Comparison

Chookbook vs Backyard Chicken Keeper

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Chookbook

Manage your backyard chickens with this dedicated app. Track daily activities, health, and flock information. Designed by a chicken keeper for fellow enthusiasts.

Highlights
  • Daily management tracking
  • Flock information logging
  • Designed by a chicken keeper
  • For backyard chicken enthusiasts
Read full description

This app was designed and developed by a real backyard chicken keeper to help the daily management and tacking all about your chooks and now available to other keepers out there.

About

Backyard Chicken Keeper

This app helps backyard chicken keepers manage their flocks. Track egg production, monitor individual bird health, and log incubation progress. It also includes a breed database and expense tracking to understand the true cost of your eggs.

Highlights
  • Daily egg logging
  • Individual bird health tracking
  • Incubation progress monitoring
  • Breed database
  • Expense tracking
  • Seasonal care guide
Features
Read full description

Coop is the backyard chicken keeper's complete companion - track daily egg production, manage flock health, and discover which hen is your best layer. Log eggs in seconds each morning, monitor health events with a built-in conditions reference, and track incubation day by day. The breed database covers 60+ popular breeds with laying rates, temperament, and climate hardiness. Expense tracking reveals the true cost of your eggs (brace yourself). Whether you have 4 hens or 40, Coop turns your flock into a well-managed, data-backed operation. EGG TRACKING Log your daily egg count in under 10 seconds - the fastest morning ritual in the coop. Tap the +/- counter, done. Track individual hens in detailed mode, log egg colors from your mixed-breed flock, and view a calendar heatmap of your production history. Monthly totals, weekly averages, and laying rate trends reveal patterns you never noticed before. FLOCK MANAGEMENT Every bird in your flock, individually profiled. Add photos, track breeds from a library of 60+ varieties, log personality notes, and monitor each hen's status - laying, molting, broody, or sick. Bird profiles feel like character pages, because your hens have characters. HEALTH TRACKING Log health events with severity levels, symptom checklists, treatment notes, and follow-up reminders. The built-in conditions reference covers respiratory illness, digestive problems, egg issues, parasites, and injuries - searchable by symptom. When something's wrong with a bird, answers are one tap away. INCUBATION TRACKER Set eggs on day 0 and let Coop guide you through candling days, lockdown, and hatch day. Milestone notifications fire automatically - you will never miss the day 18 lockdown. Track fertility rates and hatch results. BREED DATABASE Explore 60+ popular breeds with laying rates, egg color, temperament, cold hardiness, broodiness, and care notes. Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington, Easter Egger, Silkie, ISA Brown, Australorp, and dozens more. Free tier includes 15 breeds. EXPENSE TRACKING (PRO) The true cost of eggs calculator is Coop's most talked-about feature. Log every bag of feed, vet bill, and equipment purchase. Coop divides total expenses by total eggs and tells you exactly what your eggs cost per dozen. The number is usually surprising. Chicken keepers love it anyway. SEASONAL CARE GUIDE Hemisphere-aware seasonal tips update automatically throughout the year - spring broodiness checks, summer heat stress protocols, fall molting guidance, winter frostbite prevention. The app feels alive because it knows what month it is. AI FLOCK ASSISTANT (PRO) Ask anything about your flock and get actionable answers with your birds' history as context. "My hen has a swollen crop that smells sour - what do I do?" or "Goldie stopped laying 5 days ago - what could it be?" Powered by Grok. FREE TIER INCLUDES: - Up to 6 birds - Daily egg logging - Up to 10 health events - 15 breeds in the database - Conditions reference - Seasonal care guide - 1 incubation batch COOP PRO UNLOCKS: - Unlimited birds - Unlimited health events - Full breed database (60+ breeds) - Per-bird egg logging - Expense tracking & cost-per-egg calculator - AI Flock Assistant (Grok-powered) - Export your data (CSV) - Unlimited incubation batches Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Chookbook4 screens
Backyard Chicken Keeper4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Backyard Chicken Keeper at 5.0 against Chookbook's 3.8. Backyard Chicken Keeper also leads on update cadence (every 6 weeks vs every 5 months). Chookbook's advantage is ratings volume (9 vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Backyard Chicken Keeper holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 3.8. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Chookbook has 9 ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Chookbook ships an update every 5 months, Backyard Chicken Keeper every 6 weeks. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard5 real differences · 5 level
Chookbook versus Backyard Chicken Keeper: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterChookbookBackyard Chicken Keeper
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.8 (9 ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews80.0% of reviews—
Number of ratings9 — better1
Update frequencyEvery 5 monthsEvery 6 weeks — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreeFree
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS8.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size48 MB8 MB
Age rating4++4
DeveloperGustavo Costa de OliveiraKarol Jaworski

Customer experience

Chookbook

All ratings7 ratings
Positive71.4%
Neutral0.0%
Negative28.6%
Written reviews10 reviews
Positive80.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative20.0%

Backyard Chicken Keeper

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

In-app purchases

None

Chookbook

No in-app purchases

None

Backyard Chicken Keeper

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Chookbook free?
Chookbook is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Backyard Chicken Keeper free?
Backyard Chicken Keeper is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Chookbook or Backyard Chicken Keeper?
Backyard Chicken Keeper is rated higher. Chookbook averages 3.8 out of 5 from 9 ratings, while Backyard Chicken Keeper averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Chookbook or Backyard Chicken Keeper have ads?
Neither Chookbook nor Backyard Chicken Keeper shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Chookbook or Backyard Chicken Keeper?
Chookbook ships an update every 5 months, and Backyard Chicken Keeper every 6 weeks. Most recently, Chookbook was updated on November 3, 2026 and Backyard Chicken Keeper on October 31, 2026.

Other comparisons