Inventory

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The Inventory module helps you control aviary products: medication, food, supplements, hygiene and equipment. You record each purchase with what each container holds and how much is left, its price, where you bought it and its expiry date, and the app warns you in advance before something expires or when stock drops below the minimum you set.

It is an optional module: turn it on only if you want to keep this kind of control.

Enable the module

Go to Settings → Modules.
Turn on Inventory.
Open Inventory from the side menu.

If you turn it off later, nothing is deleted: products and purchases are kept and reappear when you turn the module on again. Expiry reminders are paused while the module is off.

Create a product

Tap Add product and fill in the record, all on one screen:

Product name (for example, Vitamins AD3E or Breeding mix).
Category: Medication, Food, Supplements, Hygiene and disinfection, Equipment or Other.
Container: what each container holds, with the unit right next to the number. For a 30 ml bottle, for example, type 30 and pick ml in the selector. The units are units, grams, kilograms, millilitres, litres or the imperial units lb, oz, fl oz and gal.
Number of containers, Already opened and Expiry date, just as when you log a purchase (explained below).

Folded away under More details you will find Minimum stock (alert), if you want the app to warn you when you are running low (explained below); Usual supplier; the Price per container and Place of purchase; and Notes.

If you fill in the container, the product starts out with its first purchase already logged, following the same rules as Log purchase. If you leave it empty, the product starts out with no stock, in the unit you chose, and you log purchases later from its record.

To change the name, category, unit or anything under More details, open the product's record and tap Edit product. The container does not appear there: you change the unit with its selector, and quantities are recorded with each purchase. Changing the unit does not convert the quantities you have already noted.

Log a purchase

Every time you buy a product, open its record and tap Log purchase. You can record:

the container size, in the product's unit (for example, 30 ml);
how many identical containers you bought (one to begin with);
whether it is already opened and the amount left;
the price per container (the app works out the purchase total);
the place of purchase;
the purchase date;
the expiry date of those containers (you can leave it empty if the product does not expire, such as equipment).

The size of a container and what is left in it are two different things. If you log a 30 ml bottle you have already opened and 25 ml are left, type 30 in Container size, tick Already opened and enter 25 in Amount left: in the record you will see the batch as 25 / 30 ml. The amount left cannot be more than the container size.

Each container is saved as a batch. If you buy three identical bottles, enter 3 in Number of containers: you will have three batches with the same purchase date, the same expiry date and the same place. If you tick Already opened, only the first one counts as opened; the rest are full. The price you type is for each container: with several, you will see the purchase total underneath, which is what gets recorded as an expense if you use Finances.

Each purchase keeps its own expiry date. If you buy the same product twice, you will have two batches with two different dates, and the app always shows you the nearest expiry that still has stock. The product's total stock is the sum of all its purchases.

If you find an already expired package while cataloguing the aviary, you can log it too: the app accepts past expiry dates so that the inventory reflects reality.

Consume stock

When you use up some product, open its record and tap Use. Enter the quantity and the app deducts it automatically from the batch that expires first, which is the one you should use first anyway. That way stock and expiry dates stay up to date without you having to pick batch by batch.

If you try to use more than you have, the app warns you that there is not enough stock.

Minimum stock: get a warning when you are running low

Besides keeping an eye on expiry dates, the app can keep an eye on quantities. In the product record you can fill in the Minimum stock (alert) field: the threshold below which you want to know it is time to restock.

For example, if you need at least 20 ml of your vitamins to complete a course, set 20 as the minimum stock. From then on:

when stock is at 20 ml or less, the product shows the Low stock label in the list and in its record;
if a consumption crosses the threshold (for example, you go from 25 ml to 18 ml), the app warns you right away, so you can note down the purchase before you run out.

The field is optional: if you leave it empty, the product does not create stock alerts. A useful trick is to set as the minimum what you use in a week or in a full course of treatment; that way you always have room to restock without running down to zero.

Expiry dates and reminders

The Inventory list shows each product with its stock and its nearest expiry, with a colour indicator:

Red: the product has an expired batch.
Amber: a batch is about to expire.

