How to Find the Correct Leg Band Size for your Bird

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Did you know, National Band & Tag manufacturers bands ranging in size from hummingbirds to swans? With so many band sizes to choose from, it may be confusing what size you need.

There are two different options for finding out which size leg band you should order:

Option 1: Find the diameter of your bird’s leg. The easiest way to do this is to use a piece of string. You might want to have one person hold the bird, while another holds the string and measures.

  • Step 1: Place the tip of a string onto the bird’s leg and hold it in place. Wrap the string around the leg until the string reaches the tip on the end of the string you are holding in place.
  • Step 2: Mark the point where the string touches the tip with a marker.
  • Step 3: Stretch the string out across the length of the ruler and then locate the mark on the string. Read the measurement on the ruler. This tells you the circumference of the bird’s leg. For this example, let us say the measurement is 34.54 mm.
  • Step 4: Divide your circumference measurement by 3.14. Given the example of a 34.54 circumference, the diameter of the leg is 11 mm. You can then take this diameter to our bird band page, and see that our Size 14 is 11.13 mm, and would be the best size for your bird.

Option 2: Check for your species of bird on the USGS’s Recommended Band Size chart. This is a guideline, and NB&T is not responsible for incorrect size bands being ordered. While the USGS’s list is reliable for most standard birds, your bird could be slightly different. For example, wild mallards usually wear a size 14 band, but farm-raised mallards tend to be a little fatter and may need to go up to a size 16 band.

Next Steps:

Now that you know the diameter of your bird’s leg, you can check out all our bird bands and find the band size that matches your bird’s leg. Don’t forget that each size band needs it’s matching applicator to properly seal it. If you are ordering multiple sizes of bands, you will also need multiple applicators.

Prevent Flock Cannibalism with “Clip-On” Blinders / Peepers

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Stop feather pecking with National Band & Tag’s “Clip-On” Blinders / Peepers!

All birds mildly peck to establish a pecking order amongst the flock. When this behavior escalates to feather pecking is when your flock is in trouble. Feather pecking includes ripping feathers out, damaging the skin, or even making another bird bleed. Feather pecking leads to cannibalistic behaviors.  You should try to prevent these behaviors, or immediately squash them in order to keep the whole flock from becoming cannibalistic. Birds have a tendency to copy each other, so if one starts pecking, others may follow.

Some conditions that can cause poultry (chickens, pheasants, quail, etc.) to start feather pecking include overcrowding, lack of food/water, stress, inadequate nest boxes, and more. You can get more details about these causes in the article, “FEATHER PECKING AND CANNIBALISM IN SMALL AND BACKYARD POULTRY FLOCKS” (By Dr. Jacquie Jacob, University of Kentucky). For gamebirds, space recommendations need to be double compared to chickens, and even larger for pheasants, according to, “Poultry Cannibalism: Prevention and Treatment“, (By Phillip Clauer, Pennsylvania State University).

You can take preventative measures by using NB&T’s “Clip-On” Blinders / Peepers on your whole flock before they start pecking, instead of just on the hens who are pecking. Our pinless peeper was designed with you, the customer, in mind. We spent over a decade developing, talking with customers, modifying, and improving the design of our pinless peeper (Style 3184L). While pinless peepers will have a percentage of loss, ours will stay in longer. You know it’s a National Band & Tag peeper because ours have “NB&T” molded into the back of the crossbar!

 

Clip on blinders and peepers         A chicken with pinless peepers on

 

We sell peepers in packs of 25, 50 & 100 on Amazon (As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases through this paid link.).  For quantities of 100 or more, you can buy from us directly online.  We offer quantity price discounts at 500, 1,000, 5,000 and 10,000. We offer 10 different colors: Yellow, Orange, Green, Light Green, Blue, Light Blue, Pink, Purple, Brown, and White.

World Migratory Bird Day 2020: Birds Connect Our World

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What is World Migratory Bird Day?

In 2018, the Environment for the Americas (EFTA), joined the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), and the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), to create a single, global, bird conservation education campaign, World Migratory Bird Day! This day is an annual awareness-raising campaign highlighting the need for the conservation of migratory birds and their habitats.

World Migratory Bird Day Poster

We celebrate World Migratory Bird Day on the second Saturday of May in the US and Canada (May 9, 2020), and the second Saturday of October in Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean (October 10, 2020). There are two celebration days a year because migratory birds are all migrating at different times in different parts of the world. The 2020 World Migratory Bird Day conservation theme, Birds Connect Our World, focuses on the tracking technologies used to explore the routes of migratory birds across the globe, and how this knowledge is used to inform conservation.

How NB&T Supports World Migratory Bird Day:

National Band & Tag is a supporter of migratory birds, and World Migratory Bird Day because we manufacture millions of bird bands each year. Researchers and conservationists use our bird bands to track birds and collect data. Our bands fit in with this year’s theme of Birds Connect Our World because our bands are used for tracking! Bands have been used since 1595 to track and identify birds. Other bird tracking systems include satellite tags, light-level geolocators, weather radars, satellite imagery, and data from people using birding apps. Tracking migratory birds provides us with lots of useful information! We learn about the places where birds nest, stop to rest, and where they spend the non-nesting months. We can examine their habitats, threats they face on the ground, and how we can help improve their migratory journey.

World Migratory Bird Day, Federal Bird Bands used by the USGS bird banding lab

How to Participate in World Migratory Bird Day while in Quarantine:

It’s a crazy time we live in right now. We aren’t able to get out and take a bird tour or attend a local WMBD activity. But there are still lots of ways you can celebrate World Migratory Bird Day from home! Check out www.migratorybirdday.org/resources for WMBD coloring pages, at-home scavenger hunts, and activity pages. You can also go birding in your backyard. Observe what birds you can see from your home, and then try learning more about your local birds online. Show off how you are celebrating WMBD on social media using #WMBD2020, #WorldMigratoryBirdDay, and #BirdsConnectOurWorld.