The Best Apps for Poultry Show Records in 2027
Coop Companion ·
Answer in 30 seconds
Key takeaways
- Most farm and flock apps track eggs, hatches and health. Only a few have anywhere to record a show placing. Check for a real show log before you pay.
- Coop Companion (our app) syncs a show log of entries, placings and points you type in, totals them per bird, and shows placings on the bird's public pedigree page. It doesn't compute APA points, and it doesn't total by season or variety yet.
- BroodBook is a pay-what-you-want browser app with show history and judging notes. Your data stays on your device, so backups are your job.
- Flockstar is a mature breeding app with pedigrees and certificates, and its pricing page lists no show log. FarmKeep is multi-species with team accounts and youth-project record keeping. ShowBarn is built for 4-H/FFA livestock projects.
- Official points come from the joint APA/ABA show report that show staff file after a sanctioned show, not from any app. Your own record is how you catch a win that never got counted.
What a show record app actually needs to do
A show record is not a flock journal. If an app is going to replace the shoebox of coop cards and the notebook in the truck, it has to hold a few specific things. It needs the show itself: name, date, location and whether it was APA-sanctioned, ABA-sanctioned or both. It needs each entry: which bird, its class and variety, and its sex as the show lists it (cock, hen, cockerel or pullet). And it needs the result: the placing, any higher awards (Best of Variety, Best of Breed, a class champion or reserve), and the judge's remarks while you still remember them.
Then come the parts that separate a record from a list. Points have to be totaled in a way that matches how titles are earned. The APA's Grand Master Exhibitor title is counted in one variety of one breed, while Master Exhibitor and Hall of Fame count all your points, so a good record can total by variety as well as by bird. The inputs behind the points matter too. The joint APA/ABA show report counts the number of birds actually judged, not entered, so a careful exhibitor writes down the class size along with the placing. Finally, the record should link to the bird's pedigree. A winning cockerel is worth more as a breeder, and as a sale bird, when his placings sit next to his sire and dam.
Very few products do all of that. In practice, most exhibitors combine a partial app, a spreadsheet and the organization's own published tallies. The real question is which tool covers the most of your list with the least retyping.
Disclosure: we make Coop Companion. Here's how we evaluated
This page is published by Coop Companion, which is one of the apps compared here. Factor that into how much weight you give our pick. To keep it fair, we judged each tool on one question: can an exhibitor record a show placing in it, and what happens to that record afterward? We read each competitor's own website, pricing page or app store listing in October 2026 and describe only what those pages state. If a vendor page doesn't mention a feature, we say it isn't listed. We don't say it's impossible.
We didn't rank by a single score, because the right tool depends on what you need. A bantam breeder with eight pens, a 4-H family with three project birds and a homesteader who shows twice a year need different things. Each app below is labeled with what it's best for, and we're as specific about our own limits as about anyone else's. Features and prices change, so check the vendor's page before you buy.
At a glance (verified October 2026)
Coop Companion. Web app, installable on a phone. Cloud-synced. Show log: yes. You enter the show, entries, placings and points, and it totals the points per bird. Pedigree: yes, with public pedigree pages that list placings. Free tier: yes, but the show log is on the paid Show plan. Price: Show plan $8/mo or $69/yr. Breeder plan $6/mo or $49/yr, with no show log.
BroodBook. Browser (HTML5) app. Data stays on your device, and you back it up and restore it yourself. Show log: show history and judging notes. Points totals: not listed. Pedigree: yes, with family trees and inbreeding warnings. Price: free to try, pay what you want.
Flockstar. Web, iOS and Android, with cloud backup and sync. Show log: not listed. Pedigree: yes, including lineage and certificates on the Breeder plan. Free tier: no, only a one-week trial. Price: Keeper $49.99/yr, Breeder $79.99/yr.
FarmKeep. iOS, Android and web, with team accounts. Show log: no placings or points log listed (it markets 4-H and FFA project record keeping with show prep). Breeding groups and incubation reminders: yes. Free tier: Basic, which covers 1 farm and 3 active breeding groups. Price: Premium $9.99/mo, or $95.99/yr billed annually.
ShowBarn. iPhone and iPad (per its App Store listing). It's a 4-H/FFA livestock project manager. Chickens and turkeys appear in its species list. Weights, feed, health records, expenses and show events: yes. Placings and points log: not described on its App Store listing. Free tier: up to 3 project animals. Pro: paid in-app subscription.
A spreadsheet. Any device, synced if it lives in Google Sheets or similar cloud storage. Show log: whatever columns you build. Points totals: formulas you write. Price: free.
