Perch-shape preference and perching behaviors of young laying hens

Liu, Kai; Xin, Hongwei; Shepherd, Timothy A.; Zhao, Yang

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2018.02.009

Cited by 19 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…So far, many studies have been done in both laboratory settings and commercial farms to assess the benefits and detriments of different perch designs to laying hens. Most studies focus on the shape, height, angle of incline, surface material, and arrangement of perches (Brendler and Schrader, 2016;Chen et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2018;Louton et al, 2016;Pickel et al, 2011;Pickel et al, 2010;Scott et al, 1997;Stratmann et al, 2015). However, none of them could automatically and continuously monitor/track perching behavior of individual hens in a group.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An RFID-Based Automated Individual Perching Monitoring System for Group-Housed Poultry

KaiLao¹,

Liu²,

Xin³

et al. 2019

Transactions of the ASABE

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Abstract. Perching is a natural behavior of poultry. Considerable research has been done to explore the relationship between group overall perch usage and well-being of laying hens. To quantify the potential cause-effect relationship on individual hens with different health or well-being status (e.g., keel bone deformation, foot pad lesion, social ranking) in a group, it is necessary to identify the perching behavior of individual birds. However, continuously monitoring individual birds in a group poses considerable challenges. To enable such research and potential commercial application, this study developed and validated a radio frequency identification (RFID) based automated perching monitoring system (APMS) for characterizing individual perching behaviors of group-housed poultry. The APMS consisted of an RFID module, a load cell module, and a round wooden perch. The RFID module was comprised of a high-frequency RFID reader, three customized rectangular antennas placed under the perch, and RFID transponders attached to the birds. The load cell module was comprised of a data acquisition system and two load cells supporting both ends of the perch. The daily number of perch visits (PV) and perching duration (PD) for individual birds were used to delineate perching behavior. Three identical experimental pens, five hens per pen, were equipped with the monitoring system. Two RFID transponders were attached to each hen (one per leg), and a distinct color was marked on the bird’s head for video or visual identification and validation. Performance of the APMS was validated by comparing the system outputs with manual observation and labeling over an entire day. Sensitivity and specificity of the system were shown to improve from 97.77% and 99.88%, respectively when using only the RFID module to 99.83% and 99.93% when incorporating weight information from the load cell module. Using this system, we conducted a preliminary trial on the relationship of perching behavior and body weight of laying hens, which revealed little effect of body weight but considerable variability in perching behavior among the individual hens. The study demonstrated that the APMS had excellent performance in measuring perching behaviors of individual birds in a group. The APMS offers great potential for delineating individual differences in perching behavior among hens with different social status or health conditions in a group setting. Keywords: Individual perching behavior, Laying hen, Load cell, Precision livestock farming, RFID, Welfare.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An RFID-Based Automated Individual Perching Monitoring System for Group-Housed Poultry

KaiLao¹,

Liu²,

Xin³

et al. 2019

Transactions of the ASABE

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“…In general, coarse particles (PM10, TSP) readily settle when the chickens are quiet, while fine particles (PM2.5) will stay in the air for a long time. The higher concentrations in the upper locations observed in the current study could have resulted from more perching and movement activities of the hens in the upper area -a natural tendency when given the choice (Brendler & Schrader, 2016;Campbell, Makagon, Swanson, & Siegford, 2016;Liu, Xin, Shepherd, & Zhao, 2018).…”

Section: Pm Spatial Variationsmentioning

confidence: 65%

Spatial and Diurnal Variations of Particulate Matter Concentration of a Pilot-Scale Aviary Layer House in Winter

Wang¹,

Li²,

Leonard³

et al. 2018

10th International Livestock Environment Symposium (ILES X)

