Happy 4th of July from the NB&T Family!

bald eagleThis Independence Day we want to celebrate by featuring bird bands for our national bird, the Bald Eagle.  The bald eagle was chosen June 20, 1782 as the emblem of the United States of America, because of its long life, great strength, and majestic looks, and because it was then believed to exist only on this continent.

For birds of prey, we recommend Rivet Bands so that the bird cannot pull it off with its break.

Bald Eagle: Size 8A or 9
Golden Eagle: Size 9, 9A or 9C

(These sizes are recommended from the USGS Bird Banding Laboratory and should only be used as a guide. NB&T is not responsible for incorrect sizes being ordered based on these recommendations.)

bird rivet bands

rivet bands on bald eagle

The silver Rivet Bands are usually attached to an eaglet’s leg while they are still young, but their legs are fully grown. The silver Rivet Bands are attached by US Fish and Wildlife services, while the colored band represents the individual bander or organization doing the research.

Have you seen a banded bald eagle? Learn more about reporting banded birds from The Center for Conservation Biology.

Ear Tags for Research and Wildlife Conservation Purposes

wildlife conservation ID tagsIdentification tags are an important part of researching animals so that they can be identified if recaptured. Most people recognize our self-piercing tags as ear tags for mice, rats, and livestock, but our customers use the Monel 1005 series on a variety of animals that you may not have thought of for different wildlife conservation and research purposes.

metal self piercing tags

Check out different animals our customers have tagged:

1005-1

  • Prairie Dogs
  • Deer Mice
  • Quokkas
  • Voles
  • Hedge Hogs
  • Pikas
  • Degus
  • Chipmunks
  • Banner Tailed Kangaroo Rats
  • Ferrets
  • Red Squirrels
  • Flying Squirrels
  • White Footed Mouse
  • Brown Lemming
  • Franklin’s Ground Squirrel
  • Montane Grass Mouse

1005-3

  • Fox Squirrels
  • Antelope Jackrabbits
  • American Beavers
  • Racoon Dogs
  • Red Squirrels
  • Gray Squirrels
  • Marmots
  • Badgers
  • Common Brushtail Possums
  • Rock-Wallabies
  • Tammar Wallabies
  • Porcupines
  • Skunks
  • Snowshoe Hares

1005-4

  • Pygmy rabbits
  • Racoons
  • Wolverines

1005-681

  • Red Foxes
  • Alligators
  • Fur Seals

681IC (Inconel Material)

  • Green Turtles
  • Black Sea Turtles
  • Loggerhead Sea Turtle
  • Leatherback Turtles
  • Hawksbill Sea Turtle
  • Olive Ridley Sea Turtle
  • Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle
  • Flatback Sea Turtle

1005-49

  • Moose
  • Crocodiles
  • White-Tailed Deer
  • Crabeater Seals
  • Ross Seals

1005-56

  • Roosevelt Elk
  • Mule Deer

8 Ways to Use Asset Tags to Promote Safety in the Workplace

national safety month logoJune is National Safety Month, and to celebrate we are listing 8 different ways that Asset Tags and Asset Labels can be used to promote safety in the workplace by properly identifying hazardous materials and equipment.

metal asset tags plastic asset tags asset labels
  1. Type 304 Stainless Steel Asset Tags can be used in harsh environments and extreme heat or cold. One customer uses them to keep employees safe in and around their liquid nitrogen tanks.
  2. Type 316 Stainless Steel is used for the food processing industry and is “food grade stainless steel”. It can stand up to harsh chemicals so these tags are used to ID food processing equipment, because they won’t rust, or corrode and contaminate the food.
  3. Colored Aluminum comes in multiple colors and is great for valve tags, inspection tags, and other warning signs because they can come in bright, visible colors such as red, yellow, and orange. A few different customers use red aluminum for inspection tags so that it is noticeable if the items have not been inspected.
  4. UV Stable Black Aluminum is great for labeling assets and equipment outdoors. One customer uses these tags to label electrical equipment with voltage warnings.
  5. Plastic Tags are available in pink, yellow, white, or orange. These colored tags can be used to color code items that need to be inspected. Colored Apron Tag Discs (style 85V) are marked with the year and are rotated after inspection.
  6. Snap-Off plastic tags are available for quickly identifying an item. These tags can be used to label temporary or permeant hazards. Some customers staple the plastic tag to wood pallets with staple guns.
  7. Asset Labels are made from military grade 3M™ 7847 polyacrylic matte black stock. They can be custom shaped and designed to meet almost any safety ID need. One customer uses QR Codes on Asset Labels to label equipment. The QR Code then leads to a website with instructions, safety protocols, and contact info if assistance is needed.
  8. Asset Labels promote safety by labeling containers that hold chemicals. The flexibility of the Asset Labels allows for an ID on rounded containers where a flat metal tag would not fit.

