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- #241
The form does everything for you so data entry is the key to making it work correctly. Just open the current month tab you are working on. I will go through each section.
The first section is the date, be sure and use the number under the date column. In Excel it numbers the lines and these are the first numbers you see. Don't use those, use the "date" column numbers (all these hints are from mistakes I have made, lol).
The next column is "laying hens, quantity" just enter the number of hens you have that are of laying age. This will automatically be carried down for the whole month so if you lose some hens in the middle of the month just enter the new number of hens on that day. The program adjusts you numbers accordingly (I had raccoons killing hens all month one month last year.)
The next column is"production", this is easy just put the eggs collected under each column. I had my wife make different sections for different colored eggs, just so I could see how my chickens were laying. The production calculator doesn't care where you put them just so you enter the number of eggs collected on that day in one of the three columns.
the next column grouping is "Income" further broken down into "eggs sold" I just add up the amount I sold so 2 doz eggs go for $5. I enter a 2 in the "dozen" column and 5 in the "$" column. This will also take decimal points so if you are selling 18 packs you can enter 4.5 in the "dozen" column and 11.25 in the "$" column.
the "chickens sold" works the same way. You could even use this for meat chickens if you are just selling carcasses.
Under "Expenses" the important one is "feed purchased" you have a "pounds" and "$"" column. I put these in as I open a new bag of food. This way I can credit the charge to that month. So I am using around 300# of food every month during the Winter so I have five separate line items with 50 under "pounds" and 8.89 under "$" column (this also lets me account for the feed price change. mine changes with the price of corn so I paid $8.89 to $11 last month.) The other expenses just put in the number of the total cost of the items.
Now results, the computer and program automatically compile this information every time you make a new entry into the spreadsheet. At the bottom of the page you have some averages specific to that month.
the "Average productivity" section:
"laying hens per day" average number of laying hens for the day.
"Eggs collected per day" total number of eggs collected every day divided by the number of days in the month
"percent productivity" is the number of eggs collected per day divided by the number of hens laying. So if every chicken laid an egg every day of the month it would be 100%.
"pounds feed per egg" is the number of eggs collected divided by the amount of feed in pounds that you fed the chickens. If you free range this number varies drastically by the season.
"feed cost per egg" is the amount you paid for feed only that month divided by the number of eggs collected. I then multiply this by 12 to see what my feed costs are per dozen eggs.
the "Monthly Financial Summary" section:
"income" takes all the money collected from the eggs sold column and chickens sold column and adds them up.
"Expenses" adds all your expenses together except you flock purchases.
"Flock purchases" adds the amount you spent on live chicks and/or hatching eggs.
"Net" takes you Income and subtracts the Expenses and Flock purchases from it.
The "Hatching eggs" section:
"hatch rate" takes the number of live chicks that survived to hatch and divides it by the number of eggs you started with in the incubator. If you are over 70% here you are doing great.
"cost per live chick" takes the amount you paid for the eggs (you placed in the incubator) and divides it by the number of live chicks that hatched.
There is also a summary tab that gives you this information for the entire year. As you go through more months your annual summary will change accordingly. It works pretty slick. Any more questions let me know,
Raisin.
The first section is the date, be sure and use the number under the date column. In Excel it numbers the lines and these are the first numbers you see. Don't use those, use the "date" column numbers (all these hints are from mistakes I have made, lol).
The next column is "laying hens, quantity" just enter the number of hens you have that are of laying age. This will automatically be carried down for the whole month so if you lose some hens in the middle of the month just enter the new number of hens on that day. The program adjusts you numbers accordingly (I had raccoons killing hens all month one month last year.)
The next column is"production", this is easy just put the eggs collected under each column. I had my wife make different sections for different colored eggs, just so I could see how my chickens were laying. The production calculator doesn't care where you put them just so you enter the number of eggs collected on that day in one of the three columns.
the next column grouping is "Income" further broken down into "eggs sold" I just add up the amount I sold so 2 doz eggs go for $5. I enter a 2 in the "dozen" column and 5 in the "$" column. This will also take decimal points so if you are selling 18 packs you can enter 4.5 in the "dozen" column and 11.25 in the "$" column.
the "chickens sold" works the same way. You could even use this for meat chickens if you are just selling carcasses.
Under "Expenses" the important one is "feed purchased" you have a "pounds" and "$"" column. I put these in as I open a new bag of food. This way I can credit the charge to that month. So I am using around 300# of food every month during the Winter so I have five separate line items with 50 under "pounds" and 8.89 under "$" column (this also lets me account for the feed price change. mine changes with the price of corn so I paid $8.89 to $11 last month.) The other expenses just put in the number of the total cost of the items.
Now results, the computer and program automatically compile this information every time you make a new entry into the spreadsheet. At the bottom of the page you have some averages specific to that month.
the "Average productivity" section:
"laying hens per day" average number of laying hens for the day.
"Eggs collected per day" total number of eggs collected every day divided by the number of days in the month
"percent productivity" is the number of eggs collected per day divided by the number of hens laying. So if every chicken laid an egg every day of the month it would be 100%.
"pounds feed per egg" is the number of eggs collected divided by the amount of feed in pounds that you fed the chickens. If you free range this number varies drastically by the season.
"feed cost per egg" is the amount you paid for feed only that month divided by the number of eggs collected. I then multiply this by 12 to see what my feed costs are per dozen eggs.
the "Monthly Financial Summary" section:
"income" takes all the money collected from the eggs sold column and chickens sold column and adds them up.
"Expenses" adds all your expenses together except you flock purchases.
"Flock purchases" adds the amount you spent on live chicks and/or hatching eggs.
"Net" takes you Income and subtracts the Expenses and Flock purchases from it.
The "Hatching eggs" section:
"hatch rate" takes the number of live chicks that survived to hatch and divides it by the number of eggs you started with in the incubator. If you are over 70% here you are doing great.
"cost per live chick" takes the amount you paid for the eggs (you placed in the incubator) and divides it by the number of live chicks that hatched.
There is also a summary tab that gives you this information for the entire year. As you go through more months your annual summary will change accordingly. It works pretty slick. Any more questions let me know,
Raisin.
I am what my daughter calls a computer dinosaur. Thank again
