Hatch Cards

We move a lot of eggs from our breeders to pumpers and I use "Hatch Cards" I make on the computer to keep track of everything.  You can use any business card program and just the cheapest card stock for this.  A blank card is filled out for every pair with the date they are paired.  Then I fill in the date of the first egg and then the date they hatch.  When the babies are banded I write down the band numbers.  And then the color when they are weaned.  Then when they are weaned I take the card to the computer and enter the birds.  The hatch card never leaves the eggs or babies.  If I move the eggs the card goes with them.  This system has worked wonderfully for me except one time.  I had a hen that always tried to steal hatch cards for nesting material.  She was quite proud of her custom nest of hatch cards.  Luckily the babies had been banded and the numbers were on the card so I could tell who was who.  And then there was the day Rosie ate a hatch card but that is another story.

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