Coop Companion: best for a synced show log tied to pedigrees and sales
Coop Companion is built for breeders and exhibitors. On the Show plan you create each show with its date, location and sanction (APA, ABA, both or none). Then you add entries for your birds with the class, variety, placing and the points you earned. A Points by bird view totals those points across every show you've logged. Because shows hang off the same bird records as your pens, pedigrees and sales ledger, a win is attached to the bird's sire and dam. It also appears on that bird's public pedigree page, which you can link from a sale listing. Records sync to your account, so a result entered on a phone at the show is there on the laptop at home.
Here are the limits, stated plainly. Points are entered by you. Coop Companion adds up the numbers you type. It doesn't calculate them from the APA point table, and it doesn't pull from official APA or ABA records. Today it totals per bird across all shows. It doesn't yet break totals out by season or by variety, so if you're tracking Grand Master progress in one variety you can record the variety on each entry, but you'll have to tally that variety yourself for now. There's no field yet for the number of birds judged in the class (put it in the entry notes), and no separate counter for ABA starred wins. The show log is on the Show plan ($8/mo or $69/yr). The free tier covers hatching, the roster, the egg log and the 4-H export, but not show entries.
Best for: exhibitors who also breed and sell, and who want their placings, pedigrees and sales records in one synced place instead of three.
BroodBook: best free, local-only option with show history
BroodBook is a browser-based HTML5 app on itch.io that you can try free and pay what you want for. Its feature list covers more than its price suggests: bird profiles, interactive family trees, breeding records with inbreeding warnings, egg and hatch management that links chicks to their parents, health records, a financial ledger, and show history and judging notes. It's the closest thing to a show-aware app in the free category.
The trade-off is where the data lives. BroodBook's page says your data stays on your device and that you decide when to back it up or restore it. There's no account and no cloud sync. That's great for privacy and ownership. It also means a cleared browser, a lost phone or a new laptop can take your show history with it unless you've exported a backup. Its listing doesn't mention points totals.
Best for: a single-device keeper who wants show notes and pedigrees for free, and who will be disciplined about backups.
Flockstar: best mature breeding app (no show log listed)
Flockstar is an established flock app on web, iOS and Android, with cloud backup and sync across devices. Its Breeder plan ($79.99/yr) covers hatching runs with eggs from multiple sources, fertility and hatch rates by source, candling, lockdown and hatch-day reminders, and lineage, pedigrees and certificates. The Keeper plan ($49.99/yr) covers flocks, egg production, tasks, expenses and income, and weight tracking. There's no free tier, just a one-week trial.
For a show record, the important point is that Flockstar's pricing page doesn't list show entries, placings or points. You can keep notes on a bird, but there's no built-in place to log a placing or total points. If breeding is the whole job and you track shows somewhere else, it's a solid, mature choice. Our side-by-side comparison has the details.
Best for: breeders who want a well-established breeding and pedigree app with certificates, and who keep show results elsewhere.
FarmKeep: best for multi-species farms and teams
FarmKeep is a general farm management app for iOS and Android that covers more than 1,200 species and breeds. It works out gestation and incubation periods for you and sends milestone reminders. It tracks production (eggs, milk, wool and more), handles farm accounting, and lets you invite family or farm hands with different access levels. The free Basic plan covers one farm and three active breeding groups. Premium is $9.99/mo, or $95.99/yr billed annually, and adds multiple farms, unlimited breeding groups, and unlimited admin, staff and guest users.
FarmKeep does market 4-H and FFA project versions with record keeping and show prep, but its site and pricing page don't describe a log of show placings or points. It's a strong fit if poultry is one part of a farm that also runs goats, sheep or rabbits and several people log chores. It's less of a fit if your main reason for record-keeping is the show season.
Best for: mixed farms with several people logging, where show records are secondary.
ShowBarn: for 4-H and FFA livestock families
ShowBarn describes itself as a livestock project manager for 4-H and FFA exhibitors and families. Its species list includes chickens and turkeys alongside cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, horses and rabbits. Its strengths are the things a market-animal project needs: weights with gain calculations, feed schedules, health records, an expense tracker per project, and sharing a project with family, an ag teacher or a show team. It also lets you look up and create livestock show events. The free plan covers up to three project animals, and a paid Pro plan adds unlimited animals and team features.
Its App Store listing describes show events and checklists. It doesn't describe a log of poultry placings or points. For a 4-H family showing a market pen alongside other species, it's worth a look. For a breeder chasing APA or ABA titles across a season, it isn't built for that.
Best for: 4-H and FFA families running several livestock projects, especially market animals, where weights, feed and expenses matter more than a points tally.
A spreadsheet: when DIY is enough
Plenty of serious exhibitors still use a spreadsheet, and for good reason. It costs nothing and it's entirely yours, and you can add exactly the columns you care about: show, date, sanction, meet level, bird band, breed, variety, sex, class size, placing, award, judge, remarks and points. A filter by variety gives you a Grand Master tally. A filter by year gives you a season summary.
