Development and implementation of technology for breeding laying hens using a "smart hen house" based on intelligent technologies (PLF)

In current breeding farms, farmers make decisions about the selection of feeding conditions and climate in the hen house based on several general and basic parameters prevailing in the hen house, and important decisions are often made intuitively and too late after undesirable phenomena occur.

• Effect: decreased production efficiency, decreased animal welfare.

There are no comprehensive technological solutions on the Polish or EU market that support or automate a wide range of processes in the breeding of laying hens.
Condition selection (PLF) is a solution that can revolutionize poultry production.

The main role of PLF is to simplify the process of collecting and processing information in such a way as to present specific solutions, not problems, to manufacturers. PLF includes the automation of all measurement systems, the interpretation of measurements taken and the identification of exceedance of critical control points, which will achieve the integration of animal welfare, reduction of environmental impact and the efficiency and profitability of poultry production.

• This can be achieved by using water measurement systems, egg counting, bird weighing, microclimate control and feeding. By using these methods, systems can be developed that allow for individual feeding, health monitoring and location of birds. The use of this type of technology will allow for an objective assessment and effective improvement of animal welfare by effectively detecting periods and places when microclimatic conditions are suboptimal.

Precise monitoring of the microclimate, combined with systems for measuring odorous and greenhouse gas emissions will allow the creation of solutions to reduce these emissions. The implementation of PLF technology will also significantly improve the organization of production (at least partial independence from qualified employees and the use of more complete data for production decisions).

The aim of the project is to develop and implement technology for breeding laying hens and producing chicken eggs using intelligent PLF (Precision Livestock Farming) technologies, i.e. automatic measurement of microclimatic conditions, thermal surveillance of animals and litter - the well-being of laying hens, by developing a "smart hen house" technology that takes into account aspects environmental protection.

Project activities

As part of the investment activities, a chicken coop will be created along with the entire infrastructure and IT system. Development research will be performed at the Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences (UPWr). The experiment will consist in testing an innovative system for monitoring the welfare of laying hens kept in aviaries and cages. The experiment will last approximately 60 days. Two sectors located in the UPWr Practical Education Center, a cage and an aviary, will be populated with laying hens (Lohman Brown line), 180 pieces each. The animals' housing conditions will be monitored continuously with thermal imaging cameras, temperature and air humidity sensors. Thermal and visual monitoring will allow the identification of birds with a body temperature that deviates from the physiological norm, indicating the animal's disease states (the system will count such events).

During the experiment, parameters proving the well-being of laying hens will be determined. Feed intake and the number of eggs laid will be monitored every day, which will allow for the assessment of production parameters.

•  Each week the following items will be assessed: the condition of the birds' plumage, the health of the legs and the possible presence of plantar ulcers, as well as the shape and development of the chest bridge.
•  Finally, blood will be collected from a representative number of birds to determine corticosterone - a stress hormone.
• Videos will be recorded throughout the observation period, on the basis of which ethograms will be prepared. This will allow us to identify pathological forms of animal behavior that indicate reduced welfare.

All data will be analyzed statistically and correlated with each other in order to:

• developing a model for collecting monitoring data,
• developing emergency protocols,
• creating models for precise management of the housing environment and optimization of the welfare of laying hens,
• selecting the most favorable monitoring and management algorithm for the environment and well-being of laying hens, which will be scaled in the next stage to the conditions of actual large-scale production.

Implementation of development research on an industrial scale:The result of the above development research, will be implemented in real production conditions. Rescaling is necessary and results from the fact that the results of the scientific test obtained in the research vivarium do not take into account many variables occurring in real production. The planned livestock facility in which an optimized monitoring and management algorithm for the environment and the welfare of laying hens will be implemented on a production scale will be equipped.

During observations at the scale of a production poultry house on a representative group of animals, the following parameters will be monitored:

• production results, i.e. feed intake, laying;
• water consumption;
• feather condition of the birds;
• health condition of the legs and possible presence of plantar ulcers;
• shape and development of the thoracic bridge;
• body weight of the animals;
• at the end of the observation, a representative number will be obtained blood was taken from birds to determine corticosterone - a stress hormone.

The collected data will be analyzed statistically and visually in order to introduce corrections to the monitoring and management algorithm for the welfare of laying hens and will be the basis for the implementation of a new breeding organization in conditions of process automation. Thus, one of the effects of the operation will be the improvement of the organization of egg production.

The main benefits of the project

Operation results:

• development of a model for monitoring the living environment and welfare of laying hens;
• developing a model for managing a flock of laying hens based on detailed environmental data;
• increasing or maintaining the production results of laying hens at a high level;
• depending on the results of scientific and development research, obtaining table eggs from layers maintained in conditions of high health and welfare status;
• development and implementation in real conditions of industrial breeding of a behavior monitoring program supporting the health status of hens kept in an innovative poultry house as a result of quick elimination of dangerous events in the livestock facility;
• egg production in conditions that minimize situations requiring treatment resulting from reduced welfare;
• implementation in real conditions of energy security of the hen house through the use of photovoltaic technology;
• obtaining a fully operational monitoring and visualization system as well as managing the environment and animal welfare on an industrial scale and implementing it on the farms of the consortium participants;
• reducing ammonia emissions from litter by optimizing the microclimate and managing water management, which will reduce the deposit of this gas into the atmosphere;
• making commercial farms independent of hard-to-obtain, well-qualified employees;
• environmental protection;
• at least 2 scientific publications in journals indexed on the JCR list.

