Meyer Hatchery marks some of the chick breeds that are more difficult to identify with tiny color-coded leg bands. This service is offered at no charge to the customer and is only available for select breeds that we’ve determined are more difficult to ID based on customer feedback and our in-house experience.
Males of these breeds will be marked with a blue band in addition to the ID leg band. Meyer Hatchery will also band male bantams when ordered with sexed-out females of the same breed. Their leg band will be a single blue or black band.
We recommend removing leg bands or stepping up to a larger size after about 7 days from hatch. Bands are very easy to remove; they are simply small rubber bands that slip off the foot without issue.
If your chicks arrive without bands, don’t worry. Not all breeds require them, and to band every chick would slow down our shipping process and prevent us from meeting Monday hatch-day deadlines. By only banding the most challenging breeds to identify, we can ensure your chicks leave on time and have the best chance of arriving safely. If you ordered an assortment, it may include both banded and unbanded breeds.
For help identifying chicks that are not leg banded, please check out our helpful chick identification guide.
| Chick Breed | Leg Band Color |
| Ayam Cemani | Green |
| Blue (BBS) Birchen Marans | Green |
| Black Split to Lavender Orpington | Yellow |
| Blue Copper Marans | Dark Pink / Almost Red |
| Jubilee Orpington | Green |
| Lavender Ameraucanas | Orange |
| Partridge Penedesenca | Pink |
| Swedish Flower | Yellow |
| Standard Males that receive a leg band for ID | Blue Band in addition to their breed ID band above |
| Male bantams when ordered with sexed same-breed female | Blue |
legband, legbands, leg bands
Comments
4 comments
I picked my chicks up today looking forward to having help identifying them with the leg bands, but no leg bands were on any of my girls. I ordered the rare breed assortment so you would think that would be part of the deal especially for this type of order. Also the chick ID page doesn't have the same birds listed that would come with leg bands. In the leg band page there are different breeds not listed on the ID picture page. I'm new to this and was looking forward to having that assistance and now i'm between 2 breeds on basically every bird.
HI Grace. Any of the chicks included in any Assortment may or may not have legbands on them. Even if the breed(s) included would normally be legbanded if ordered individually, it may not be banded in an assortment.
This page is not mobile friendly, the band color name is layered right on top of the breed name. Not easy to read!
Hi Maribel,
Thank you very much for your feedback! I have corrected this issue.
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