BREEDING RECORDS
BY DAVID ALLEN
Keeping Breeding Records is an essential part of breeding any variety of birds. because with out accurate records you can't tell where a certain bird was bred from and what it is related to.
To me they nothing more important that keeping good breeding records. With every thing today this can be done by using your computer. I have been using my own computer to keep my breeding records for a number of years. But I wanted some software to help with this. But there was none, Then I came across an advert in a pigeon racing magazine for some software call LMS.
Loft Management System. So I ordered a copy to see if I could adapted it for my Lizard Canaries. . At that time there was no software designed for cagebirds. This soft is sold by East Coast Software. I was so please when it arrived I could use it for my canaries making a few changes it worked fine.
I modified the programme changing the programme fields to fit my type of canaries. With a few modifications it works really well.
it details all my birds given perentage of each bird and a pedigree for each bird can be also produced. When loading the program initially you, have to enter every bird you have it your birdroom
and any birds that they were bred from enable to give you a accurate pedigrees and records. the parents of each must be entered, to produced a pedigree or family tree
It also has a breeding record field where you can enter all the information you would want, i.e. date egg laid,hatched ,ring no
It did take me several hours to load on all my old data.
I record all my bird I have at the start of the season and list the pairs I am putting together. Each pair has a number which corresponds to the cage number the pair occupies. To make sure I miss no information I have a paper breeding register in the birdroom. Every little point is noted in this book and the data from this can then be transferred every day or so to the computer programme, LMS.
Some thing I am great advocate of is close ringing, because this gives you a pemanent record of each individual bird. It also can give you the year the bird was bred and makes it much easier to trace back I use closed rings from my specialist club, which keep records of all the ring they issue and to whom. So if birds did ever come in to The wrong hands they can be traced back.
This doesn't mean every bird has to be rung. But if you choose to show your birds you should close ring, in my opinion.
The software I use can also have photo's of your bird imported into it. the pedigrees can be printed & include the birds photo in it.
At the end of the season a print out can be made of the seasons breeding records, so you have a paper copy.
the LMS software also incorporates a dairy and reminder section, which can be used for entering show dates and when the entries need to be posted by. I find this software very useful when looking at which birds to put together for the next season, as I can look at the birds pedigree and see if the would be compatible for my line breeding program then I will look at them visually in the birdroom.
East coast software have now developed a system for Cage Birds called C.B.S. yes you have got it Cage Bird System.
Which has been designed especially for cage birds and can be used for any variety of Cage Bird as the fields are not pre-set as they were in the LMS version when I received it.
www.eastcoastsoftware.co.uk
Below is my review of the CBS system:---
SOFTWARE REVIEW.----CBS
--- CAGE BIRD SYSTEM---- by EAST COAST SOFTWARE
I wrote an article recsently on Keeping records and about a software program I use for it. Well the same company EASTCOAST software have developed a system now for cage birds in this review I will explain the system & how it
works and point out what it can be use for.
The software has 3 fieds which can be used in different ways.
the 1st is bird details in this field you enter the ring no coluor & sex of the bird also the strain,. explainaton:- if you breed the bird it is your strain you put your own name, if it was from someone eles you can put there names. These fields have to be programed when you first get the software.
This section will also give perant of the bird as long as they are on this data as well. so it is best to enter all the birds you have records for and what they were breed from. At the bottom of this window you will see oppsition. find/add/edit these three oppostion allow you to find, add a bird or edit an existing bird. There is pedigree box if you click on this it will show a pedigree for the bird highlighted in the main window, which will show all it's parentage [providing they have been enter into the data base of the program.]
Show results this when clicked on will show the result of the highlighted bird, and the final box is for photo.
You can download photo into this from disc, camrea or from an existing file into this window.
the 2nd section is the breeding section. Which allows you to pair birds using the birds from the first data, you can then enter all the eggs laid,hatched details & ring numbers of chicks. there is also a space for any comments.
I think this Software programe is very good and useful for all types of birdkeeper.
You can download a demo copy from there website:-- www.eastcoastsotfware.co.uk
