Chick leg band

This model is leg bands for marking young chicks. I needed to mark roughly half of the chicks so after a quick search I found an instructables page by Jakwiebus on 3d printing leg bands for chickens and created my own version for chicks. It will even fit freshly hatched chicks (less than a week old) a little loose but their knuckles are to large for it to slip off.

Different sizes can be created by scaling the model in whatever slicing software used. 

I printed them in all one color but different colors would work well to keep them separated if necessary.

For banding the birds you will need to boil the rings in water for a short period of time. The boiling softens the plastic enough it becomes pliable but not enough to ruin the print. With the filament I used (PETG), I found out that the boiling makes the rings open up enough to slip them right on, if the filament used doesn't do that you can just pull the ring open with your fingers. Once they are on it is necessary to pinch the ring shut and hold it shut for several seconds. Even a second after pulling the rings out of the water it won't burn you because the plastic doesn't conduct heat well. It will feel warm but not hot. 

I may upload additional files of different sizes once they grow bigger.