Laying hen monitoring and identification device

Abstract

The present invention proposes a laying hen monitoring and identification device, which is used for locating laying hens during laying poultry breeding. The laying poultry breeding adopts a long strip poultry house composed of multiple breeding cages arranged in a straight line. The identification device comprises an identification module, a camera module, and an egg conveyor belt arranged along the direction of the poultry house; an egg collection device is provided at the end of the egg conveyor belt; the camera module captures egg images of the eggs sent to the input end of the egg collection device, and the identification module performs pathological analysis on the egg images captured by the camera module; and determines the breeding cage of the eggs in the egg image according to the operating condition of the egg conveyor belt; the present invention can quickly locate the breeding cage where laying hens with abnormal egg laying are located in a poultry farm that adopts a breeding cage breeding method.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of breeding, in particular to a device for monitoring and identifying laying hens. Background Art

[0002] When poultry farms use intensive cage breeding methods, if problems occur in the breeding process and cause abnormal egg-laying poultry, it is necessary to locate the abnormal eggs in a timely manner and find out the cause. However, the high breeding density of the cage breeding method makes it difficult to locate the abnormal eggs. How to more efficiently locate the breeding cages where the abnormal eggs are located is a research direction. Summary of the Invention

[0003] The present invention provides a laying hen monitoring and identification device, which can quickly locate the breeding cages of laying hens with abnormal egg laying in a poultry farm that adopts a cage breeding method.

[0004] The present invention adopts the following technical solutions.

[0005] The laying hen monitoring and identification device is used to locate laying hens during laying hen farming. The laying hen farming adopts a long strip poultry house composed of multiple breeding cages arranged in a straight line. The identification device includes an identification module, a camera module, and an egg conveyor belt arranged along the direction of the poultry house; an egg collection device is provided at the end of the egg conveyor belt; the camera module captures images of eggs delivered to the input end of the egg collection device, and the identification module performs pathological analysis on the egg images captured by the camera module; and determines the breeding cage of the eggs in the egg image based on the operating conditions of the egg conveyor belt.

[0006] The egg conveyor belt is located in front of and below the breeding cages. The eggs produced by the laying fowls in the breeding cages are rolled onto the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt via the guide plates at the breeding cages.

[0007] The egg collecting device is an egg lifting rack adjacent to the end of the egg conveyor belt; the eggs on the egg conveyor belt are transported to the end of the egg conveyor belt and then rolled into the egg lifting rack, and are transported to subsequent processes by the egg lifting rack.

[0008] A conveying surface start end identification pattern is provided at the start end of the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt. When the egg conveyor belt is not running, the conveying surface start end identification pattern is located in the shooting area of ​​the camera module at the egg collection device.

[0009] The number of laying fowls raised in the breeding cage does not exceed ten.

[0010] During the pathological analysis, if the recognition module recognizes that there are egg skin wrinkles or small egg volume features in the egg image, the recognition module believes that there are sick birds in the breeding cages where the eggs in the egg image come from.

[0011] A support roller is provided below the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt, and the support roller supports the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt to a horizontal posture to prevent the eggs from rolling.

[0012] The egg conveyor belt runs at a fixed speed; the sizes of the breeding cages are equal; when the conveyor belt is in a stationary state for collecting eggs, the distance between each breeding cage and the identification pattern at the beginning of the conveying surface is fixed; the recognition module determines the breeding cage from which the eggs in the egg image originate based on the size of the breeding cage, the identification pattern at the beginning of the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt, and the running speed of the conveyor belt.

[0013] The egg conveyor belt is operated at least once every two days to remove eggs from the conveying surface of the conveyor belt and perform pathological analysis on the eggs on the conveyor belt.

[0014] The color of the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt adopts a background color that can produce a large color contrast with the eggs, so as to facilitate the camera module to capture clear egg images and facilitate the recognition module to recognize the egg images.

[0015] The present invention uses an AI-based recognition module to identify poultry eggs on an egg belt and determines the source breeding cage of abnormal egg samples according to the running speed of the egg belt, thereby quickly locating laying birds with abnormal egg production in the farm, which is conducive to finding the cause of abnormal egg production and improving breeding efficiency. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments:

[0017] Attachment Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the present invention;

[0018] In the figure: 1- egg conveyor belt; 2- support roller; 3- breeding cage; 4- poultry house; 5- identification module; 6- camera module; 7- egg lifting rack. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0019] like Figure 1 As shown, a laying hen monitoring and identification device is used for locating laying hens during laying poultry farming. The laying poultry farming adopts a long strip poultry house 4 composed of multiple breeding cages 3 arranged in a straight line. The identification device includes an identification module, a camera module, and an egg conveyor belt 1 arranged along the direction of the poultry house; an egg collection device is provided at the end of the egg conveyor belt; the camera module captures egg images of eggs delivered to the input end of the egg collection device, and the identification module performs pathological analysis on the egg images captured by the camera module; and determines the breeding cage of the eggs in the egg image based on the operating condition of the egg conveyor belt.

[0020] The egg conveyor belt is located in front of and below the breeding cages. The eggs produced by the laying fowls in the breeding cages are rolled onto the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt via the guide plates at the breeding cages.

[0021] The egg collecting device is an egg lifting rack adjacent to the end of the egg conveyor belt; the eggs on the egg conveyor belt are transported to the end of the egg conveyor belt and then rolled into the egg lifting rack, and are transported to subsequent processes by the egg lifting rack.

[0022] A conveying surface start end identification pattern is provided at the start end of the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt. When the egg conveyor belt is not running, the conveying surface start end identification pattern is located in the shooting area of ​​the camera module at the egg collection device.