The costs show up later. You maintain the layout yourself, every season's tab has to be set up again, and notes scribbled at the show only count once someone types them in. A spreadsheet also doesn't link to pedigrees or sales unless you build that yourself. If you show a handful of times a year and don't sell birds, a well-kept sheet is plenty. Our spreadsheet-vs-app comparison covers where the break-even point usually falls.
Best for: low-volume exhibitors who want zero cost and full control, and who will keep it up to date.
How official APA and ABA points actually get recorded
No app is the official record. After a sanctioned show, the show's staff fill in the joint APA/ABA show report and mail or email it to the APA, which shares the data with the ABA. It lists the class and division champions, the reserves, and the number of birds in each class. The report instructions are explicit that the numbers are for birds actually judged, not birds entered, because the count determines points and starred wins. The report is due within 30 days. A club that hasn't filed within 90 days loses its APA sanction for a year, and a report not received within six months of the show will not be processed. The APA/ABA office determines each exhibitor's membership status when points and starred wins are allocated.
The two organizations keep different scoreboards. The APA awards points based on meet level and award level, with minimum bird counts for class points. Its titles are Master Exhibitor at 300 points, Grand Master Exhibitor at 200 points in one variety of one breed, and Hall of Fame at 1,000 points. The APA also says the exhibitor must enter under the exact name on its membership list, and that a lapsed membership loses the points earned. The ABA counts starred wins, meaning best or reserve in a class of 100 or more birds. Twenty of them, over any number of years, makes an ABA Master Exhibitor. ABA wins move to inactive status if your dues lapse.
That's why your own record matters. The ABA's starred-wins page says the files are being loaded individually as an ongoing process, and it asks members to email if they don't see theirs listed. A dated record of every placing and class size, kept by you, is how you spot a show report that never arrived or a win entered under the wrong name. Breed clubs often run separate points programs with their own rules, so check with your club as well.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there an app that calculates APA points for you?
- Not that we found. Official APA points are allocated by the APA from the show report that show management sends in, using the APA's published point table. Apps such as Coop Companion total the points you enter. They don't compute or verify official points. Check your standing against the APA's published records.
- Can I track Grand Master progress per variety in an app?
- The APA counts Grand Master Exhibitor as 200 points in one variety of one breed, so you need totals by variety. Coop Companion stores the variety on each entry but currently totals points per bird, not per variety, so you'd tally a variety yourself for now. A spreadsheet filtered by breed and variety does this well.
- What's the best free app for poultry show records?
- BroodBook is the strongest free option we found with show-specific fields. It records show history and judging notes and is pay-what-you-want, but data is stored on your device, so back it up regularly. A spreadsheet is the other free route. Coop Companion's free tier covers hatching and the roster, but its show log is on the paid Show plan.
- Does Flockstar track show results?
- Its pricing page (checked October 2026) lists breeding, hatching, lineage, pedigrees and certificates, but no show entries, placings or points. You could keep notes on a bird, but there's no dedicated show log.
- What should I record after every poultry show?
- Record the show name, date and sanction (APA, ABA or both), plus the APA meet level (annual, district, state or club), since it changes the points. For each bird, note its band, breed, variety and sex (cock, hen, cockerel or pullet), the number of birds judged in its class, its placing and any higher award, the judge, the remarks, and the points you expect. Keep the coop card or a photo of it.
- Do my points count if my membership lapses?
- The APA says exhibitors lose the points they earned if their APA membership lapses. The ABA says wins are transferred to inactive status if dues lapse, and it asks members who want to restore dormant wins to contact the ABA office. Renew before show season.
Sources
- APA Points System (point values, Master, Grand Master and Hall of Fame thresholds) — American Poultry Association (APA)
- Joint APA/ABA Show Report instructions (birds judged vs entered, filing deadlines) — American Bantam Association / American Poultry Association (Official / government)
- Master Exhibitor (starred wins definition and requirement) — American Bantam Association (Official / government)
- Starred Wins (how wins are published, what to do if one is missing) — American Bantam Association (Official / government)
- Flockstar pricing (Keeper and Breeder plans) — Flockstar (Reference)
- BroodBook (itch.io listing) — BroodBook (Reference)
- FarmKeep (features, 4-H and FFA project apps) — FarmKeep (Reference)
- FarmKeep pricing — FarmKeep (Reference)
- ShowBarn: Livestock Manager (App Store listing) — Apple App Store (Reference)
Related
- Coop Companion for show breedersThe show log, pedigrees and sales in one place
- APA & ABA Grand Master points, explainedHow exhibitor titles are earned
- How to keep a poultry show recordWhat to write down after every show
- Coop Companion vs FlockstarBreeding app vs breeding plus show log
- Coop Companion vs BroodBookSynced vs local-only records
- Coop Companion vs FarmKeepPoultry-specific vs multi-species
- Spreadsheet vs app for poultry recordsWhen DIY is enough
- PricingFree, Breeder and Show plans