I have a large flock of French attack chickens that just love to pick out the white plastic labels off all my plants.  Before losing the identity of all my figs I decided that it was finally time to invest in a chicken proof and fade proof way of labeling my fig collection.  I had these aluminum tags for many years and am now getting around to using them....here are pics of the tags and the chickens......i'll attach the labels to the figs with wire.  Hopefully they will prove to be chicken proof...at least for a few years.  Just wondering how everyone else labels their fig collections....

I like the chickens. Reminds me growing up in the country & be woken by the crowing in the morning. Nice handwriting. Should be chicken proof now.

Ah, Raspeberry Latte.  Thats another one on my wish list.

Those are nice looking tags - I've seen them mentioned several times on Gardenweb, but never seen so many in one place.

How are you attaching them to the trees?

I use numbered brass tags from Craftmark

Paul - Glad you like the chickens....all my neighbors love them except for one....which means I have to round up each of my 3 roosters every night and put them in individual cages for the night, close to my house...I like the crowing early in the morning  :) no alarm clock necessary.

Jason - I'm attaching the labels to the figs with galvanized wire. My collection consists of mainly small plants and a few bigger trees.  Many have had one growing season in the ground and they are growing fast. I may have to reattach the labels as the trees grow.   Raspberry Latte will go in the ground this spring.  Looking forward to getting that one, in particular, growing strong...

I don't have chickens so I use white plastic labels, cut and home made from white plastic containers that have rough or granular surface on one side (such as for 3 to 4 litre vege oil). I also write variety name with permanent markers on the plant trunks (the fattest branch if plant is multi-trunk).

Jon - Those are very classy looking tags - I might incorporate a numbering system in addition to the aluminum tags with a plot of the figs in the ground...just in case a label falls off.  Thanks for the link.

Ottawan - good idea....if I didn't have chickens I'd be inclined to make my own plastic labels as you do...

Those tags sure ought to be chicken proof. Beautiful chickens.  Tim

The brass tags are attached with a piece of 12ga electrical wire. That way nothing rusts. I just use numbers (they are much cheaper than name tags) and keep and inventory list.

Jon what number you up to now if you dont mind me asking?

Hi Adam,
those are some beautiful chickens you have !
I like your labels and you have such neat handwriting.
I dont many plants i  write in p marker under the lip of pot so sun and rain mostly keeps off them. Last season i asked daughter to write them as my excuse the expression handwriting is like chicken scratch  ; )
Actually i know the plants names without the need for marking them as i only have about 15 or so but just in case i get hit in the head..........

Nelson, three hundred and something, but the ones in the ground don't have tags, 'cause they don't move around much. They just have a map.

Thanks Tim and Martin for the kind words about the chickens....they are a great joy for me....I have them for moveable garden art  :) and the eggs they produce.

One of these days, I will manage to find/make room
for them six (hen) chickens; just for oldie-times sake...
I would also like a (male) rooster (just to wake me up),
but I think that it is illegal in my (USA) town!
Good grief! Where did those good family values/traditions go?

I'd love to know what breed of chicken those are - they're gorgeous!

Roamingwidgeteer - these are Blue Copper Marans chickens...they lay mahogany to terracotta colored eggs....you'll never find birds this nice at a hatchery.  I got my original start as eggs from a woman in Florida that has worked with these birds for over a decade.  The roosters and hens are so friendly....they follow me around the garden like puppies....they eat out of my hand.....they do beat me to the figs that are within their reach.......

Thanks Adam! Don't know if its a good thing I found a hatchery that sells Marans eggs ...  Will have to add to my list of cunning plans  :)

Actually, since chickens were originally forest birds and like overhead cover, an orchard would be the perfect place to keep them. As long as the figs and tags are sufficiently out of reach ...

I would love to get some chickens like those.  They are just beautiful, even if they do beat you to the figs.  Really nice name tags-thanks for sharing.

Eve
near Buffalo(BRRR) NY

I have a squirrel I'd like to be taken of.
May I borrow your chickens please?

Those are some menacing looking birds you have! They ain't taken none from no one. I wouldn't want to be near the one to the right. 

Those are some seriously good looking birds. I'd never heard of copper Marans, just the plain old Marans or Coo Coo Marans. They're just beautiful.

I keep a mixed flock and some bantam Silkies. I've found that I don't have plum curculio in my stone fruit anymore, I am guessing because the birds have the run of the yard all fall and winter and up until I plant seedlings in the spring. All the scratching and bug-eating has ostensibly eliminated the curculio.

I have some of the plain copper tags hanging on my roses and a couple of fig trees, and I really need to get more to tag the rest of my trees. Right now I either have the variety names written on the inside and outside of the rim of the pots with a black china marker or grease pencil, and then I made long tags out of old vinyl window blind slats and wrote the varieties on them and poked them down in the pots. Not too smart, I know. I already have two good sized potted trees that are now 'unknown'....

My birds have never bothered my figs, I don't think they know they're edible??

If anyone needs more info on my Blue Copper Marans....please email me privately......I do know this is a fig website  :)  

That being said......I am willing to trade hatching eggs of these birds for fig cuttings  :) 

Rafed - These birds are very friendly birds...even the rooster on the right....although I have seen them catch and kill mice in the garden.  They do peck at the low figs on my trees and do eat them as soon as they have the slightest softness to them.  I am waiting for my figs to grow a bit taller so the fruit will be just out of reach for the chickens...

Thanks all for the nice comments on the chickens.....they are pure joy!