Poultry records: How to measure flock performance

At least 4 items make up the core of poultry records: mortality / liveability, egg production, finances, and flock schedule.

A poultry farmer can keep flock records by using various tools and dedicated applications.

Data is king if you want to determine if your flock is productive, and the financially viability of your farm. Below is a description of the 4 main components of a poultry records.

Mortality and liveability

A flock’s mortality rate is the percentage of birds that have died in a that flock. An 8% mortality rate means that 8% of birds in that flock have died. 

A flock’s mortality rate also determines a flock’s survivability or liveability rate. Liveability rate is the percentage of birds expected to live to full age. A flock with a 8% mortality rate has a liveability rate of 92%.

A flock with a low mortality rate, and thus high liveability rate is a very likely to be a high performing and productive flock.

Finances

Flock expenses and income from sales can be categorized under finances. At the end of the day, keeping flock financial records will enable you to determine how your flock is performing. Additionally, at the end of a flocks lifetime, you will be able to determine the viability of your poultry farm.

Egg production

Egg production rate (EPR) is the percentage of birds that produce eggs over a given time frame. For instance, daily, weekly, and monthly.

EPR is expressed in percentage. A flock with a daily EPR of 95% means that 95% of birds in that flock are laying eggs daily.

Below is a generic Egg production cycle 

Egg production phase	Duration
Start of egg production	Week 16 – 24
Full egg production capacity (Flock in its highest production capacity)	Week 25 – 84
Peak egg production (Egg production capacity begins gradual decline)	Week 85 –

Most commercial layers flocks have well known EPR. Flock suppliers will usually inform farmers of their flock’s EPRs. A high performing flock will have a high EPR.

Flock schedule

Flock schedule in its most basic form details flock vaccinations and treatments. A comprehensive flock schedule should include feeding schedule, weight tracking schedule, egg production cycle, flock harvesting schedule and beak trimming schedule.

Essentially, a flock schedule should outline flock activities by time, and also enable a farmer mark done activities and to log flock observations.

Components of a comprehensive flock schedule

• Feeding schedule
• Weight tracking schedule
• Beak trimming schedule
• Vaccination and treatment schedule
• Egg production schedule
• Flock harvesting schedule
• Flock note / journaling entries

Key takeaways

• A flock record includes 4 main elements: mortality / liveability, finances, egg production and schedule
• Egg production does not apply to broiler flocks
• Poultry records are the backbone of data-based farming
• With flock records, a farmer can determine the productivity of a flock
• A comprehensive flock schedule provides flock history for future reference
• Without keeping poultry flock records, a farmer practices guess work farming