Pedigree Database for Peafowl.

[frenchblackcopper]

After getting several responses positive about a way to keep track of peafowl and peafowl lines I then submitted questions to a software company with specific peafowl questions in regards to pen groups and breeding.The response was very,very favourable and I'm certain this will simplify recordkeeping at least on my behalf.
With a traceable way to verify and show parentage of peafowl I see this as a great way to enhance their selling values.If we have eggs to sell,or young peachicks to sell,we could then direct possible buyers to this database where they could see information about the parents and breeding group, the chicks or eggs they are wanting can all be seen.
I keep enough records each year to fill a small notebook with information on every page.Every night during breeding season I record the number of eggs gathered from each pen,record the date on the egg it was laid,and then record how many and the date they was put into the incubator.Many nights I fnd myself adding information that I think s relevant or will be needed later.This template can be uploaded to any server.A blog can be added for personal notes. I keep a spreadsheet on my computer as well as the notebook,It is double the paperwork and sometimes if I get a day behind it takes me over an hour each night to upload and write down information.
This would not be open to the public per say,,there would be a username and password needed to access the information or to do updates and upload data.You will be able to add a picture for every bird you have in the database.Hatched chicks can be traced back to their parents for as many generations that you have information uploaded on.
I had 8 seperate breeding pens this past year and in 2013 this will increase by at least 2 more.This database has no limit on the number of birds that can be added.I'm thinking if this pedigree database can be linked with a photo database for identification,as well as the blog for notes this would be a huge step forward for some of us that like knowing where we stand on many aspects of breeding.Anyone else see the value in doing such a thing?

 

[MinxFox]

I really really really love this idea! I think this would help us all! It would help let us all look back at years to see who we bred to who or where we got a bird from, etc. Also, other people on the site could link to another member say someone they got their bird from so say I had a photo of a peacock that was really beautiful and you liked him and wanted to know where I got him. Under a description of him it could say the name of the person on the site I got him from then you could click on their name and see all of their birds too. I think if it was set up so that there were several feilds you would have to fill out for a bird such as age, variety, gender, etc. that would be good. I took a web design class but we really didn't learn anything too complicated such as making a database like that. If we could make something like this it would be very helpful. Then when it comes time to sell a peafowl you can just print off the information on the bird's origins and the buyer can then have that on record or if they are a member on the site the information can transfer to them.

We could call it "Identipea" haha I don't know...XD I do like the idea though...

 

[PeaDaddy]

Awesome idea, and as you know I've voiced my support for this from day 1. The most important thing in doing this, I think, is to create a standard, whether it be an Excel Spreadsheet, or something else, until the data entry can begin on the site. For you, French, it's going to be tedious and no fun. Depending on how much information you have, I'm sure that I could find the time to help put it into Excel.

Trying to input 5,10,20,or 100 breeders' information, that all looks different, is a show stopper. Someone is going to be paying a few people to input the data. I'd hope we could make it as steamlined, and user-friendly for whoever those people are.

Can we incorporate microchipping into this database? The more I've thought about it, the more microchipping just makes sense. Every bird that is to be registered, would be required to be microchipped. The chip number would be the bird's registration number. That number would stay with the bird for its life, could be transferred if the bird is sold, tracks age, and DOB.

With horses, there are markings one the horse to differentiate them. When I had 4 IB's, I'd get confused unless I looked REALLY closely at them, and even then there were challenges. Chips would fix all of that.

Just throwing ideas out....

 

[frenchblackcopper]

