# AU Bands



## Aviephile (Oct 25, 2009)

Hi!
I bought my Barkels Lemon Homers pair from Strombergs Chicks and Gamebirds. The website said that they would be "AU Banded". They do, indeed, have bands that say "AU" but... when I went to the AU bands list, I got no results because there are no club letters on these bands. There is only:AU 2009 and a number, and below that is ARPU. I contacted the AU and they said legitimate AU bands >must< have club letters. I would have to defer to the AU as the the issuing authority, but what gives here? Was I misled by Strombergs or are these bands special in some way and my correspondant at the AU just didn't know?
BTW, the numbers are 1969 and 3698, one is pink and one is green. The birds came from somewhere in New Mexico.
TIA! Bill KU4QB


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## sky tx (Mar 1, 2005)

You can order bands from the AU in Okalahoma City--they will have the year/ date and letters ARPU and a bird number...Different years will have different colors. Either you or the AU correspondant misunderstood something. AU ARPU 2008-Green AU ARPU 2009-Yellow AU ARPU 2006 Red--You can order special colors if you order Early enough the year before.--Let us know what you find out


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## ZigZagMarquis (Aug 31, 2004)

I am not a member of any club, but too have AU bands on my birds. I had to join the ARPU to get bands from them. Membership isn't really that expensive and you get a magazine out of the deal. Bands are very inexpensive too. If you buy them in small numbers, it usually cost about the same to have them mailed to you then the cost of the bands themselves, which is just a few dollars.

The way I understand, if one joins the ARPU, but isn't a club member, you get "generic" ARPU bands, which go like, (I'm looking at an unused one now from 05) for example "AU 2005 ARPU 16216".

1) Where "2005" is the year (as applicable).
2) If one did belong to a club, the club letters would be in palce of the "ARPU"
3) Last, but not least, the "16216" in my example is the unique number which then goes with that band / bird.





Aviephile,

I believe you do in fact have AU bands that "Strombergs Chicks and Gamebirds" bought and not counterfits and there must have been some sort of miscommunication when you were talking to whom ever you talked to at the ARPU.

Since you got your birds from "Strombergs Chicks and Gamebirds", hopefully they recorded the band numbers of what birds they sold you. Because if ever your birds get out or lost and are found, if a person tried to trace the band number, they may only get back to Strombergs Chicks and Gamebirds and that's it if the folks there didn't record that they sold such and such AU banded birds to you. This has happened before. Is it a great injustice? No. Is it frustraiting to someone who rescues a banded pigeon and is trying to track down their owner? Yes. Its happened to me.

You may want to call back the ARPU and see if they can record your bird's band #s as now belonging to you. I don't know if they'll do that, but its worth a try.

Anyway, all, just my 2 cents...


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## Lovebirds (Sep 6, 2002)

Aviephile said:


> Hi!
> I bought my Barkels Lemon Homers pair from Strombergs Chicks and Gamebirds. The website said that they would be "AU Banded". They do, indeed, have bands that say "AU" but... when I went to the AU bands list, I got no results because there are no club letters on these bands. There is only:AU 2009 and a number, and below that is ARPU. I contacted the AU and they said legitimate AU bands >must< have club letters. I would have to defer to the AU as the the issuing authority, but what gives here? Was I misled by Strombergs or are these bands special in some way and my correspondant at the AU just didn't know?
> BTW, the numbers are 1969 and 3698, one is pink and one is green. The birds came from somewhere in New Mexico.
> TIA! Bill KU4QB


You have legit AU bands. ARPU is their designation. You can buy IF bands too for example, but if you order them from the IF rather than through a club, they will have a single letter such as "I" or a few others.


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## MaryOfExeter (Sep 30, 2007)

Yep. All AU and IF bands must have 'club' letters. Different clubs may pay to have their initials printed on them, but otherwise, bands that come straight from the organization will have 'ARPU' or a single letter like 'A', etc. People can have their own loft bands too. In that case it's not a club either, but it still takes the place of the club letters, and is still legit


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## Aviephile (Oct 25, 2009)

Thanks folks. I'll contact the AU again and see if they will register them to me. That was my main concern, anyway.
Regs! Bill


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