Compute weekly and annual vial throughput plus food consumption for a Drosophila stock collection. Temperature-aware flip presets and 12-week schedule preview.
Try it out
Load example drosophila vial census planner data to see the full workflow
Standard: 2 active + 1 backup = 3 vials per flip.
Active genetics work; flip every 2 weeks.
| Week | Vials this week |
|---|---|
| 1 | 75 |
| 2 | 75 |
| 3 | 75 |
| 4 | 75 |
| 5 | 75 |
| 6 | 75 |
| 7 | 75 |
| 8 | 75 |
| 9 | 75 |
| 10 | 75 |
| 11 | 75 |
| 12 | 75 |
When to use
Do not use for
New labs sometimes save by skipping the backup. The first stock crash erases that savings and several months of work. The default is 3 (2 active + 1 backup) for a reason.
Halving the flip frequency halves your food cost and reduces genetic drift. Move active genetics work back to 25 °C only when needed.
A 75-vials-per-week throughput becomes 25 vials/day if split across 3 collection days. Easier to manage and protects against single-day food failures.
Pre-cooked vials store at 4 °C for 2 weeks without losing nutritional quality. Plan a single large cook to match a 2-week vial supply.
Steady-state weekly vial throughput = lines vials_per_line_per_flip / flip_interval_weeks. Annual throughput = weekly 52. Food volume = throughput vial_volume. The 12-week schedule preview assumes a continuous flip schedule (each line is flipped on its own cadence).
Last validated 2026-04-06. Calculations are designed for planning and documentation support; verify procurement decisions against manufacturer specifications or institutional SOPs.
ConductScience Drosophila Vial Census Planner (v0.94.0). ConductScience, Inc. 2026. Available at: https://conductscience.com/tools/drosophila-vial-census-planner
Greenspan RJ. Fly Pushing: The Theory and Practice of Drosophila Genetics. 2nd ed. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; 2004.
Bloomington Drosophila Stock Center. Stock maintenance protocols. https://bdsc.indiana.edu/information/recipes/bloomfood.html
Drosophila stock collections grow surprisingly fast. A starting lab with 50 lines, flipped every 2 weeks at 25 °C with 3 vials per flip, makes 75 vials per week — about 3,900 vials per year, requiring 39 L of food. A medium-sized fly lab with 500 lines easily exceeds 39,000 vials per year.
Number of lines: every fly stock you maintain. Includes balanced stocks, GAL4/UAS reporter lines, mutant alleles, and any stable transgenic strains.
Vials per line per flip: the number of fresh vials you make at each flip. Standard practice is 2 active + 1 backup = 3 vials.
Flip interval: how often you transfer flies to fresh vials. Driven by rearing temperature and the time it takes for vials to get over-crowded or run out of food.
Weekly vial throughput = lines vials_per_flip / flip_interval_weeks. The calculator multiplies this by 52 to give the annual figure and by your vial volume to give the food requirement.
The biggest reliability gain in any fly lab is a clean stock-flipping schedule.
Don't flip the entire stock collection on the same day. Split into 2–3 groups (Mon/Wed/Fri or Tue/Thu) so the workload is even and a single bad food batch doesn't take down everything.
2 active vials + 1 backup is the standard. The backup goes on a separate rack and gets flipped on the same schedule but is never used for experiments. This is your insurance against a contamination event or a bad food batch.
A vial that produces no progeny is a stock crash. Catch it within 1–2 flip cycles by checking the previous vial before discarding. ConductColony automates this check; manual labs use a sticky note or a label color code.
Stocks that aren't in active use should live at 18 °C. The slower turnover halves your food consumption and reduces chronic genetic drift from selection pressure.
Tracks every fly stock with a per-line flip schedule, automated food prep alerts, and cohort-level health monitoring.
Open app EquipmentPolystyrene vials, bottles, racks, plugs, and food dispensing supplies
Browse QuoteGet a quote on equipment or talk to the ConductScience team.
Request quote