Open Band Identification & Tracing

[xdartfrogx]

I am wondering if I could trace where one of my male zebra finches came from. I am mostly curious where exactly he came from, and how old he is. My white pied zebra was purchased at Petsmart. He has an open leg band on the left leg. It appears to be aluminum. It reads B2366. Anyone have any clues as to where this band originated from? I've looked all over the internet for days and still no luck on my own. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[finchmix22]

In my experience, PetSmart finches don't have leg bands at all. The staff at my local PetSmart told me they get the finches when they've weaned. So, if the finch was a new one, he/she is young. If they had them for a while, then probably still under one year.

The leg band must not be NFSS or you would see that as part of the printing and they are closed bands. If the band is open/split band, it may be bands that a breeder purchased for their own records, not through an organization. Some companies will make numerical sequenced bands for breeders, but there is no way to identify those birds, except the breeder's own records. The band do not tell any one which breeder. With closed NFSS bands, you know the age and can contact NFSS to find out who was the breeder etc.

[MiaCarter]

xdartfrogx -- Unless Petsmart has changed its policy since I worked there approx 15 years ago (very possible), they only source their birds from their own commercial breeding facilities.

They don't take in birds from breeders (at least, they're not supposed to. I know it happens on occasion, especially for some of the rarer species.)

So my guess would be it's a Petsmart band.
Many shops will remove them prior to putting them out on the floor for sale, usually after the 3-day observation period (at that time, they're examined by the shop vet and cleared for sale.
That's what we did at the shop I worked at, as you get lots of people asking to have them removed and there were problems with them getting caught up on occasion.

As I understood it, it was for tracking purposes. For instance, if a couple escaped from shipping containers while in transit, and you have dozens of boxes of birds, you could look at the leg band and determine which shop it was destined for.

[xdartfrogx]

finchmix22, The zeb definitley came from PetsMart. I eyed him for over a month before I finally got to talk my fiancee into allowing birds in our home I noticed that all of their zebras are coming in with leg bands. Maybe this is a new trend?

[xdartfrogx]

MiaCarter, Oh my! You have seen petsmart behind the doors then! I have friends that worked there in the past, but they were all dog groomers. These commercial breeding facilities that you speak of... How do you mean? Does PetsMart have their own aviary/mill thing going on, or do they source from certain breeders that they have contracts with? Are they shipping birds across state lines, or within the state? I am terribly curious now. I must say that their birds are always stunningly healthy. Even better than what I see at the local pet shops around here. So hard to find healthy looking birds without having them shipped to me.

I guess i should try contacting PetsMart corporate to get some info then...

[xdartfrogx]

OH My!!!! I contacted NFSS to see if they could help with the leg band # earlier today. Here is the reply I just received:

"Oops silver bands are the year 2004! That bird belonged to

Brugueras, Alfredo M.- NFSS Judge

The bird is 9 yrs old."

That just can't be right... I need to dig deeper on this.

[finchmix22]

Silver bands were also 2013! So, it could be last years birds.

[finchmix22]

I have not heard of that judge. I wonder if he is selling his old finches? Not cool, if that's the case. If he is an NFSS judge, I would hope he is selling young finches.

Sally
Do you know this judge?

[MiaCarter]

xdartfrogx -- As I understand it, they're basically commercial breeding facilities where they breed a wide range of different species -- birds of all sorts, small mammals, reptiles and fish.
I never visited one, but my manager had. She described it as a giant warehouse type building with row after row of cages. Clean, but the animals merely exist. They don't truly live.

It's a place where birds live in a small cage and they exist only to breed. The only human contact they receive is when they're being fed or when the cage is cleaned.
They breed for a few years until they can no longer produce quality chicks and then, one of their offspring takes their place and the parents are sold off in the stores.
In some of the larger parrot species --- who are simply too intelligent to be locked up in a small cage all day with no contact for years on end --- are typically euthanized because they've either plucked away all their feathers and/or developed disturbing behaviors due to the isolation.

There's a reason they all look so healthy. That's because the weakest birds never leave the commercial breeding facility. I imagine they have the same fate as most of the small mammals -- snake food. (They breed gobs of rodents at these facilities; the best are sold as pets; the others are sold as frozen snake food.)

Anyone who appears unwell while on the floor is promptly moved to the back room. There was a rule that you were to check on the animals while walking past and if there was one that looked unwell, you were to remove it to the back room immediately, if not sooner.

I know PetSm@rt has lots of these facilities across the nation. The facility that shipped our birds was also in Massachusetts, and MA isn't a big state.

I also know that some would work with local breeders to source the more rare species. This was explicitly prohibited by PetSm@rt policy, but I know many stores (including the shop I worked at) did it anyways to help boost competitiveness with the smaller pet boutiques.

I believe that PetSm@rt is less than proud of their association with commercial breeding facilities, as employees were instructed to say it came from a "professional breeder" and no more. We were specifically instructed to avoid all mention of commercial breeding facilities.

I will say this was the tip of the iceberg. It was enough to make me quit my job and become involved in activism. I'm going to write about it all someday. Most days, I try not to think of the things I saw.

Again, this was 15 years ago. It's possible things have changed.

But I do think those birds deserve homes -- perhaps more so than others who come from a nurturing home. So I don't fault anyone who buys them. I know what happens if they don't get sold. (And plus, most just don't know.)

Back to your band....That's very curious about your bird's origin!
I wonder how that came to pass?
I know people also try to return birds to PetSmart; birds they didn't get there. (Species we never carried!) No idea how/why, though!

[Smurf]

I don't think an open leg band means anything except to the breeder/retailer, i'd imagine if it was an NFSS band then 'NFSS' would be stamped on it so the reply you got from them doesn't relate to the 'split' band on your bird, over here silver closed year bands are always cheaper than closed coloured year bands so being silver doesn't indicate the year as silver are available for every year.

I don't think you can track a split ring as who would verify a ring that could be placed on any bird of any age ?

[wildbird]

MiaCarter, That's terrible about Petsmart! I don't know how anyone could work there if they knew what you know. They always have some little finches there & I wish I could take them home with me. I have bought supplies there, but I wouldn't now. The public should be shown what is going on behind the scenes to get these birds.

[Sally]

If that is a split aluminum band, it is not NFSS. NFSS bands are closed, will be stamped with NFS, then a two-digit number for the year, ie 13, then the size, ie A B C etc, then the number for that individual bird. Paula must have misunderstood your email to her.

Split aluminum bands are often used by breeders to keep track of their birds, but most of them are not traceable. I have split aluminum bands that I put on all birds that I purchase that are unbanded. They simply have my initials and a number. I don't bother with the year, because most of the time with a purchased unbanded bird, I don't know how old it is anyway.

Yes, Alfredo Brugueras is an NFSS judge, he lives in Texas. I seriously doubt this bird would have come from Alfredo, unless it is one he sold many years ago. Even then, I'm sure Alfredo is NFSS closed-banding his birds, and that is not an NFSS band.

[finchmix22]

Good to know Sally. I would have been surprised if the bird came from an NFSS judge too.