Migrate your entire existing pigeon database from Excel or any spreadsheet with smart field mapping.
If you already manage your pigeons in Excel, Google Sheets, or any other tool, you don't need to re-enter everything manually. The CSV importer lets you upload your entire database at once, with automatic field detection for ring numbers, dates, sex, and more.
CSV import is available on the Premium plan. Free plan users can add pigeons manually or use the AI scanner (1 scan/month included).
Export your spreadsheet as a .csv file. The importer accepts UTF-8, Windows-1252, and Latin-1 encodings — so files saved directly from Excel work without any conversion.
Your CSV needs at minimum a ring number column. All other columns are optional but recommended:
| Column name | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|
ring_number | Required | e.g. NL 20-1739393 M |
name | Optional | Pigeon's given name |
sex | Optional | M / V, Male / Female, cock / hen, 1 (cock) / 0 (hen). Left empty, a ring ending in M or V is used. |
year or birth_date | Optional | Year (2020) or date (01/01/2020) |
breed | Optional | e.g. Racing Homer |
colour | Optional | e.g. Blue Bar |
father_ring | Optional | Ring number of father — auto-links if present |
mother_ring | Optional | Ring number of mother — auto-links if present |
status | Optional | active / sold / deceased / lost |
Example CSV content:
ring_number,name,sex,year,breed,colour,father_ring,mother_ring
NL 20-1739393 M,GABBAR,M,2020,Racing Homer,Blue Bar,NL 17-1115599 M,NL 15-1538924 V
NL 17-1115599 M,ERIK,M,2017,Racing Homer,Blue Bar,,
NL 15-1538924 V,MEALY 24,V,2015,Racing Homer,Mealy,,
NL 09-2010686 M,NICK,M,2009,Racing Homer,Blue Check,,Column names are flexible: The importer auto-detects common variations — ring, ringnumber, ring nr, name, pigeon_name all map correctly. You don't need to rename your columns.
In the sidebar, click My Pigeons, then click Import CSV at the top of the page. You can also download an example file there.
Choose your .csv file and click Upload and continue. Files up to 9 MB (and 20,000 rows) are supported — that's enough for thousands of pigeons.
The importer shows you how it has mapped your columns to database fields. Confirm or correct any mappings using the dropdown selectors. This step takes about 30 seconds.
A preview table shows the first 10 rows of your import. Check that ring numbers, names, and sex look correct; rows that will be skipped are marked in red. Then click Import.
After import, you'll see a summary: pigeons added, pigeons updated (if duplicates), parent links created, and any rows that were skipped with the reason. Download the report as CSV for your records.
If your CSV includes father_ring and mother_ring columns, the importer automatically links offspring to their parents — building your pedigree trees in bulk. Parents referenced in these columns will be created as placeholder pigeons if they don't already exist in your database.
Common with European Excel exports. The importer auto-detects the delimiter (comma, semicolon, or tab). If it doesn't detect correctly, save your file as CSV UTF-8 from Excel's "Save As" dialog and try again.
The importer handles DD/MM/YYYY, MM/DD/YYYY, YYYY-MM-DD, and year-only formats. If your dates show as wrong, go back to the column matching step and change Dates like 04/05/2020 mean to day-first (European) or month-first (US), then refresh the preview.
Rows are skipped if the ring number is empty, the ring number is a duplicate (existing pigeon with no changes), or the row contains invalid data. The import report shows exactly which rows were skipped and why.
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