Keeping Track of All Chickens Using Excel

[Bacchus]

Hi everyone! Hope you're all having a great time managing your flocks. Personally, I find that it becomes increasingly difficult to keep track of every single chicken in my flock as I get more and more chickens, especially on a busy schedule. Therefore, I decided to use Microsoft Excel to generate a simple and straight forward "Chicken Tracker" spreadsheet to help me keep track of all my chickens. Here's an example of what my spreadsheet looks like:

I know it's nothing too elaborate, but it serves its purpose. A few codes that may be useful are:

"=TODAY()" - Used to insert dynamic dates (dates that changes every day and can be used to calculate the age of your entire flock without effort on your part).

"=SUM(XY:xy)" - Used to add numerical data from different cells. For example: Based on the picture of my spreadsheet above, to get the Total number of chickens I inserted "=SUM(A4:A8)" in cell A11.

"=XY-xy" - Used to calculate age in days.

"=XY/7" - Used to calculate age in weeks.

"=XY/30" - Used to calculate age in months.

Please note that these codes are used without the quotations around them, so only use what's inside the quote.

This version is simplied for simplicity. You can customize your speadsheet to meet your needs by adding a Name column and separate each bird by name instead of by breeds. Hope this will prove to be useful for someone out there. Best of luck!

 

[estpr13]

Thanks for the Excel Page. I like it.

I also like your chicken coop. Looks like you used a nail through the handle of the two gallon water can. I have done the same thing. Good job on both. Thanks.

 

[slc]

I think keeping a record of some sort is good practice. I started creating an excel file too but decided to go with a more portable way. I’m doing mine with a free online database application (zohocreator.com) that I can access from where ever. I like to use my iPhone for everything so it works great for data entry right out in the coop or where ever. I’m doing my forms so that it will be a sort of web app for the iPhone. I like that this online database application can embed the forms and views into web pages and I can create status type pages that change with the data. I will be starting with a hand full of hens but plan on more for bug and weed control in our orchard and gardens. Eventually I’ll need to know what chicken is free ranging where and what they are eating etc. if I also want to supply organic stores with the extra eggs. I guess I’m trying to plan ahead.

 

[joshplus10]

If any of my chickens used Excel, I would definately start keeping track of her!

 

[Bacchus]

Quote:
Thanks! Glad you liked it. It proves to be quite useful for me, especially when it comes to keeping track to their age. This way, all I have to do is open up my "Chicken Tracker" and their age are all calculated for me down to the fraction.

Yes, I used a hook screw for the two gallon water can, but it turns out that the water can has a flat loop at the top that keeps it from staying perfectly straight and tends to tilt to one side when the chickens run into it, so I used a small piece of strong hardware cloth with 3 holes to keep it balanced. By hooking the hook end of the crew to the middle hole of the hardware cloth, I can be sure that my water can will never tilt when the chickens bump into it. Thanks again for your comments.

 

[Bacchus]

Quote:
Definitely, I'm sure many of us here love to keep all our ducks in a row... erm... in this case, "chickens" in a row. I also thought of the portable way of doing it, since I'm a serious wine collector and have been using an online database system to keep track of my wines. However, when it comes to chickens, I felt that something simple as an Excel spreadsheet would do. But it certainly doesn't hurt to have an online database of your chickens if you use your iPhone often. Happy flockin'!

 

[Bacchus]

Quote:
If chickens start using Excel, then it won't be long before they become a member of BYC... Or maybe they'll start their own forum, possibly something on the border of BYH (Back Yard Humans).

 

[Pinky]

I use Excel to keep track of how many chickens I have and how many eggs I get.

 

[BrackenFarms]

interesting

 

[vermontgal]

I used Excel to calculate how many hours of extra light I wanted to give my chickens (I light just a little bit), and also used an age calculator like yours.

Although Excel said they would be ready to lay by early December (24/25 weeks), in reality they didn't lay until January (28/29 weeks).

So much for Eggcel.