On top of the colour indicator, the app schedules expiry reminders:

one in advance, with a configurable lead time (30 days before by default; you can set it between 7 and 90 days from the icon in the Inventory top bar, under Expiry alert lead time);
a second one on the expiry day itself.

Reminders are cancelled automatically when you use up the batch, delete it, archive the product or disable the module. To receive them, the app's notifications must be allowed; the colour indicator in the list always works, even if notifications are turned off.

The expiry day of each batch with stock also appears as an event in the app's Calendar (brown dot) and in the notification history; tapping it opens the product record. If you have Google Calendar sync turned on with the Expiry category selected, those expiry dates are also created in your Google calendar.

The “Expiry alerts” card on Home

With the module active, the Home screen shows the Expiry alerts card, with the number of products that have expired or are about to. Tapping it opens Inventory directly.

It is the quickest way not to forget about the pantry and the medicine cabinet: as soon as you open the app, if the card shows something, you know there are packages to check, restock or throw away.

Deduct stock when you log a treatment

Inventory also works hand in hand with the Health section. When you create a treatment (with the Inventory module active and at least one product in stock), the form includes the Deduct from inventory drop-down:

Choose the product you are going to use, for example your antibiotic or the vitamins.
Enter the quantity you use, in the product's unit (ml, g, units…).
When you save the treatment, that quantity is deducted automatically from stock, starting with the batch that expires first, just as if you had used the Use button.

So logging the treatment and updating the medicine cabinet is a single step: if you treat a cage with 5 ml of vitamins, those 5 ml disappear from the inventory with no extra steps. If you do not want to deduct anything, leave Don't deduct selected.

Items in feeding plans

With the Feeding module, each ingredient of a plan can be linked to an Inventory item: with Choose from inventory you pick one you already added or, if it does not exist yet, create it from the same sheet with the name already filled in. The plan then shows its stock and expiry, and the Pantry card in the Feeding tab tells you what expires soon or is running low. Linking or creating an item from a plan does not log any purchase or record any expense (which is why that form does not ask for the container), and the plan does not deduct stock: purchases are logged here, with Log purchase, and what you use, with Use.

Integration with Income & Expenses

If you have the Income & Expenses module turned on, logging a purchase with a price above 0 shows the Create expense in Finances checkbox, already ticked. It also appears when you add a product with its container, if you type the price under More details.

If you leave it ticked, the app automatically creates the expense with the amount, date and description of the purchase, in the Inventory category. Even if the purchase has several containers, there is a single expense for the total. That way you do not have to note the movement twice. If you do not want the expense, untick it. With Income & Expenses off or without a price, the checkbox does not appear and the purchase records no expense.

Search, sort and archive

Use the search and the category chips to find products quickly.
The list is sorted by nearest expiry by default, so that whatever is urgent stays at the top.
When you stop using a product, you can archive it: it disappears from the usual list (turn on Show archived to see it) and its expiry reminders are cancelled. You can unarchive it whenever you like.
Delete product permanently deletes the product and all its purchases. If you only want to put it aside, archiving is better.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to log all my old purchases? No. You can start by logging one purchase per product with the container you have now and its expiry date (if it is already open, tick Already opened and note how much is left), and from then on note down new purchases.

Where do I note the ml in my bottle? In Container, when you add the product, or in Container size, when you log a purchase. The product's Unit of measure only says what it is counted in (ml, g, units…); what each container holds and how much is left are recorded with each purchase.

What about products that do not expire? Leave the expiry date empty. The product shows as “No expiry” and creates no reminders.

Is the inventory included in backups? Yes. Products, purchases and the module settings are saved in backups, like the rest of your data. In addition, the Export aviary (CSV) and Export aviary (Excel) exports on the Backup screen also include the products and their purchases, which are restored when you import the file. You have more details in Imports and exports.

Do the reminders work if I close the app? Yes, they are phone notifications. You only need Mis Plumas notifications to be allowed in the system.

I turned the module off and I cannot see Inventory. That is expected: turning it off hides it from the side menu, but the data is kept. Turn it on again in Settings → Modules to see it again.