Keeping a chart..?

[jossanne]

I keep a simple Excel spreadsheet. It has columns for total number of eggs gathered, # of white eggs, # of brown eggs, # of green eggs, and # of bantam eggs. Then there's a column for $ spent on feed, a column for $ gained from egg sales, and a column for # of dozen sold.

It totals the columns each month and at the end of the year. At the bottom of the chart, it keeps track of how much a dozen eggs cost in feed, how many we sell, and how many we either consume or give away.

So far this year, we've collected 122.25 dozen, and consumed or given away 90.25 dozen. I haven't given away many - my family eats a LOT of eggs. They cost us around $1.20 per dozen. And I've sold $78.61 less than what I've spent on feed. Not too bad for 27 girls!

Edited to add:
It's not fancy, but I'll email my blank chart file to anyone who wants to use it. Just PM me.

 

[lavandula girl]

I picked up a free calendar poster from the Cash & Carry. It shows all the months, with typical squares for each day. I record # of eggs and who laid them. I also record weather, and note anything else that may disrupt the ladies, like coop cleaning day, predator sightings, etc. I like having a hard copy to work with, and will transfer the most pertinent info to the computer record at the end of the year. (I can then do egg totals per month for each bird, record trends, and track predator patterns without loading massive info into Excel. I can also "cull" the less pertinent info.)

 

[AboutSixPounds]

I keep an Excel spreadsheet similar to the one jossanne described earlier, except mine is broken down by individual chicken since I only have three. One worksheet per chicken: date laid, time, time since last egg, size, and notes. I also have a running total of eggs per hen and grand total eggs. Then there's a total expenses, cost per egg, cost per dozen. So far I'm down to a very uneconomical $4.29 per egg (they've only just started in Feb.)!

You mentioned not having Excel or Word. OpenOffice (openoffice.org) is a great FREE alternative to MSOffice. You can even save your docs as Excel, Word, or PowerPoint docs so they can be opened by people using MSOffice. I'm an editor, and lots of my clients send me copy in OpenOffice files and they work just fine. Did I mention that it's FREE?

 

[msgenie516]

Hi,

I keep a log book and keep track of my eggs every day. Not very sophisticated, but it gives me the information I want. I don't do it on the computer as I HATE bookkeeping and I like to use the computer for things I really enjoy. I have to do bookkeeping for DH's business every week and that's enough really serious bookkeeping for me!

I write down how many of each color and who laid them, if I know. I also enter a total for each day and total the last 7 days at the end of the week.

I don't keep a record of expenses because I don't think I want to know!

I know these eggs are far from economical!

Once in a while, I sell some eggs and I mark that down, too--when, how many dozen, and total sales.

I also keep a record if I get some new hens or chicks, when I got them, which ones and how many. And if it is chicks, I write down when I need to change their feed, for example, when to stop the chick starter and start the chick grower.

And I keep track of any important events, such as when I lose one of my girls for known or unknown causes (thankfully, this doesn't happen often).

So that's about it!

Genie

 

[cmom]

Here are a couple of threads I think you might find interesting.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=130894
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=124260

 

[havi]

Quote:
Yea its a real pain in the tush! We just bought this computer about 2 years ago and spent waaaay more then we thought we would and it came with all the Microsoft programs, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. Only to find out that it expired a year after we installed the computer. It only came as a "trial" basis.

So everything that I did in Microsoft is pretty much gone. Oh I can still open the files, but trying to copy and paste from it or anything else I cant do. Thanks for the link, I will go and check that out tomorrow. Thanks!

 

[PunkinPeep]

If you're interested in keeping more detailed charts or spreadsheets, check out www.openoffice.org. They have programs, free to download, that are comparable to and compatible with the expensive word processing and other programs like microsoft word and corel.

I can't justify spending the money on the more popular programs, so i use openoffice, and the only complaint i have is that they're a little slow loading when you first open them, but they are very easy to use. I even have my mortgage amortization on it, and it's very efficient.

 

[Justducky97365]

Hi....it's four years later, but I just started with chickens and would LOVE to have a copy of your chicken charts...

[email protected]