How is your company celebrating National Safety Month? Share with us in the comments section below.

How To: Use a QR Code for Educational Walking Trails

Are you looking to use QR (Quick Response) Codes to create an educational walking trail in your museum, arboretum, botanical garden, school, or park? QR Codes are a great way to provide more information about an item by sending people to a website. NB&T is here to help guide you through the process of getting your website into a QR code and onto a tag.

barcode scan

Follow these easy steps to complete your educational walking trail and get people scanning your QR Coded tags!

Prep your QR Code Information:

  1. Determine what you want to have a QR Code on (plants, statues, trees, posts, memorial sites, exhibits etc.)
  2. Create and design a separate web page for everything you want to have a QR Code on. (Ask your webmaster for assistance with steps #2 and #3 if needed).

Example:
Tree 1 – QR Code goes to www.tree1.com
Tree 2 – QR Code goes to www.tree2.com

3. Optional – For best scanning of a QR Code, use redirects for extremely long URLs.

Design Your Tag:

  1. Browse through our website to determine the tag style, size, material, and hole size you want.
  2. Sketch up a mockup, or layout of how you want your tag to look, along with any other information you want, such as company name, logo, item name, year, etc.
  3. Send info from #4 and #5, along with quantity of tags you need to [email protected] for a free price quote.
  4. Once ready to order – send your complete tag info to us using our Data Transfer Instructions. It is important to send us your info correctly so none of your tags are off. We will turn your web page URL into a QR Code!

Setting up Your Walking Trail:

  1. Set up all your tags in a visible place where people can easily scan them.
  2. Encourage people to use their smart phones to scan the tag for more information on the item they are looking at.
  3. Maintenance – you can change the info on your web pages as much as you need. As long as the URL doesn’t change, you won’t need to replace your QR Coded tag.
Send us pictures of your completed walking trail!

Example: NC Coastal Reserve

nature trail tag educational trail tag with QR Code

  1. Determined they had 22 places throughout the walking trail on the reserve that needed a QR Code.
  2. Created their 22 web pages that in this case, held audio files.
  3. This customer used tinyurl.com for their redirects.
  4. They chose a style 14 tag, 3” x 4” inches, in UV stable black aluminum material, with an 1/8” inch hole on the top and bottom of the tag.
  5. They decided they wanted for their tag layout the QR Code first, then “Audio Trail Interpretation Station” the URL, and their company name smaller at the bottom.
  6. Sent the info to us for a quote.
  7. Sent their data transfer Excel sheet to us using the correct format.tiny url pic
  8. Used screws to hang their tags into posts along the trail.
  9. Promoted scanning their new tags through social media.

nature trail social media posts

15 Benefits of Using Labels to Identify Plants in your Garden

When you are growing a wide variety of plants, flowers, vegetables, and herbs in your garden, it can become difficult to name and remember the details of each plant. Plant tags and tree tags can simplify things no matter if you are an at-home gardener or a large botanical garden.

Plant Markers can be beneficial when you are:

  1. Growing food and having other people harvest it
  2. Learning how to identify plants
  3. Trying to save seeds or bulbs
  4. Sharing a plot of land and want to keep everything separate from your neighbors
  5. Planting in a public community garden with multiple people working on it
  6. Trying to use intercropping (companion planting) to reduce weeds and pests
  7. Running a nursery or greenhouse to increase efficiency
  8. Maximizing care of your plants by having instructions right next to them
  9. Minimizing buying duplicates so that you can have a wide variety of plants
  10. Trying to locate where you had a plant no longer in bloom.
  11. Educating others with an interactive walk-through garden
  12. Grouping plants according to type
  13. Identifying plants for sale or that were already sold
  14. Creating a professional-looking garden to impress others with your plant knowledge
  15. Monitoring growth by marking the date it was planted

Are you ready to start identifying plants? The next step is to decide on what type of plant label is best for you, your identification goals, and the garden environment. Check out our blog, What type of plant label will work best in your garden?

plant label

wood plant label in a pot

flower ID label

What type of plant label will work best in your garden?

The first step to finding the plant label that will work best in your garden is to know what your identification goals are. Are you looking to color coordinate, sequentially number, or write on the tag yourself? Do you need something simple or do you need something with a high end polished look? Another factor to keep in mind is the environment; are these temporary for the summer, or do they need to last year-round where the tag will be subjected to harsh weather?

National Band & Tag has a variety of plant labels available to meet your identification needs.

