Farmers tap IoT and AI to increase chicken health and egg yield

The scope of “things” in the internet of things (IoT) is vast and varied, and in a somewhat surprising use case, the use of sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) is said to be leading to improvements in the health and welfare of laying hens, increasing productivity, efficiency and industry resilience.

Backed by Innovate UK – whose mission is to help UK companies grow through the development and commercialisation of new products, processes and services – the new Flockwise (Facilitating Learning Opportunities, Cultivating Knowledge and Welfare through Integrated Sensing and Expertise) project will look to develop a sensor-embedded flock management system that monitors health, welfare and productivity indicators using AI to provide community-based learning to farmers and the supply chain.

It will see FAI – the trade body for farmers, scientists and consultants working to deliver positive change to animal-based production systems – work with The Lakes Free Range Egg Co, Newcastle University and the UK Agri-Tech Centre to support the industry by facilitating higher animal welfare and producing nutritious, affordable and sustainable eggs.

At the heart of the project are some harsh market trends. That is, soaring energy, feed and labour costs have affected egg production, and farmers are facing increased demands with respect to environmental and ethical considerations, as well as the challenges of Avian influenza and the use of breeds with varying welfare and husbandry requirements.

The partners say increased productivity has the potential for gains of £40,000-£110,000 per flock through better hen health and extension of flocks. This could result in 1.7 billion more eggs being produced in the UK. In addition, improved sustainability and environmental impact result in increased efficiency, with more birds reared, reduced labour and input costs for energy and feed, and a projected mortality reduction shrinking the overall CO2e per kilogram of eggs.

The project will look to benefit the welfare of hens and the long-term viability of the sector, while supporting net-zero operations without negatively affecting the industry. It will also look to further develop the capability of FAI’s BirdBox laying hen management system, which combines data collection software with in-house sensor hardware, including an integrated bird weigher and monitoring of light, humidity, air quality, temperature, feed bin weigh cells, water and power.

The project will look to enhance this technology by using sensors to continually monitor the birds through novel sound technology and analysis of egg quality data, providing further health and welfare information. Environmental and production data is integrated to provide the information required to support daily flock management and to provide targeted guidance to enable farmer-led intervention when issues arise.

The new welfare data will be used to build an industry-based learning tool to identify which interventions work to reduce the welfare challenges on laying farms, supporting and upskilling farmers to achieve higher health, productivity and welfare in their flocks. As well as measuring welfare, the system uses industry-based learning with farmer-facing technology to harness data and support production improvement, by enabling farmers to react more quickly to challenges, make informed decisions on flock management and ensure regulatory compliance.

Commenting on the project, FAI project lead Carly Scott said: “With BirdBox, we already see the benefit of monitoring the environment and management of the flock. This development enables farmers to better understand the health and welfare of their birds, not only detecting but preventing problems while supporting increased productivity.”

The Lakes Free Range Egg Co chief executive David Brass added: “This piece of leading-edge innovative research has the potential to change egg-producing poultry welfare and production beyond recognition and into a new exciting era. It is the culmination of 14 years’ work with FAI on the BirdBox system, finally realising the results we always envisaged.”