Leg Band

[Karcar]

Should we try and remove the leg band from my bird myself? It is on Sadie, I don't know what they are made of or how big of a job it might be. will a pair of tin snips be something that might work? I was going to have it taken off yesterday at the vet's but forgot. Thanks, Karen

[Birdnut]

We had the closed bands removed from our two conures at the vet. It turned out to be quite a job, especially one of them. If you have an assistant who is really good at holding the bird, you could try to see if you can wiggle it off without cutting it. Our vet tried that first and said it sometimes works. But if the band has to be cut off, I'd probably bite the bullet and get the vet to help you with that. They're pretty hard to cut through. The tool the vet used to cut through them was a lot more robust than tin snips. And you really need to have the bird well restrained during the process.

 

Have you had a problem with the band? Or do you not like the idea of a band? I ask because our grey has a closed band and I've been on the fence whether to leave it or have it removed. If he were to be lost and recovered, knowing the band number would be a sure fire way to identify him. But I know that bands can sometimes be a safety hazard. We had our conures' bands removed because one of them had a freak accident and got his hung in the bottom of his cage.

[Spinner]

Vet removal only. Your bird will love you for not doing it yourself - it can be extremely dangerous.

[Barbara2]

What about the question of leaving the band on? I'm curious as to the opinions of the members. My grey is banded. I was planning to leave the band in place.

[Luvparrots]

i believe some people feel the bands might be caught on toys, etc. My grey was never permanently banded and neither is my ekkie. My Zon is banded and will stay that way, unless I notice a reason it should be removed.

[Karcar]

My vet told me we were going to remove it but we forgot she said they were dangerous and if a bird got it's band caught on a toy or something it could break it's leg or worst. She likes to take my money and make me worry all at the same time....LOL

[Spinner]

I have yet to uncover an actual instance where a band has caught on something. Yes, there's a lot of anecdotal "my friend said that...." around the internet, but I haven't seen it in my years of exposure to companion birds. I queried my vet about it and she had not experienced an issue or treated for it.

Now, split bands are different. They are dangerous as beaks will get caught on them. But closed bands are no issue.

As a breeder, I make a concious decision to band all my birds, for a wide variety of reasons. You as an owner can make the decision to have the bands removed. Personally, I see no valid reason other than a personal choice.

If a vet is telling you to remove, please ask why. For that matter, if your vet is telling you that you should do anything, get a reason and consider the pros and cons.

[Barbara2]

Thank you. This is what I was hoping for: honest opinions with real life experience. I have heard the stories about bands getting caught on toys. I think that might have been toys from years ago. When I first got my Hahn's as a baby, I had a toy that was connected with an open ring. My little macaw's beak got impaled by this ring and I had to rush him to an emergency vet to have it cut off. From that moment on I made sure to check any toy and make sure it did not have an open ring. I can't see how a leg band could get caught on any current toys or cage parts. For now I'm planning to keep the band on.

 

(On that note, I read a story once about a bird that got a string from a cage cover wrapped around his toe and he ended up losing the toe. I don't think that would lead people to believe that they shouldn't cover their birds.)

[Ray P]

Our CAG Corky has had her band on for 10 years with no trouble with toys or cage.

[Birdnut]

Very good discussion. I have left the band on my grey so far. I think it can be an excellent identification tool.

 

However, I can share a first-hand, personal experience of a closed band becoming caught. We had bought our two blue crowned conures, and they were in the bird store completing weaning and getting accustomed to their new cage. We had bought a very pretty corner cage. The bottom grate of this corner cage was roughly triangular shaped and had converging bars on it. The grate design did have a solid plate toward the point of the "triangle," well before the bars were close enough to catch a foot or anything like that. However, in one spot, the bars did come close enough to catch a band.

 

We came into the store one day to find that there had been a big commotion. One of our conures had apparently reached through the grate for something he saw on the bottom and then shifted his foot enough for his band to become caught where the bars came closer together. He had screamed and struggled before someone in the store had come to his rescue. He may have eventually gotten himself loose by shifting his foot the same way he got caught. But it was rather unsettling and led us to have the bands removed on the conures. At the time, our vet commented that he was not a big fan of closed bands.

 

It also taught us a lesson about being very careful to inspect any cage for converging bars of any kind. I think this lesson about converging bars is the most important one that we took away from the experience. We all need to be very careful of this, whether our birds are banded or not.

[Talon]

I have had all my closed bands removed from ALL 3 of my birds by my vet, my choice, based on the many tragic stories I have read about birds getting their band caught on something in their cage when their owners were out. A few of the birds chewed their foot off to get themselves unstuck as they were their all day, others have had cuts and broken legs. They require someone holding them, some heavy duty cutting grips and 2 cuts as the bands won't bend in any way.

My vet has seen such accidents and he highly recommended it. If they are loose, it can work it's way up and get stuck, all it takes is a small thread of string, yarn or getting stuck on anything that comes apart. Not worth the risk for me. There is no reason to keep it on, it won't identify your bird and help it be returned if it ever got lost. It's only significance is to the breeder, and at this stage, their are no data bases or registries that determine a DOB or Breeder by the numbers or letters on the bands. They are put their and made up by the breeder.

[Karcar]

Talon, I agree 100 with everything you just said, thanks

[judygram]

None of my birds have bands, my sun conure was not banded, I chose to not have the band put on my grey and my cockatiel came to me without a band, I have heard that some have caught their bands on things and suffered injuries so when given the choice I opted not to band.

[Billy]

Figures I would have experienced a similar situation with my new Timneh already. He was on the top of my messy dresser where I keep an antique ornate inkwell which is close to a wall. There were items I was sorting through near the inkwell and this obscured my view of him when he got his foot underneath and between an indentation of the metal. If he moved sideways instead of trying to lift his foot up he would have been fine. He began to panic and I didn't know why. I tried to pick him up to comfort him and he screamed. I continued to pick him up and it wasn't until the inkwell moved that I realized what happened. I'll have his band removed when I take him to the vet for his first check up. Poor baby. I'm jinxed.

[Karcar]

Knowing my vet it will cost me 2 or 3 hundred to have it removed but I can't take any chances.

[Cheshire Cat]

Tui has a leg band and I've never seen any reason why it should be removed. It doesn't bother her in the slightest and if, God forbid, anything happened and we lost her, it's a form of identification for her.