PoultryTalk.com

Poultry Tattoo's.
Are they cost effective? Are poultry tattoos a realistic way to protect our flocks? Do you think they are a great new way to help prevent poultry thefts?

You can find more out on Poultry Tattoo's on our NEW Security page. See the great article written by member Jason Spencer!

Tell us what your views are here.

tattooing birds is an old method of marking your stock heres a link to a news paper article from 1937, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19370220&id=3Gg0AAAAIBAJ&sjid=z7UDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6949,5901331 there are a few other methods available like ringing or chipping the birds but both of these have their faults, rings can be cut off and chipped birds can only be identified if the sales room or the buyer has a chip reader available. The tattoo can't be removed without removing the whole wing, but the main fault with this method is that the tattoo could be altered a number 6 could be made to look like a number 8 etc.

Also some judges don't like them so if you show your birds, it can be classed as an identity mark, sometimes! (granted, not all the time!) Generally i'm all for tattooing them, specially my top breeding birds, who have had their day in the show pen, but who i still use for breeding with. I have also found, if you have a chat with your local police officers, they will send you out a policeman who can help you make your birds sheds more secure, and we have been given some great shed alarms which are turned on every night without fail, they work off motion sensors, and a really loud alarm sounds if someone doesn't put the right four digit code in within 20 seconds of opening the door, there are also signs we have put up indicating that the sheds have them, so they also work as a deterrant. They are certainly loud enough to wake you up if your birds are kept on your premises.
JXX

I agree with them in principle, they are a good means to identification and again I agree that they can be used (sometimes) for judges to identify a bird at show which I think is bad form on the part of the owner if the tattoo is easily visible to a judge. Perhaps a non coloured UV ink is the best solution as it would only be visible under UV lighting therefore invisible at show, and also to theives. I know these exist in human tattooing so why not use them for birds?

Julia x x