Field guide · Chapter 3
Egg tracker spreadsheet — a free template
Two small CSV files and four formulas are the whole system: a daily egg log, a feed costs sheet, and the arithmetic for weekly totals, lay rate and cost per egg. No sign-up, no macros, no locked cells — it opens in Google Sheets, Numbers or Excel and it's yours.
Download the template
Both files are plain CSV — the least lock-in a spreadsheet can have.
To use in Google Sheets: File → Import → Upload, one tab per file. In Numbers or Excel: just open the files and save in the native format.
The columns, and why these ones
| Column | What goes in it | Why it earns its place |
|---|---|---|
| Date | One row per day, even zero days | Zero-egg days are data — they're how you spot the stop. See the troubleshooting guide. |
| Flock | Which coop or group | Lets one file follow two flocks without chaos. |
| Eggs collected | The day's whole-flock count | The one number you'll actually keep up with daily. |
| Hen (optional) | A name, when you saw who laid | Per-hen rows are occasional treasure, not homework — fill them when you know. |
| Notes | "soft shell", "found in hedge", "hawk" | Six months later, the notes column is the only one you'll reread. |
The four formulas
Written for Google Sheets; Numbers and Excel take the same functions. Assume the egg log is on a tab named Log with data from row 2, and costs on Costs.
- This week's eggs —
=SUMIFS(Log!C:C, Log!A:A, ">="&TODAY()-6, Log!A:A, "<="&TODAY()) - Lay rate (eggs per hen per day, for a 6-hen flock) —
=AVERAGEIF(Log!A:A, ">="&TODAY()-27, Log!C:C)/6 - Cost, last 30 days —
=SUMIFS(Costs!D:D, Costs!A:A, ">="&TODAY()-29) - Cost per egg — divide 3 by the same window's eggs:
=SUMIFS(Costs!D:D,Costs!A:A,">="&TODAY()-29) / SUMIFS(Log!C:C,Log!A:A,">="&TODAY()-29)
That last number is the honest one — most keepers guess low until they see it. If you want it without building anything, the cost per egg calculator runs the same arithmetic in the browser.
This template is EggBasket with the typing left in. The app is the same log — tap instead of type, per-hen when you want it, cost per egg always on screen, and CSV export back out any time.
Get the EggBasket appMaking the habit stick
Every abandoned egg spreadsheet died the same death: it lived on a computer and the eggs arrive at dusk in a coat pocket. Three fixes, in rising order of effectiveness. Keep the sheet open on your phone's home screen. Or batch-enter once a week from a notes app. Or accept that the friction is the product problem, which is the honest reason EggBasket exists — the log has to live where the eggs do, in a pocket, working offline.
Questions people ask
How do I track egg production?
Record one row per day with the date and the number of eggs collected, including zero days. Weekly totals and a per-hen-per-day lay rate fall out of two formulas. Add a costs sheet for feed and bedding and you can compute a true cost per egg over any 30-day window.
What should an egg tracking spreadsheet include?
Five columns cover it: date, flock, eggs collected, an optional hen name for the days you saw who laid, and free-text notes. Anything more becomes homework and kills the habit. The useful outputs — weekly total, lay rate, cost per egg — are formulas, not extra columns.
How do I calculate cost per egg in a spreadsheet?
Sum your feed and supply costs over the last 30 days, sum the eggs collected over the same 30 days, and divide the first by the second. Using a rolling window smooths out the fact that a feed bag is bought once but eaten over weeks.
Take the template. Or skip the typing.
The CSVs above are yours either way — EggBasket exports to exactly this shape, so nothing you type today is wasted if you switch later. See how EggBasket works.
