homemade pigeon bands

[ezemaxima]

Ever since I started raising my pigeons again. I've been making my own bands. I've been using a nylon spacer and wrapping it with a reflective blue sticker then giving it a few coats of clear. Well the nylon spacer was a little too big in diameter and recently decided to use 1/4 soft copper tubing. I'm much happier with the fit now.

Here's a few pics...
The nylon spacer


the copper tubing

[ezemaxima]

making of the band...

using a tubing cutter...

[ezemaxima]

after cutting the tubing...



i needed to deburr the inside wall
before and after pics..

[ezemaxima]

now wrapping them with the blue reflective sticker

[ezemaxima]

night shots of the bands while i left them out to dry after a few coats of clear.

[ezemaxima]

And here's Tornado to model the new band; He was my test pigeon for the band and Storm still rocking the nylon spacer. I usually band my birds on their right leg but Tornado's leg was alittle too big but I managed to slip it in on his left leg. Also this test band was shorter.




compared to the nylon spacer on Prince's leg

[markymark]

thats a good idea and a nice part of the hoby to make your own bits up. bur you cant race them with only your rings on them you need rpra rings to

[markymark]

what size pipe is that cant be a 15ml it be to big

[Snowbird Sue]

I think that is a great idea! Great pics as well. Thank you for sharing this nice idea! I have a whole string of 07 bands, and now I can use them with the reflective tape. My only concern, would be with t he price of copper now, maybe the PVC pipe would be more economical. As far as size goes, just match one of your current bands to the diameter of the pipe. I think these are more for ID than for racing anyway. Great idea! Thanks again

[ND Cooper]

Great idea, but will the copper oxidize, after a while, and turn green?
Is that healthy for a pigeon? I don't know, for sure.
Is that kind of exposure to copper, ok?
If you put a penny in your mouth, what will your reaction be?
I don't wear copper jewelry, Is that ok, Idon't know.
I really like the reflective tape! I think that I'll do something like that too, because I only fly in my backyard.

[DEEJAY7950]

Great idea--- hmmm home made address bands, thanks for sharing!

[ezemaxima]

I don't race but if I do later, I will start banding them with AU bands. The club racers are approximately over 100 miles away from me. Most of my breeder hens are AU banded but most likely be prisoners for the rest of their lives in my loft. I've got breeder cocks that have great pedigree background but all of them are unbanded and does not come with pedigree but I've seen pictures with their parents while they was still squeakers. It was all given to me for free so I couldn't resist taking them.

As far as copper exposure for the birds... I'm not sure what health problems might arise but I do know that back then some bands were made of copper.

I got a 2 foot long copper for about $3 and I've made about 15 bands including the different trial lenghts so far. I think I can make another 25 bands. The reflective sticker is about $3 too and can be found at the fishing section. It's mostly used by fishermen to wrap around their fishing poles to keep it easy to view/ check at night with a flashlight. It's the same reason I used it too. I've had birds that returned while i'm out. They sleep on the roof or trees and by shining the flashlight on their leg instantly verifies it's my bird.

[ezemaxima]

Originally Posted by DEEJAY7950

Great idea--- hmmm home made address bands, thanks for sharing!

I've got that in the plans too... Just doing my research on what label maker to use. So far I'm leaning towards the Brother PT-2710 label maker and plan to use their 1/4' or 3/8" wide tapes. I would most likely go with the Black letters on clear tape. They also have extra strength adhesive type for outdoor exposure. It has the ability to print up to 2 lines on the 1/4" wide tape and 3 lines on the 3/8" wide tape. Then maybe a few coats of clear would help to seal it too.

[ezemaxima]

After waiting for my label printer to come in since i ordered it back on April 8.. It finally came in today and wanted to do a few test runs before making my final design. But then with all the features this thing has... I might end up changing my design all the time. Heres a few pics of an ID band with year and consecutive numbers to keep track of my birds. Let me know what you guys think. I'll be posting a few more designs later.

[EgypSwiftLady]

The last 2 bands... what are they made of and are you going to use those or are they just trial bands? What type of printer did you use?

Thanks for sharing your great idea.