As a poultry farmer keeping accurate poultry records is key to unlocking data based poultry farming. There is no shortcut, and guesswork will result to failure in your farming operations.
In a nutshell:
- Make time to log flock data everyday
- Add co-farmers to your farm to simplify record keeping and sharing
- Number your coops for ease of data reference
In this article we will describe poultry records. Moreover, we will discuss 3 simple ways how you can use Kukufarm app to ensure flock data accuracy. Also see Why flock hatch date is important in poultry management and poultry record keeping.
You can get Kukufarm from Google Play or App Store.
What are poultry records
Poultry records refer to flock performance data that you log on Kukufarm app for immediate and future reference. For instance, you can
- Track flock age, mortality, liveability, sales expenses, egg production rate, etc
- Manage coops, vaccination schedules and co-farmers
As you already know, poultry records are the key to unlocking data based poultry farming. If you want to maximise flock performance and yield, keeping accurate flock records is a must.
Essentially, flock records enable you to track flock performance over time. Importantly, they enable you to make farming decisions based on actual data rather than guess work.
3 Tips for keeping accurate poultry records
Log data as soon as you’ve it
Kukufarm app is a mobile first solution, built to enable you to log flock data as soon as you’ve it. In contrast, to Excel and Web software, you do not need to wait to go to the office, you can log farm data as long as you have your mobile with you.
Get into the habit of logging flock data, at least once, daily. Needless to say, something happens in your poultry farm, everyday. For example, a chicken dies, eggs are laid and collected, poultry feeds are purchased, an egg sale is made, and so on.
It can take some time to get into the habit, and the only way to do it is to do it. Since you have your mobile phone with you most of the day, make time slots when you log farm data.
Failure to log data as soon as possible can result to forgetting it altogether, in which case, you will be losing essential information.
If you have farm workers, you can ask them to write down activities in notebooks, which you can then refer to when making flock records. Doing so at least once a day ensures data accuracy. For instance, if you need to follow up with a farm worker and are doing so on the day of an activity, they are likely to remember it better than if you did so days later.
Add co-farmers to your farm
In most poultry operations, there is more than one co-farmer. Sometimes, you even have a farm manager. Since these people are involved in the daily management of your poultry farm, there is no need for you to overwhelm yourself with data keeping.
Add your co-farmers and farm manager to your farm to simplify record keeping. Furthermore, this will make data sharing and decision making easier and transparent because all of you have access to the current farm data.
Number your coops
Kukufarm structures your farm in coops. For those of use who do not know, a coop is a chicken house.
Numbering your coops is the foundation of good poultry record keeping. Irrespective of the number of people in your farm, when you say coop 1 or coop 4 needs cleaning, everyone understands exactly what you’re saying.
Similarly, if a farm worker reports that 4 chicken died in coop 3, or 45 trays of eggs were collected from coop 5 everyone knows exactly what flock is being referred to.
However, if you refer to your chicken houses for instance by by “the coop on the left side” or “the coop with the young chicken,” sooner than later you will find yourself getting mixed up. And the more people in your farm, the more confusion there will be.
Why do we insist that you number your coops? Because Kukufarm poultry app uses coop numbers to simplify poultry farm management. For example, from the flock name illustration above
- Flock identification – C2 to a flock in coop 2
- Breed / flock batch tracking: The number 3 refers to the 3rd batch of Kenbro in coop 2
- Later on after you’ve archived this flock, you will still be able to tell in which coop it was raised, among other things
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