Practice summary

 Innovative technology for keeping laying hens, with particular emphasis on their welfare, living conditions and ammonia emissions as a greenhouse gas indicator.

• The scope of the planned operation concerns the Innovative technology category (indirectly, through the achieved technological effect, the final product in the form of a chicken egg will be significantly improved in quality).

The project will use the process of precise maintenance of laying hens, which is currently the subject of research in many countries around the world, but has not had a confirmed comprehensive implementation in Poland on the scale covered by the planned operation. Currently, breeding and breeding of farm animals takes place in livestock buildings that are automated only to a basic extent. The basic monitored parameters are air temperature and/or humidity, the values of which control ventilation systems and are the basic indicators characterizing the microclimate. The remaining part of the building equipment concerns solutions related to reducing the workload of animal handling and ensuring minimum animal welfare requirements. In such a situation, the breeder has limited monitoring data, which does not make it easier for him to make decisions, and the response to emergency situations is often late. The effect of such a situation is to reduce the comfort of animals' existence.

• The project will develop a model for monitoring and managing the breeding environment, which is consistent with the idea of precise keeping of farm animals. The project plans to use and evaluate the effectiveness of thermal imaging technology for monitoring the building, litter and hens themselves.
• Another solution will be modular bird feeding by using 3 feed lines. This will allow you to optimize feed consumption.
• Another element will be precise water management through a system for conditioning tap water and controlling its consumption.

 It should be emphasized here that controlling the temperature of the environment inside the building and the humidity of the litter will minimize the process of ammonia emission from the litter. In the proposed technology, all data will be archived by IT systems that also ensure the possibility of processing the collected data as a basis for making decisions regarding shaping breeding conditions. The proposed monitoring system will also protect and warn the breeder in emergency situations. Thermal imaging will also allow you to control unusual animal behavior, which is usually a symptom of reduced welfare. As part of environmental protection, the roof area of the industrial poultry house building will be used to produce electricity through the use of photovoltaic technology, which will largely or completely cover the energy needs of the poultry house.

Results achieved

The overarching objective of the project was to develop and implement a technology for rearing laying hens and producing eggs in an aviary system using smart technologies such as automatic microclimatic measurement, thermal imaging and bird health control, which will allow the development of a 'smart poultry house' technology that takes into account environmental aspects. This goal was achieved by building a chicken coop and equipping it with separate feeding lines. A prototype system for measuring the temperature of hens in the production poultry house was constructed (vision system, thermal imaging system with hardware and software). A special monitoring app has been created.

The operation achieved the expected results:

• a model for collecting monitoring data was developed;
• the possibility of alerting in emergency situations has been developed;
• a platform for precise management of the environment for keeping and optimising the welfare of laying hens was created;

The above achievements were scaled up to the conditions of actual large-scale production.

During the observation on the scale of the production poultry house, the following parameters were monitored on a representative rate of animals:

• production results, i.e. feed intake, laying;
• water consumption;
• the clinical condition of the birds;
• the body weight of the animals;

At the end of the observation, manure was taken from birds in order to determine corticosterone – the stress hormone. The collected data was used to develop predictive and emission models of the poultry house.

Additional comments

The planned livestock facility, in which an optimized monitoring and management algorithm for the environment and well-being of laying hens will be implemented on a production scale, will be equipped with:

• a management platform including control, measurement and communication infrastructure (server, industrial PLC controllers, sensors, counters, operator stations with a visualization application HMI/SCADA) and client-server architecture software organizing the collection of information, processing and presentation in the form most appropriate for individual participants of production processes, from the operator to the management staff, and all other functions optimizing production;
• monitoring of electricity consumption for the entire hen house and separately for each floor of the hen house;
• continuous measurement on each floor in 10 points: relative humidity and temperature, carbon dioxide and ammonia levels;
• IP monitoring created with industrial thermal IP cameras connected to an image recorder, the most important advantage of which is the lack of influence of environmental conditions on the recorded image (the cameras can work in complete darkness) and an accurate multi-point temperature measurement system integrated with the alarm system;
• intelligent lighting with measurement of light intensity and quality, thanks to which you can simulate sunrises and sunsets and freely adjust the light intensity, ensuring optimal lighting conditions adapted to the age of the birds;
• drip watering system with a counter and vitamin dispenser for each floor and central measurement of water hardness, temperature and pH;
• separate feed system for each floor equipped with a separate silo, feed pipeline and feed weighing system;
• ventilation system on each floor with covers on air inlets, peak fans, light covers, wall louvres and ventilation chimneys.