COCKATIEL LEG BAND

Question
Recently MY PET COCKATIEL PASSED AWAY AFTER HAVING HIM FOR NINE YEARS.I TOOK OFF HIS LEG TAG WHICH WAS AN OPEN TAG AND PUT IT ON MY NECK CHAIN.IS THERE ANY WAY I CAN FIND OUT WHAT THE LETTERS AND NUMBERS MEAN.IT READS AS FOLLOWS YBF  97.I AM THINKING THAT THE 97 IS THE YEAR HE WAS BORN.IT WOULD MEAN SO MUCH TO ME AND MY FAMILY AS HE WAS SUCH A BIG PART OF OUR LIFE.

         THANK YOU JOHN

Answer
** I am so sorry for your loss and I love the idea of wearing your companion's band.  Another lovely thing to do in honor of this special life is to plant a tree and remember him as it grows and thrives for more years than we humans have on earth.

--- There are many ways to memorialize your companion.  I know first hand how you feel.  It was a cockatiel that changed my direction in life to where I am now and what I do.  He'll be remembered, loved and missed until the day I die.

Now, to address your band question.


This guideline is shared info on the avian web, which I am a part of:  

Domestic birds wear closed bands. Their traceability depends upon the source of the band. Many bird associations such as SPBE, AFA or species related organizations offer record keeping services and bands to their members. There are other band providers who provide both traceable and non-traceable bands. To trace a band which has an organization name engraved on it, you would contact the organization engraved on the band. Each organization will have its own procedures to trace the band.

For example the bands for SPBE include a breeder code (usually 3 letters), a number (bird identification number) and the year. The initials SPBE also appear - that makes them traceable to that particular organization.

Major band providers, such as L & M Leg Bands and Red Bird, make many of the bands for the organizations mentioned. They also make bands for others, such as individual breeders and aviaries.

L & M offers customers engraving which includes: a buyer id code (up to three characters such as letters, numbers or symbols); a consecutive series of numbers so each band has a unique number for record-keeping; their state or Canadian province abbreviation; and lastly, the year. With the exception of some states, this is all optional. L & M is not imprinted on their bands.

It is difficult, and sometimes impossible, to trace a band which does not have an organization code on it. The best course is to contact the major band manufacturers. They have thousands of customers, so it is unlikely that the band buyer code would be unique. But they may be able to provide the names of a few breeders using this code, which is a starting point. The more information which has been engraved on the band, the better the chances of tracing it.

There are some states, such as Colorado or New Jersey, which have regulations which make tracing of bands easier. In Colorado the state assigns unique breeder codes that must appear on the bands, making them traceable. New Jersey requires band manufacturers to make sure that no one uses the same code twice and an 'NJ' in an oval must also appear on the bands. In California, budgies must have a traceable state registered closed band on in order to be sold, traded or bartered legally in the state.

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 I wish I could be of more help.   I wish the industry would get this right.

It doesn't matter though.   It doesn't matter where this life came from or even how.  What matters is that it found you and graced you with sharing this time on earth.   You'll never forget the lessons learned, the joy, the happiness and the tears.   Until the day you leave the earth yourself, your heart will have wings

  http://www.4AnimalCare.org/birds