The database template I want to get has fields for identifying chicks,you can put a microchip number,wingband number,toe punch,ect.I'm looking into the idea of tattooing my birds.I still have an ear tattoo kit when we used to have cattle but the size of the numbers and letters seems large for peafowl.You first run ink over where your going to apply the tattoo and when you then press the pliers,the pins press into the skin as well as the ink which stays permanently,,no more wing bands coming out,leg bands breaking ect.Microchipping would be a great idea also.We do have some of our puppies microchipped and do have a reader for the chips.Years ago there was several diffrent types of chips which all had diffrent frequencies,thus it was not a uniform process where now the 2.4 ghz chip is used in Europe as well as the USA.
I have a fellow dog breeder who owns two veterinarian facilities and she sells to me at her cost.The microchips are small enough for sure.The needle size used to implant them seems scarey,but if a 7 week old puppy can handle it,so can a 6mo. old peafowl.We currently imported a German litter which was all chipped,they have done away with ear tattooing in the Hinterland but the infer-pass I have for the male puppy was have decided to keep shows his microchip has 14 numbers on his chip.I know these numbers are never duplicated and are database recorded as well.I would think inserting the chip on the top of the back between the wings is a perfect location and the chip wouldn't move.Thanks Peadaddy,,I'm going to inquire about microchipping and learn the exact cost per chip.
The database cost is about $60,,hosting on the internet would maybe be $60 per year,a blog probably could be included in the same site.I was told to gain entry into the database site to do upload,add pics and all information is both username and password protected,it would not be for public viewing,only those who has the info needed to use it.
I know two excellent website designers,one of which built my website and can see what the cost would be to make a website that includes this database template,a blog for each member to write notes,and possibly the photo section.
I would like to make this accessible to everyone who could use it,and the costs split equally according to each person who uses the database or a set cost per year,and depending on how many use it,the more usage,the lower cost for everyone.After the initial buy of the database program,it would only be a hosting fee each year.If that cost is $60 per year plus the domain name,and 10 people use it,thats only $6 per person per year,and your uploads are unlimited.

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Here is the e-mail answer I got back yesterday answering the questions I posed about a database,,e-mail response is copy-pasted.

Thanks for your E-mail, following the answers on your questions:

1. I'm wanting to know if this template can be purchased and used as a breeding database for peafowl?

Yes, that’s no problem

1. I'm looking at a way along with a few other breeders to enhance the selling prices of peafowl,thru the use of a proven-traceable pedigree.This may involve 3-4 people or it may become much larger.

It’s no problem to use this product with more users and registrate everything in 1 database.

1. How many individual birds can be added to this program? 100? 1000? 10,000?

There is no limit

1. If each new peachick that is hatched from known parents already added to this database,does it have the capability of automatically keeping track of all offspring from a group of birds?

Yes that’s possible. For each bird an overview of his offspring can be generated

1. Peacocks are often penned with 2-6 hens during breeding season. It is impossible to know whch hen laid which eggs each day unless you can lock the hens up in a pen before she lays the egg so you know who is the mother of the peachick.So is it possible to make a breeding group,showing the peacock,and which hens are in that group? This would be the same as a pairing for breeding except there would be more than 2 birds within the group.

Well, this is a question we often receive from customers. It’s possible, but we advise to generate for example 6 breeding pairs from a mother and father and give them the same breeding group code. Yu can individually then add the offspring.

1. Many peacock breeders also keep track of eggs laid per pen per day thru breeding season,,dates and number of egg put into the incubator,,plus numbers of peachicks that do hatch and the date they hatch.Does this give us that ability?

Yes, you can add fields to registrate such data

1. Can this template be put on the internet allowing the entire public to look thru it,,but only members to upload data thru the use of a password-user id?

Unfortunately no, This is a system where every member need to authorized for access. It’s possible to authorize members to upload data.

1. If for instance 10 people decide to use this and they each upload information on 50 birds each they may have,can this template keep each persons birds seperate by a unique prefix-id?

Yes, the program can automatically add an unique number. You can also permit the breeder to fill in an unique number.

1. There are 8 diffrent colors of peafowl with diffrent patterns and genetics adding up to over 250 diffrent colors-patterns of peacocks,,if a person wants to upload information on a particular color of bird they have such as an India Blue,,if the next person decides to add information and upload a picture of their India Blue Black Shoulder bird,will it or can it be in the same India Blue group of birds?

Yes

1. Pedigreedatabase.com is a huge website for purebred dogs and anyone can upload pics and information about their dogs here.Once the parents are added or if they are aready in the database,each new puppy or dog entry that has one of the parents or both of the parents in the database already automatically can give a pedigree going back as far as 4 generations if all parents,grandparent,great grandparents are already in the database,it continually updates as new information is added. I'm interestedin this option if it has the ability to suit us as peafowl breeders and if anyone can upload information and what the numerical limits would be if this gets a large number of people interested?

