Thinking about building a web-based flock tracker - would anyone actually use it?

[JeremyCarlsten]

Hey folks,

So I've got about a dozen chickens, twice as many ducks and a bad habit of building software. For the last few years I've been tracking eggs in a spiral notebook that my wife keeps threatening to throw away because it looks like it survived a flood. (It kind of did. Barn roof leak. Long story.)

I've tried spreadsheets. I've tried a couple apps. The spreadsheets last about two weeks before I stop opening them, and the apps either don't work on my phone without installing something, or feel like they were designed for a commercial operation with 10,000 birds.

What I actually want is dead simple and would work on any device:

• Open it on my phone in the coop, tap today's egg count, done
• See a chart of how my girls are doing over time
• Keep notes on each bird (breed, hatch date, health stuff, that one hen who keeps escaping)
• Log treatments and medications with withdrawal dates
• Track breeding pairs and hatches if you're into that
I'm a software developer by day and I've been kicking around building this as a web app - no app store, no install, just go to the site on your phone. Works offline too, syncs when you have signal again.

Before I go down the rabbit hole though... is this something y'all would actually use? Or am I just building myself an elaborate notebook replacement?

I put up a rough landing page at flocklog.com (https://flocklog.com/) if you want to see where my head's at. Nothing to buy, just an email signup if you want to know when it's ready.

What features would make or break it for you?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

That sounds really interesting. I think lots of people would find it useful although I like to keep flock records in a notebook because I am very old-fashioned when it comes to chickens and they are more or less a technology escape for me. I don’t track eggs but I might use something like this to track actual flock numbers.

 

[LoveMyPeepers]

Would it be available as a website as well as an app?

 

[JeremyCarlsten]

That sounds really interesting. I think lots of people would find it useful although I like to keep flock records in a notebook because I am very old-fashioned when it comes to chickens and they are more or less a technology escape for me. I don’t track eggs but I might use something like this to track actual flock numbers.

That makes total sense. Chickens are kind of my “get away from the screens” time too, so I totally get the notebook thing.

One of the ideas I’ve been playing with is making it feel more like a digital notebook than an “app” – simple pages for flock head counts, who’s in which pen, and notes on who came/left the flock when. If you ever did use a tool like this, what would you want it to do besides egg tracking? Just numbers, or things like hatch dates / losses / new additions too?

 

[JeremyCarlsten]

Would it be available as a website as well as an app?

Just a website, native apps are a pain to make and maintain. Not to mention I hate excess apps on my phone

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Just numbers, or things like hatch dates / losses / new additions too?

I mostly write down breeds, when and where I get a certain chicken/egg from and the “result” of adding that bird to the flock (if it gets lost to predation or disease or thrives/reproduces). So my tracking needs would essentially be a running head count that could be updated without deleting anything.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I also track by flock because I have two flocks. But I am working on a landrace so my needs might be very different from others’. So something that allows me to consolidate data I want and remove things I don’t want to track to avoid clutter would be really cool.

 

[LoveMyPeepers]

Just a website, native apps are a pain to make and maintain. Not to mention I hate excess apps on my phone

Sounds great! that way people can access it from a computer or something as well.