Metal Bands For Calls

[WhitecallOR]

Does anyone out there use the bigger butt end metal bands for there calls and if so what sizes do you use. I have always used the plastic and you all know that after a year or so the numbers are gone. Thanks for any help and how is everyones call breeding season going so far? I have eggs in incubator and fertility is looking great. Anyway thanks and everyone have a great day. Thanks Eric

[Evy]

Hi Eric,
I think they're a 7/16" inch band, so the alum. would be a #14. They never get brittle & break off, but can also be hard to read without catching the bird up. Maybe the newer ones are better.

[Patrick]

I use the aluminum butt end bands for light and medium ducks, and I'm not super happy with them, but anything is better than either type of those spirals. When I put one on, I want it to stay on until I take it off. They don't get brittle and break off, but they do wear easily from the effects of sand and grit, and the ends do become rounded and knife edge sharp. I've had them wear very thin on the butt ends after as little as two or three years on an active light duck, leaving almost enough room for the leg to begin to slip out of the seam, yet get caught and begin cutting into flesh. As Evy says, the numbers are not always easy to read either. I've searched half heartedly for something better, such as stainless steel. They must be out there somewhere, but none of the popular supply companies carry anything that durable. I'm hoping that ABA does begin to offer larger sizes of their plastic seemless bands. I imagine that they would wear eventually too, but I'd be willing to try them. I've used them on pigeons since they've become available, and have not had a worn band or number yet.

[WhitecallOR]

Evy and Patrick thank you for all of the info. I will go ahead and give them a try. I was just looking (just like the rest of you) for something that will at least keep the number. You are probably right though about not being able to see the number without handling the bird but that is still ok for or at least until something else comes up. Thanks again Eric Olson

[goosedragon]

Just one of those late night thoughts, but do those microchips the anti -NAIS people are alwas talking about exist yet? If they do and the expense isn't too high it would it solve the on-farm ID problem. You wouldn't have to catch your birds to ID them, just get your ducks in a row and let them pass in front of a scanner.
It seems to me that no one would risk stealing a microchipped bird from a show either. The real beauty of that is that you wouldn't have to actually microchip a bird just let it be well known that you have them microchiped. Does anyone really know about this technology? ~gd

[Duk]

Microchips have the nasty habit of moving around in poultry. That caused many ratites to be condemned at slaughter. For this reason microchipping of poultry was discarded as an option for poultry identification at the first NAIS poultry meeting.

[goosedragon]

Microchips have the nasty habit of moving around in poultry. That caused many ratites to be condemned at slaughter. For this reason microchipping of poultry was discarded as an option for poultry identification at the first NAIS poultry meeting.
Thats a good thing to know! I always thought that it would never come to pass for poultry since on the commercial level they are usually moved in truck load lots. However if the chips do exist they could be enbedded in a plastic leg band couldn't they? I know there are polymers now that will do anything that metal will do. ~gd

[Duk]

Leg bands and wingbands have to be manually removed before processing. A glue on tyvek tag much like cattle hip tags had been designed and tested for short term ID uses.

[goosedragon]

Leg bands and wingbands have to be manually removed before processing. A glue on tyvek tag much like cattle hip tags had been designed and tested for short term ID uses.Thanks again Duk but this string of posts is about Calls! I Doubt that very many of these tiny birds are ever "processed"! My intent was for the Backyard and Show people to have a better method to ID individual birds. ~gd

[Duk]

GD, you brought up NAIS and microchipping. I gave the reason why NAIS discarded the idea and their alternative. I'm sure no exception was planned for call ducks just because so few get processed.