Banding your bird!

[Littlemissfinch]

Iv heard about banding birds and i think its a good idea and i would like to do so. but i dont know how to or where can i get them? do they sell them in pet stors likt petco or petsmart?

[BillD]

Littlemissfinch..

Here is a site for bands. On the right side about NFSS leg bands.
http://www.nfss.org/

There is alot of info on how to band birds on this forum, but I haven't had to do that yet. I'm quite nervous about doing it the first time.

[williep]

Littlemissfinch,

When you start of with banding I would recommend the plastic split bands as you can band birds at any age. It is a good effective and cheap way to keep record if you have a small to medium flock.

[ac12]

I found reference to this company for numbered split bands
http://www.redbirdproducts.com/legbands.htm

As I'm still a newbie, I'm going with the split plastic numbered band.

I'm currently using the solid color plastic that I got from the NFSS. But then I realized that I can't ID the specific bird, and 2 of the juveniles look the same. Right now I'm just using it for the year of birth (green = 2008 or prior, yellow = 2009), so I can ID the kids from their parents when I'm ready to give away some of the kids. I waited too long and had problems figuring out mom from daughter, I got the wrong bands on them and had to change the bands.

But w/o being able to ID the specific bird, especially when they look the same, its hard to do any record keeping. So that is what pushed me to the numbered bands.

As for me using the split band. Few reasons.
#1 - I have not done banding before, so until I feel more comfortable doing a closed band w/o breaking their tiny leg/feet, I'll stick with the easier split band.
#2 - With the nest inside the cage, it was very hard to do a closed band while still a nestling. I would have to remove the nest from the cage, and I think that would aggitate the parents big time. An outside nest box would be a LOT easier. I could do it the day of fledging, but if I wait too long I can't do it. And I ordered the bands too late for this clutch.
#3 I also wanted to band the adults. I have to use a split band for the adults.

[L in Ontario]

I close-band all my baby finches. I never did the split bands simply because I trust the closed bands more. Anyway here is my website with detailed instructions (easy!) and photos of my banding Gouldian chicks at 6 days of age.

GardenessGardens&Aviaries

Enjoy! It's easy once you do a few.

[B CAMP]

Good job liz ,one day I will give this a try thanks

[L in Ontario]

Thanks Bill. It's a good thing it wasn't a video - my hands were shaking so badly that first time!

[ac12]

Liz
I was shaking so much after banding the birds that I had to sit down to recover. I was afraid of braking their leg or foot, since it is so small relative to my fingers. After that experience I was even more afraid of using a closed band.

I think nestlings like your pix are much easier, in that they seem to not be trying to get away from you, unlike the adults and juvs that I banded. I had to put a towel over the bird, especially the head, and then they were trying to rotate upright, so I had trouble getting to the left leg. And they kept kicking their legs. Or maybe I just don't have the technique right.

Then the frustrating thing was when I got mom and daughter mixed up and put the wrong color band on them. I waited too long to band, and by then the kids beaks were orange. I had to wait a few days before I retraumatized them by removing the wrong band and putting on the correct band.

Maybe on my 3rd clutch I'll try close banding them.
My 2nd clutch will be a different set of birds, so I don't want to disturb them on their first clutch by going into the nest.

[summert85]

closed band is probably better. But if you don't have any experiences yet, i suggest starting out with split bands. its so easy to put on. just do a little research and you'll be fine. I got my split bands from ebay.