Tracking inventory

Inventory tells you what is on hand, what came in, what was used, and by whom - for feed, medications, eggs, chicks, and birds. It is shared by every vertical and keeps a running balance per site, so you always know when it is time to reorder.

Use Stock > On hand for current quantities. Open a row's movement totals to drill into the journal of receipts, uses, grading, and other changes. Item definitions, storage locations, and stock counts live under Setup.

Before you start

Make sure you have at least one site, and that your inventory items exist - a catalog row for each thing you stock, such as "Layer mash 18%" or "Newcastle vaccine". A manager sets these up; workers record movements against them.

Receive stock

When stock arrives, record it so the balance goes up.

1. Open Inventory and choose Receive.
2. Pick the item, enter the supplier reference, the quantity and unit, and the site (and house, if it matters). Cost is optional.
3. Submit.

The item's balance rises by what you received.

When a supplier delivery is also a Finance expense, use Record expense and choose Stocked Feed - cost when consumed instead of recording the receipt twice. PoultryDesk creates the Inventory receipt from that Expense and later recognizes Lot cost through Feed consumption. If a manager corrects that Feed Expense to the direct-cost path, PoultryDesk reverses the reproducible receipt and creates the Lot allocation together; a correction is blocked once later stock movement makes the receipt unsafe to reverse.

Use stock

Stock is drawn down in two ways:

• Automatically, as a side-effect of your daily work. When you record feed used on a lot, transfer chicks out of a hatchery lot, or administer a treatment, PoultryDesk deducts the matching item for you. You do not record it twice.
• Directly, when you issue stock outside those flows - open Inventory, choose Use, pick the item and quantity.

You cannot use more of an item than the balance holds - a usage that would push the balance negative is blocked.

Grade eggs

Egg collection adds each layer flock's eggs to its site's ungraded pool. When the eggs have been physically sorted:

1. Open the site's Eggs row under Stock > On hand, then choose Grade eggs.
2. Confirm the site and, when needed, choose the production system: organic, free-range, barn, deep litter, or cage.
3. Enter trays and loose eggs for each grade: small, medium, large, cracked, and dirty.
4. Review the split and submit.

The total cannot exceed the site's ungraded balance. Grading draws that balance down and adds the graded quantities to saleable stock. Eggs from different sites are never mixed. After saving, the site eggs page shows the full grade breakdown, withheld eggs, and recent movements.

Reconcile

Now and then the shelf and the ledger disagree - a spill, a miscount, a bag that walked off. Open the Variance view, and record the difference as an adjustment with a short note explaining it. The ledger and reality line up again, and the reason stays in the record.

Value the stock on hand

Under Stock, the Valuation tab is a point-in-time snapshot of everything currently on hand, priced at its weighted-average cost. It groups items by currency, ranks them by value, and shows how many items were valued and the total on-hand value. Items with no cost yet are listed separately so the priced total stays honest. Export the snapshot as a CSV when you need it for a stock take or a period close.

What you get

• A site ledger showing each item's current balance, its movement over the last seven days, and its last receipt date.
• One eggs row per site, with ungraded and graded stock expanded on the site eggs page.
• A valuation snapshot of on-hand stock at weighted-average cost, grouped by currency and exportable as a CSV.
• Per-lot consumption - total feed and medication used per lot, which feeds the FCR and cost figures.
• A full audit trail: every receipt and every use is attributable to a person and a device.

See also

• Health and withdrawals
• Raising broilers
• Recording sales and expenses