unless the bird slips a band, but at least with my notebook I can determine the breeding pen again from the number band and put back on the colored spiral band. If they lose the number band, I still know the breeding pen from the spiral band. Looking at the other hens/pullets in the breeding pen and my notebook I can usually determine what the number and color of the missing numbered band. I usually only have one cock or cockerel in a breeding pen so there is no question to band again from my notebook. If I have a bird that is one of my favorites or done well at a show it is recorded in my notebook, but it naturally tends for my to know my favorites and look for them in the breeding pens without having to look them up in my notebook. Banding is not cheap!!!!!! I usually keep two to three hundred dollars worth on hand for a breeding season. Now with the price of feed, that doesn't seem as bad, and they are reusable.

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