Keeping a chart..?

[havi]

Does anyone keep a chart? With things like how many eggs you got that day, from which chickens(like the white eggs, green, etc.) and any other things you write down. Right now all I have is a little notebook that I write down how many eggs I got for the day, which color eggs they were and then where I found them and in what condition. I want something I little more detail, but Im not sure what else to add.

So can anyone else tell me what they have or maybe show me a picture of theirs? I dont have Microsoft Word anymore or anything else. Right now all I have is WordPad.

 

[Kim_NC]

I have a chart layout in MS Word - but WordPad could handle the same thing. It's laid out in columns with tables. There's a list of the birds per pen and by breed. They have colored zipties on their legs for ID purposes. I note how many total eggs from each pen. For some, I can tell by color who's who, so I credit that individual bird. I make notations on the others that I see in the nest boxes based on their ziptie color.

Here's screenshot from one. It covers 4 pens - 3 breeding and a laying flock:

One sheet has 4 main columns and covers 4 days. I start the week on Sunday. Then start a 2nd sheet on Thursday. I use the 4th column of the 2nd sheet for tallying totals and figuring % lay for the week.

Other things I note are: any odd eggs (misshaped, etc), any birds in a pen molting, odd behaviors, treats I fed that day, if I saw a roo mount a specific hen, etc.

I learn a lot about the flocks by doing that. I've figure out which are poor layers, layers that produce odd shells, best layers for breeding, etc. Like right now I've got one that always lays a shell with grooves. I mean the shells look practically scarred. LOL. She's a cull as soon as I figure out which one she is...I know she's one of 4 that just came out of molt from my tracking.

Hope it helps with some ideas.

 

[vermontgal]

I keep an egg diary, no computer involved. (I spend too much time on here).

In a notebook, I have columns with the chickens names and rows with the day and date. Then I note the size of egg (on 1940s egg scale), and roughly when it was laid - am, late am, noonish, pm, or late. If the egg is near the top or bottom of that size range, I note with +/-

In hindsight, when Liona the EE died, I could tell that she was having trouble from her eggs getting smaller a couple days before I found her dead. However, I still think it was a heart attack or other internal problem (not illness), because there was no sign if illness and none of the other girls are sick. I do hope to be able to use the egg diary to detect and hopefully resolve any problems with chickens being egg bound.

Example:

Liz Sam Sarah

Sat XL+ L- XL-
3/28 am pm late-am

 

[Justino]

LMAO good im not alone!!! ive got page after page after page of all my eggs for the day LOL ive been doin it for months now lol

 

[havi]

Ive sorta wanted to keep a log or chart on the cost of feed, how much they use, how many 3gg$ I get, etc. but I know I will not like the results.

So I thought I would just start out with keeping an 3gg chart. That way I will sorta know who is laying well and who isnt. I dont have the heart to cull, but I might give/sell a hen that isnt producing like I think she should. Ive seen a lot of people use a chart for lots of other things but they are always in a format or program that I dont have on my computer. So Im not even able to see what they look like.


I just thought there might be something better than what I have now. Like I said its just a little 4in by 5in notebook that will have entires like.. "@pri1 1st, 2009- Five 3gg$ (4 brown & 1 green)- 4 3gg$ were in nest-other was near door" Thanks Kim that looks really nice! It looks like a really good set up you have there.

Definitely something I could do if and when I start to breed. I also like the idea of leg bands. I get up at 5 in the morning and go to work at 6, then I get home at 4 in the afternoon. So by the time I get home most, if not all, of the 3gg$ are already laid for the day. So I dont know what time they are laid. It wasnt until the other day that I knew which hen laid the darker brown 3gg. This whole time I thought it was my RIR, when in fact it is Nemo my BO.

I also like the fact that I can go back and look at what the 3gg production was in the months or years past. Which one of the breeds I had laid the best and the most? Come to think about it, I might start adding the weather. Like for instance, when it gets in the 100's in May and the 3gg$ start to decline a little.. did the Leghorns produce great and the Orpingtons not do so well?

 

[cybercat]

Havi to keep a count of who and how many egs per week. You will need to mark the hens somehow. Easy way is with numbered bandetts. Then you get to sit in the coop every day for a week to see who is laying what and how many by end of week. Only other way to track that is by trap nest or camera/video.

 

[havi]

Quote:
Well right now its pretty easy, I only have 5 hens. Two are EEs, one lays a pinkish 3gg the other a green 3gg. Then I have two BOs, one lays a dark brown 3gg the other lays a much much lighter brown 3gg. It almost looks white. Then I have a RIR which lays a brown 3gg as well, but all her 3ggs have little speckles on them.


But I have 12 pullets right now(5weeks old I think), that when they get to that stage I know it is going to much harder to know who layed what.

 

[louis]

Sorry to pipe in all nooby-like, but what are you guys referring to when you say "roosters", as in "how many roosters for the day"? Does this mean eggs...or fertilized eggs?

 

[louis]

Haha! Nevermind. Turns out it's some kind of glitch in BYC. For some reason (at least on my PC) the word E-G-G is being changed to "rooster"

 

[havi]

Quote:
Haha yea its a A-P-R-I-L fools joke I think. I dont know what other words are changed, but when you type in @pri| it comes out as April.


ETA: I guess they have already changed it back?