Is there a good flow chart out there?

[wisefool]

Quote:
Yup, I am noticing that too. That's why I am switching to Excell type set up. if you select the willow leg feature all the breeds you mentioned would still be in the list. Then you pick something else, like tufts, 5 toes, etc to try to limit it down more, and then you end up with some links to pictures for the final guess.

It will never be as good as you experts, but probably get me by on the common breeds.

The most important thing I want to be able to do is sex them at maturity without making a mistake. Lots of great posts here, like the different barr'ing (sp) patterns, comb sizes relative to breed, etc. Only one of my girls is laying, but I never see her do it. I have roosters that sound like hens and probably some hens that try to crow. I am not just good enough yet to be 100%. But need to cull 'cause there are too many roosters running around. too stressful for the hens and for me. (18 weeks old)

 

[ChooksChick]

Post us some pics!

We love the I.D. game!!!


A chart is nice, but when you can play with others, it's more fun!

Maybe it's just me...

 

[andorraclaim]

I've long thought of this. It shouldn't be hard from a framework (leg color, variations, etc) standpoint. There are tons of free tools out there for content management. I know most CMS packages, like Drupal, can easily pull data and display it whichever way you choose.

So the most tedious and labor intensive part would be pulling that data in a format that can be aggregated by package chosen. I think as a test I am going to pull the data from the Henderson's chart and see how I can display it. Tables are so 1997.

I really think this would be a powerful tool, however and with due respect to BYC, I do not think it should be site specific. But that's a whole other issue.

If anyone wants to help me on a bigger list than Henderson's send me a PM. There would need to be some discussion on organization of the process but all that would be required is a rudimentary knowledge of Excel or some type of spreadsheet.

Things I would love to include in this would be pictures of each description (these in itself would be a time/resource consuming endeavor I imagine), dual/comparison views, and some type of build-a-bird mashup. The later is probably the most far-reaching implausible.

Anyways, let me know your thoughts.

***And I don't think I've mentioned it more than twice on BYC but I am a PHP programmer for a marketing company. I deploy Web2.0 tech daily. This is right up my alley

 

[Uppity Peon]

There you go. MySQL and PHP! Only thing left is the hard part.

 

[Dustin Biery]

I will help with whatever I can. I have also thought about this, and think it is a great idea. It will be time consuming and tedious, but with a collective effort, I really think it could get off the ground. I dont think it would have to be site specific, but you would have to have server space somewhere for it. If the page is labeled correctly, it would be searchable by google and other search engines, which would bring more traffic here. As for the inclusion of pictures, I personally think instead of including pictures, I would include links. We could do this by utilizing the breed pages here. It might also be feasable to contact feathersite to use their links for the breed pages we do not have built here.

As for the OP, I would suggest getting a Standard of Perfection. This will have most any breed you are looking for, but there is no limiting factors. You would just have to look up the breeds you think they are, and compare.

PM me if you would like my assistance with this project.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

What you need is not a flow chart, but a Dichotomous Key.

Plumage colour is rarely a breed indicator, and should pretty much be excluded from a chart that will ID breeds.

Easiest thing is to start with features that are uncommon: 5 toes limits you to five breeds. Tufts limit to 3 (bantam and LF araucana, and the South American Quetros)

Comb type separates breeds out pretty quickly, although there are a few breeds where more than one comb type is recognised.

Crests are another that separate breeds out pretty fast, as are muffs & beards.

Then you get to things like body type, leg length, tail angle, etc.

 

[andorraclaim]

I've setup Drupal6 at home and currently finding the best way to pull data from Henderson's chart. I am only going to do a few breeds at first, this list is great but it was poorly constructed. This unfortunately isn't a simple copy and paste.

I agree with Sonoran that easiest way to "browse" breeds would be by using qualifiers; toes, tufts, muffs, beards, combs, crests, etc. I wonder if simply having each qualifier in a column that can be selected would work for most users. It seems to be the most unintuitive way of going about it tho...Any thoughts?

After I figure out this data thing I'll post up a link.

 

[SS]

Wow that chart sounds like a good idea.

 

[andorraclaim]

Hey guys,

I have the data in and tagged accordingly. I'll construct a nice search view tomorrow. It's rough, the data hasn't been formatted etc.

http://breeds.ath.cx

 

[andorraclaim]

Quote:
Hey Mods, I am going to start a thread for this. I won't continue here.