Plastic Plant Labels
Plastic plant labels are helpful in the garden when you want to color-code your plants or have bright visible labels. Plastic plant labels can be written on with a sharpie, or our recommended All-Weather Marker. These tags can also be custom laser etched with your company’s name, logo, and a barcode. Plastic plant labels come in a variety of sizes, from a small potted plant all the way to a large shrub or bush, we have the size to fit your plant. They are versatile and can work for an at-home gardener or a garden retail store. Plastic tags are great for temporary use or 1+ years outdoors, depending on how harsh the weather is. Available in Pink, Orange, White, and Yellow.

plastic plant markers

plant markers

plastic plant stakes

Write-On Plant Tags
Write-On Tags are made from a thin metal (aluminum or copper) that you can engrave on yourself with a pen or sharp object. The 2702 series has a biodegradable cardboard backing to assist in writing on the tag. These tags are helpful when you need to engrave on the spot and want something durable to last outdoors.

write on tags

write-on wrap around tags

write on tags

Metal Tags
Metal plant tags are helpful for gardeners looking to identify a lot of information about one plant, such as their name, species, genius, care instructions, etc. Metal plant tags come in a variety of materials, but we recommend the UV Stable Black Aluminum material, especially if you need the label to last for years outdoors. QR Codes can be laser etched onto metal tags for those who want to create an education walking trails like an arboretum or botanical garden.

tree tag

florist tag

tree tag educational walking trail tag with QR Code

Wood Pot Labels and Wood Stakes
Both plain and treated wood pot labels are available in multiple sizes depending on the size of the potted plant you are trying to label. Wood Pot Labels are great for labeling plants for sale at a garden store or nursery. Wood Stakes are helpful for labeling trees, plots of land, rows of trees, and bushes. They can be written on with a sharpie or our All-Weather Marker shown above under plastic tags.

wooden plant stakes

Questions? Call us at 859-261-2035 to talk with one of our tag specialists, or leave us a comment below!

Why use leg and wing bands to identify your poultry?

For chickens, ducks, quail, pheasants, peafowl, turkeys, and more, the correct type of id band can make all the difference when it comes time to sell or breed your birds. Identification is helpful for multiple reasons including, but not limited to:

  • Keeping track of the number of birds you have
  • Helping lost or stolen birds are returned to the proper owner
  • Tracking pedigree
  • Tracing generations
  • Recording when birds were born and keeping track of the ages of your flock
  • Meeting requirements for shows/competitions
  • Tracking migration patterns
  • And more!

There are multiple types of identification such as wing bands and leg bands available to meet your needs, from color-coding, blank bands, custom stamped bands, numbered bands, stamped sequential numbering or even laser etched barcodes.

Wing Bands

Wing Bands

brass Leg Bands

Leg Bands

For example, you could use a different color every year to track age, barcodes to track pedigree, or sequential numbering to track the number of birds you have. 

Not sure where to get started? Learn more about What Type of Poultry Identification Is Best for You

What type of poultry identification is best for you?

Wing Bands
Wing bands are a permanent type of identification with a high retention rate that will stay with the chick for life and grow with it. Wing bands will not bother the bird and may be covered with feathers when they are older, making it more difficult to read. Wing bands are usually put on chicks, anywhere from a day old to a few weeks, but can also be put on adult birds.

Learn more about: Which Wing Band is Best for You

wingbands

Leg Bands
Leg bands are aluminum or plastic band that wrap around a bird’s leg and must be fitted to their leg size. Leg bands are more commonly used on fully grown birds, but when used on a young bird, the band must be constantly changed as the bird’s leg grows. Leg bands can be a temporary source of identification or a permanent one. Plastic leg bands will fall off easier than metal ones due to the bird pecking at it or excess exposure to weather. Leg bands are the best option for those who do not wish to pierce the skin with a wing band or toe punch.

Learn more about: Which Leg Band is Best for You

leg band varieties

***Try a combination of leg bands and wing bands for guaranteed identification***

Peepers / Blinders
Plastic Peepers and Blinders are used to stop cannibalism amongst birds, such as chickens and pheasants, by hiding other birds from view. These are considered the modern version of chicken glasses. Some people will only use Peepers on birds that cause problems, while others will use them on their whole flock as a preventive measure. Try using different colors to track different ages or flocks of birds.

blinders for chickens

Toe Punches
Toe Punches can be used to mark the webbing between the toes of baby chicks. This option works for those who don’t need colors or numbers to achieve their ID goals. Toe Punches create a small 2mm hole in the webbing, and there is a total of 16 different markings possible (one hole, two holes, left foot, right foot, etc.). Toe punches can also be used to pre-punch a hole in the wing webbing for wing bands.

toe punches

Other Poultry Identification Options:
Neck Tags – Plastic tags that can be hung by the neck of a baby chick.

Wing Badges – Large plastic badge that attaches to the wing and has large visible numbers.

Bird Bits – Plated steel or plastic bits that are placed in the bird’s nostrils to help stop pecking. Special/deep feeders are needed so the birds may continue to eat.

 

Click Here to View All National Band & Tag’s Poultry ID Products!