[0023] The number of laying fowls raised in the breeding cage does not exceed ten.

[0024] During the pathological analysis, if the recognition module recognizes that there are egg skin wrinkles or small egg volume features in the egg image, the recognition module believes that there are sick birds in the breeding cages where the eggs in the egg image come from.

[0025] A support roller 2 is provided below the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt, and the support roller supports the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt to a horizontal posture to prevent the eggs from rolling.

[0026] The egg conveyor belt runs at a fixed speed; the sizes of the breeding cages are equal; when the conveyor belt is in a stationary state for collecting eggs, the distance between each breeding cage and the identification pattern at the beginning of the conveying surface is fixed; the recognition module determines the breeding cage from which the eggs in the egg image originate based on the size of the breeding cage, the identification pattern at the beginning of the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt, and the running speed of the conveyor belt.

[0027] The egg conveyor belt is operated at least once every two days to remove eggs from the conveying surface of the conveyor belt and perform pathological analysis on the eggs on the conveyor belt.

[0028] The color of the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt adopts a background color that can produce a large color contrast with the eggs, so as to facilitate the camera module to capture clear egg images and facilitate the recognition module to recognize the egg images.

[0029] Example:

[0030] The farm is equipped with multiple stacked poultry houses for high-density laying hen farming. The egg conveyor belt in each poultry house is equipped with a camera module. When the image of eggs on any of the egg conveyor belts shows disease characteristics, the recognition module will alarm, locate the breeding cage from which the egg sample came, and notify the management staff to conduct a health check on the eggs in the breeding cage.

[0031] When the egg conveyor belt starts running, the camera module continuously shoots the conveying surface of the conveyor belt, and the recognition module records the time when the recognition pattern at the beginning of the conveying surface leaves the shooting area as the initial time. When the camera module shoots abnormal eggs with disease characteristics on the conveying surface of the conveyor belt (soft eggs with wrinkled egg shells or very small eggs), the recognition module calculates the original distance between the abnormal eggs and the recognition pattern at the beginning of the conveying surface based on the time interval between the shooting time and the initial time, and then the running speed of the conveyor belt. Since the distance between each breeding cage and the recognition pattern at the beginning of the conveying surface is fixed when the conveyor belt is stationary, the recognition module can determine the breeding cage from which the abnormal eggs came based on the original distance between the abnormal eggs and the recognition pattern at the beginning of the conveying surface.

[0032] The recognition module in this example uses an industrial computer, but can also use an external computing device with AI image recognition capabilities.

Claims

1. A laying hen monitoring and identification device, used for locating laying hens during laying hen farming, characterized by: The egg-laying poultry breeding system employs a long strip poultry house composed of a plurality of breeding cages arranged in a straight line. The identification device comprises an identification module, a camera module, and an egg conveyor belt arranged along the length of the poultry house. An egg collection device is provided at the end of the egg conveyor belt. The camera module captures images of eggs delivered to the input end of the egg collection device. The identification module performs pathological analysis on the egg images captured by the camera module. The identification module also determines the breeding cage from which the eggs in the egg images originate based on the operating conditions of the egg conveyor belt. The egg conveyor belt is located in front of and below the breeding cages, and the eggs produced by the laying fowl in the breeding cages are rolled onto the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt via the guide plates at the breeding cages; The starting end of the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt is provided with a conveying surface starting end identification pattern. When the egg conveyor belt is not running, the conveying surface starting end identification pattern is located in the shooting area of ​​the camera module at the egg collection device; During the pathological analysis, if the recognition module identifies the egg skin wrinkle feature or the egg small size feature in the egg image, the recognition module determines that there are sick birds in the breeding cage where the eggs in the egg image come from; The egg conveyor belt runs at a fixed speed; the breeding cages are of equal size; when the conveyor belt is in a stationary state for collecting eggs, the distance between each breeding cage and the identification pattern at the beginning of the conveyor surface is fixed; the recognition module determines the breeding cage from which the eggs in the egg image originate based on the size of the breeding cages, the identification pattern at the beginning of the conveyor surface of the egg conveyor belt, and the running speed of the conveyor belt; The egg conveyor belt is operated at least once every two days to remove eggs from the conveying surface of the conveyor belt and perform pathological analysis on the eggs on the conveyor belt; A support roller is provided below the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt, and the support roller supports the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt to a horizontal posture to prevent the eggs from rolling; The recognition module is an AI-based recognition module; When the egg conveyor belt starts running, the camera module continuously shoots the conveyor belt transmission surface, and the recognition module records the time when the recognition pattern at the beginning of the conveyor surface leaves the shooting area as the initial time. When the camera module shoots abnormal eggs with disease characteristics on the conveyor belt transmission surface, the recognition module calculates the original distance between the abnormal eggs and the recognition pattern at the beginning of the conveyor surface based on the time interval between the shooting time at this time and the initial time, and the running speed of the conveyor belt.

2. The laying hen monitoring and identification device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The egg collecting device is an egg lifting rack adjacent to the end of the egg conveyor belt; the eggs on the egg conveyor belt are transported to the end of the egg conveyor belt and then rolled into the egg lifting rack, and are transported to subsequent processes by the egg lifting rack.

3. The laying hen monitoring and identification device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The number of laying fowls raised in the breeding cage does not exceed ten.

4. The laying hen monitoring and identification device according to claim 2, characterized in that: The color of the conveying surface of the egg conveyor belt adopts a background color that can produce a large color contrast with the eggs, so as to facilitate the camera module to capture clear egg images and facilitate the recognition module to recognize the egg images.

Images