To Microchip or not?

[Parabuteo]

I have a 5 year old unbanded senegal and I am thinking about Mircochipping him just in case. It is a big needle for such a little guy and I am worried that if he is lost that no one would check for a chip. (I previously worked at the local shelter and in the year the I was there we did not scan one single bird).....thoughts?

 

[xreinx]

Id say chip him, cause Times are changing. But you can also get him tattooed, thats something that will never go away either. either under the wing, or under the thin feathers along the inner wing itself.
you can also get a custom band, Ive seen it on Prize pigeons, ones that they added the bands to the birds later in life.

 

[mtdoramike]

Is he clipped or not. If not then I would have his wings clipped rather than micro chipped. I keep my Sennies wings clipped regularly. But with this being said, I will not clip a birds wings once they are flighted and used to flying. To me that would break the spirit of the bird. My bird has been clipped from day one.

If your birds wings aren't clipped and it is used to flying then YES, I would get it micro chipped. By the way, I have lost more than one bird out an open door, never to be seen again by me.

 

[Amber]

All birds going through a rescue of pound here are scanned as standard practice.

Alex is chipped, rather then type it all up again, here's the thread on our experience with it http://www.parrotforums.com/conures/10531-microchipping-banding-dna-i-d-best.html

I do recommend chipping. Their is a lot of avian theft around my area, and bands are just cut off leaving no form of I.D. People have found their birds after theft, but not being able to prove ownership they never got them back. A chip provides a permanent and unremovable form of I.D. that can identify your bird nation wide, and even world wide. They are only as useful as the people that scan for them though. Here all animals passing through a shelter, rescue, pound or vets are scanned, therefore I opted to chip Alex. It's also important that the owner of the animal have the chip registered with a reputable database and keeps the info current.

On bands- if a bird is lost and the band only has with seemingly random numbers and letters (in the form of a breeder no) its probably not going to help the average person get him home. Unless the band is custom made with your phone number or similar I really don't see much use in them beyond marking a bird as captive. I do plan to eventually get Alex a band with my phone number on it

 

[Parabuteo]

Hediwg has another vet apt this month so I will discuss microchipping with her.

Re custom bands where can I get them made? I would like to get one made with my phone number on it

 

[oled]

I will follow this and asap get my amazon chiped, thanks !! ( my dog are chiped) I was not avared about this possibility

 

[xreinx]

DL Products - Leg Bands, Bird Bands, Bird Rings thats one site, not too impressive, but its functional

 

[xreinx]

2 Closed or Open Bird Leg Bands Metal CUSTOM ENGRAVED | eBay
lets see if this works.