Well the great difference with ZooEasy is that ZooEasy is not an open system. The information in PedigreeDatabase.com will not be checked, so you are not sure if the data is correct. Also, there is no authorization functionality in PedigreeDatabase.com. ZooEasy is a closed system where members can only have access with a login and password.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions,

With kind regards,

 

[MinxFox]

That sounds like a really awesome website idea. I don't think I would be able to microchip or tattoo my peafowl. I might leg band mine...

 

[frenchblackcopper]

Minxfox, as long as you can identify each bird thats really all that matters.Granted if you have a large group of same colored birds,such as IB, these could be all entered as a breeding group since all hens are the same.If you had a group of IB B/S those would be a group as well.The hens could be entered as a breeding group showing the male that was put in with each set or group of hens so at least the peacock Sire would be known 100%.
This tool can be used as you want it to be.Very extensive or just as a quick reference.All of my information to date is compiled in 2 spiral notebooks and 6 spreadsheets on my hardrive.If we had a tornado or house fire all my past work would be memory only.I hatched peachicks this summer out of several pied gene and double white gene carriers that does not phenotype the known genetics they have.Two of these chicks looks 100% IB and could easily be sold as such.If my recorded info was destroyed here,at least I would have the information including my wingband number recorded on the database so I have a backup.Along with a picture of the bird.
Since the database is not an open book per say for the entire internet to see,in a way it would be interesting to see the way others have their pairings for the season.Then to see the offspring recorded in the fall or next spring of the outcome of those pairings.With an attached blog explanations could be given and correspondence between users can be done.Each user could submit only the information they want to.If secret breedng is tried for a new color-pattern the birds would not need to be shown together as a breeding group.

 

[Mmmatt13]

I don't have time this morning to read through the last couple posts so I don't know if this has been covered or not, but since many breeders have trios or quads for breeding, wouldn't mistaking which egg came from which hen mess up the whole thing? With animals that already have databases (dogs, horses, etc.) the breeder already knows exactly which animal was the sire, and which the dam. With birds it can't be easy to know unless they were designated pairs. Or the breeder took extreme care to know for certain which eggcae from which hen, if not it would ruin pedigrees and falsify the whole idea.
Just thought I'd throw that out there.

 

[Arbor]

I don't have time this morning to read through the last couple posts so I don't know if this has been covered or not, but since many breeders have trios or quads for breeding, wouldn't mistaking which egg came from which hen mess up the whole thing? With animals that already have databases (dogs, horses, etc.) the breeder already knows exactly which animal was the sire, and which the dam. With birds it can't be easy to know unless they were designated pairs. Or the breeder took extreme care to know for certain which eggcae from which hen, if not it would ruin pedigrees and falsify the whole idea.
Just thought I'd throw that out there.

I think the idea of a pen group is that if you are breeding like colours (ie opal male on multiple opal hens), it should not matter which hen was the mother, as long as all hens are part of the registry. I personally breed only one or two hens to a cock, only for definitive identification purposes. If I have a question as to what hen laid what egg, I usually wait and watch one evening to find out which bird laid that evenings egg. Once I know, since each hen lays different size and shaped eggs, I can tell just by looking at it or comparing to the known egg. Other breedings I do to confirm pedigree is when I use a blackshoulder male on two hens, I use a blackshoulder hen and a barred wing hen (that I know is not split to bs) and the resulting hatch will tell me immediately.
As fbc pointed out, sire would be known 100%, still giving it some credit for pedigree.

 

[Arbor]

1. Can this template be put on the internet allowing the entire public to look thru it,,but only members to upload data thru the use of a password-user id?

Unfortunately no, This is a system where every member need to authorized for access. It’s possible to authorize members to upload data.

This could easily be made public with a public username and password that would not allow changes or uploading, and perhaps limit to only a few pages within the whole database if you wanted?