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Laying hen production plays an important role in particulate matter (PM) emissions which potentially cause air pollution and adverse health effect on animals and workers. Aviary cage-free (CF) egg production systems have been attracting increasing attention due to concerns over animal welfare and increased market demand. While studies have been conducted to characterize PM concentrations and emissions of aviary CF houses with litter floor, few reports are available of this information for aviary CF layer houses equipped with slat floor. In this study, PM concentrations â€" both spatial and diurnal patters inside a pilot-scale aviary CF layer house (1,800 laying hens, LxWxH of 28.2 x 9.0 x 3.0 m) in northern China were measured under winter conditions. Daily mean PM2.5, PM10, and TSP levels were found to be 0.19±0.11, 1.05±0.65, 2.90±2.07 mg/ m3, respectively, which were considerably lower than those reported in previous studies of aviary CF houses with litter floor in cold weather. Daytime PM concentrations were significantly higher than those at night primarily due to differences in animal activity and feed supply. The average PM10 and TSP concentrations during light period (5:00-21:00 h) were 1.34 mg/m3 and 3.75 mg/m3, amounting to 279% and 304% of those during the dark period (21:00-5:00h), respectively. Spatial variations for PM10 and TSP were observed in the experimental hen house due to non-uniform distribution of ventilation air and localized generation of the constituents. Higher TSP concentrations (4.26 mg/m3) were found at worker respiratory level (2.0 m) as compared to floor level (0.5 m, 3.00 mg/m3). TSP concentration at one end of the house (west) was found to be 28.3% and 86.9% higher than the middle and the opposite (east) end. This spatial variation characteristic points out the importance of multi-location sampling when assessing indoor air quality and aerial emissions (for cross ventilation). Data from this study will be useful for future improvement of the housing ventilation design and operation. Future study should also assess PM concentrations of the housing style under warm seasons.

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“…1) to collect the weight data on the perch. The hardware (NI cFP-2020, and NI cFP-TC-120, National Instrument Corporation, Austin, TX, USA) and software (LabVIEW version 7.1, National Instrument Corporation) of the load cell modules were adopted from an existing setup that had been validated and successfully applied in two previously published perching studies (Liu et al, 2018;Liu and Xin, 2017).…”

Section: Load Cell Modulementioning

confidence: 99%

“…So far, many studies have been done in both laboratory settings and commercial farms to assess the benefits and detriments of different perch designs to laying hens. Most studies focused on shape, height, angle of incline, surface material, and arrangement of perch (Brendler and Schrader, 2016;Liu et al, 2018). However, none of them could automatically and continuously monitor/track perching behavior of individual hens in a group.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because body weight of commercial laying hens of a given breed is quite similar at the same age, load cells are mostly used to monitor the number of birds on a perch. Liu et al (2018) used a real-time load cell-based perching monitoring system to automatically calculate the number of birds on perch, average perching duration, average perching trips, and average perching frequency in a laboratory pen. Computer vision is another powerful tool to monitor and quantify animal behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A RFID-Based Monitoring System for Characterization of Perching Behaviors of Individual Poultry

Wang

Liu

Xin

et al. 2018

10th International Livestock Environment Symposium (ILES X)

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Perching is a natural behavior of poultry. However, it is difficult to distinguish individual birds in a large group in order to relate perching behavior to health condition or productivity. To enable such research, this study developed and validated a radio frequency identification (RFID)-based automated perching monitoring system (APMS) for characterizing individual perching behaviors of group-housed poultry. The APMS consisted of a RFID module, a load cell module, and a round wooden perch. The RFID module was comprised of a high-frequency RFID reader, three customized rectangular antennas, and multiple RFID transponders. The load cell module was comprised of a data acquisition system and two load cells supporting the two ends of the perch. Daily number of perch visits (PV) and perching duration (PD) of individual birds were used to delineate perching behavior. Three identical experimental pens, five hens per pen, were equipped with the monitoring system. Two RFID transponders were attached to each hen (one per leg) and a distinct color was marked on the bird's head for video or visual identification. Performance of the APMS was validated by comparing the system outputs with manual observation/labeling over an entire day. Sensitivity and specificity of the system were shown to improve from 97.77% and 99.88%, respectively, when using only the RFID module, to 99.83% and 99.93%, respectively, when incorporating weight information from the load cell module. This study revealed that the APMS has an excellent performance in measuring perching behaviors of individual birds in a group. The APMS offers great potentials for delineating differences in perching behavior among hens with different social status or health conditions in a group setting.

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Perch-shape preference and perching behaviors of young laying hens

Cited by 19 publications

References 43 publications

An RFID-Based Automated Individual Perching Monitoring System for Group-Housed Poultry

An RFID-Based Automated Individual Perching Monitoring System for Group-Housed Poultry

Spatial and Diurnal Variations of Particulate Matter Concentration of a Pilot-Scale Aviary Layer House in Winter

A RFID-Based Monitoring System for Characterization of Perching Behaviors of Individual Poultry

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