Keeping track of your birds

Keeping track of your birds is so important - especially when you have birds that can breed all year round like some finches. You need to know who are the parents and who are the young - because some birds look exactly the same once they have matured - you also need to know which young belongs to which parents, so that if you are breeding with the young you don't have directly related bloodlines - this is always something you avoid if you can so that you don't end up with genetic problems.  So, you need to develop a way to be able to easily see which birds are which, and who is related to whom.
Birdman Dad uses leg rings for his finches and he speaks about why he uses them in today's podcast.
Once you decide how you are going to know which bird is which you really need to develop some method to keep a record of your system. Some bird clubs suggest certain computer programs, where the user buys a software, loads it onto a computer and enters the required data about the birds, keeping track by adding young bird data as the birds breed; other people prefer to use their smart phone, using bird breeding apps - like birdBreeder  - this is currently an iphone/ipad app; you pay a set price and then download the software onto your device; this app allows you to enter data about your birds and stores it onto your iphone/ipad. As with the computer software, you need to enter the data specific about your birds and their young - ring numbers/colours/species.  There are also many bird breeding journals available - booklets that you write into and keep track of bird species/rings/colours etc.
Birdman Dad prefers the "old fashioned" write it down in a book/diary method. He has used the journal/booklets in the past but now days uses a hard cover ruled journal to write his bird's details into - partly because he is not a big fan of computers and secondly because our internet is very hit and miss and you can't always access your bird data, let alone downloading a program onto a device!  That may change in the future but for now he is sticking with good old pen and paper!
Birdman Dad would love to hear how other bird keepers are keeping track of their birds and which software or apps (if you are using those) are most effective and good return on your money.  If you have a comment on this topic please contact Birdman Dad - email:[email protected]; instagram: birdman_dad or You Tube: BIrdmanDad. Looking forward to your suggestions and comments!