Cackle Hatchery Spiral Poultry Leg Bands - 25 (Medium)

The spiral leg bands fit and function like any other color spiral that you can get to identify chickens/captive birds. They are made of a firm but slightly pliable plastic, and they have been broken off sharply at the ends (so be careful when stretching them out). Having raised poultry for many years, I have come to expect the sharp ends as being standard for plastic ring spirals. If applied appropriately, the sharp edges will not harm the bird in any way. The ability of the plastic to Spring back into shape allows these bands to be used over the lives of multiple birds. This is a small pack of 25 and you get an assortment that includes five individual bands of each of the 5 assorted colors. This is a great option if you are looking for A few colors but don’t need 50 bands of each color or more. A lot of other retailers sell them in single color lots of 50. The colors that are available in this assortment tend to be less common as well. Please note that these differ from zip ties in being a bit more difficult to apply, but can be used multiple times. Also, zip ties tend to be problematic for smaller breeds because most available sizes cannot be secured at a small enough diameter to reliably stay on the legs of tiny chicken breeds like my d’Anvers, so I order spirals instead. I bought the smallest size and they fit my 3- 4 month old bantams ( and some of my hens can keep wearing them Through adulthood… So rather than saying they are chick sized ( they will NOT fit day old chicks: too big), they will fit started young birds of standard sized breeds for a short time, and some bantams ( especially smaller females) indefinitely. Hope this helps.

Easy to put on and chickens don’t even know they are on them. A great way to tell chickens apart.

I banded 4 juvenile roosters with the large size band (even though the birds themselves are not full grown or even a large breed.) As their spurs grew, the band became trapped below the spur on the thickest part of the ankle. When I culled two, I could see where the band was digging in. So you could still use them on an adult roo, just plan on a larger band for your roosters and/or moving the band above the spur once the spur starts to grow.

I've used the zip tie bands as well as the colored rubber bands over the years and so far these are the most durable and longest lasting. I purchased size large for my Australorps. They fit my hens fine with a bit of room to spare however the large definitely does not fit my rooster. I would need the extra large for him. Considering he's my only rooster, I choose not to band him. I rotate my hens out every three years, so I use a color for each year. In the package, I received five of each color band pictured.

These were tiny and do not stretch. Bought these for my chicks which grew fast. These did not stretch as their leg grew and even cut a deep laceration on one of my chicks legs! I had to dig it out of flesh once I realized.

I bought the L size for my 8 mature female leghorns. It was easy to put on and the hens doesn’t even notice the band is there. It is a little bit loose on their leg, just as I wanted it to be. They have it already a month and it didn’t fall off.

I wish I was given the option on this one to attach pictures! I am extremely unsatisfied and even disgusted with this item! Not only was it a hard plastic that was tough to get on the feet, they did not expand at all but instead stayed in their hard plastic form, not rubbery, and cut into multiple of my 3 month old chicken’s. They had to be CUT out of the skin and medical attention necessary on 3 chickens, one that we were not sure and not even yet, will keep its leg! I spoke with the person who recommended these to me and we both ordered and she said she had same issue on a few of her chickens as well. I would not recommend using these as they do not stretch! Luckily, I catch most in time before cut out was necessary and took off all of my younger ones as well so to avoid same issues.

The colored leg bands fit all of our adult chickens. We had to be creative because there are more identical birds than colors available so some got 2 bands. Had my son hold the chickens while I put the band on. Pretty easy to split and turn onto the leg. Be careful banding only 1 bird as she mat get picked on.