Chicken flock health monitoring method and chicken flock health monitoring system

Abstract

The invention discloses a chicken health monitoring method and a chicken health monitoring system, and relates to the technical field of poultry breeding. The method comprises the following steps: S100, randomly selecting chicken samples and obtaining the number of samples; S200, collecting the appearance time and frequency of the target colors of the sample conveyor belt; S300, collecting real-time images of the chicken samples; S400, sending the information collected in steps S200 and S300 to the background for analysis and processing; S500, the background calculates the total frequency of the target color and the ratio of the sample number to obtain the sample broken egg rate, and judges whether the chickens are healthy by comparing the sample broken egg rate with the healthy broken egg rate, and locates the abnormal chickens and the number of the target colors, and sends the photos and the number of the abnormal chickens to the terminal. By selecting a specific color scale, a relatively accurate marker such as broken eggs is introduced, and the abnormal chicken manure can be located on a specific abnormal chicken, and finally, it is verified by manual observation, which has high accuracy and is very meaningful for chicken health guidance.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of poultry breeding, and in particular to a chicken flock health monitoring method and a chicken flock health monitoring system. Background Art

[0002] With the development of automation, the stacked cage model for laying hens has been recognized by the majority of poultry farming companies. This farming method occupies a small area and has high space utilization. In addition, the manure can be uniformly processed through conveyor belts, which not only improves the utilization rate of chicken manure, but also reduces the degree of environmental pollution. At the same time, it also reduces labor intensity and improves productivity.

[0003] During the breeding process, it is very important to monitor the health of poultry.

[0004] The existing technology generally uses observation of poultry feces to infer their health status. Specifically, normal poultry feces are blue-gray feces with white heads, and feces of different colors and quantities reflect different sub-health conditions of the flock. Therefore, by monitoring poultry feces, farmers can know the health status of the flock and adjust it by adjusting diet and increasing immunity.

[0005] For example, the patent document with application number: 201510929884.3 discloses a method and system for monitoring the excrement of caged chickens. Specifically, a camera bracket is fixed above the conveyor belt, a CCD camera is installed on the camera bracket, a motor drives the conveyor belt to run, and the motor and CCD camera are connected to a computer; a chicken cage is placed above the conveyor belt, and the chicken excrement in the chicken cage falls on the conveyor belt and is transmitted along the conveyor belt. The images of the chicken excrement on the conveyor belt are collected in sequence by the CCD camera, and the color and consistency of the excrement on the conveyor belt are obtained through image processing, and monitoring data is obtained. The type of excrement is obtained by comparing the color and consistency of the excrement with the known excrement-disease relationship, and the health of the chickens in each cage is monitored. The present invention can be modified on the basis of the existing excrement cleaning belt of the chicken cage; it is turned on at a fixed time to accurately obtain the defecation situation of the chickens in each cage; by comparing the color and consistency of the excrement with the normal excrement, the health status of the poultry can be accurately judged.

[0006] Although poultry feces can reflect intestinal problems to a certain extent, intestinal problems are also related to other factors such as poultry food and fluid intake, so the method of inference based on feces is not very accurate. Summary of the invention

[0007] Through research and analysis of the health problems of chickens in farms, the applicant found that once the frequency of broken eggs dropped onto the conveyor belt by chickens increases, it can, to a certain extent, reflect the abnormal health status of the chickens. This is because when the digestive system function of the chickens becomes abnormal, it affects the digestion and absorption of the components of the eggshell by the intestinal mucosa, causing the eggshell to become thinner, the hardness to decrease, the eggs to become deformed, and it is difficult for them to automatically roll onto the egg collecting belt and be transferred to the egg storage. The egg breakage rate is significantly increased. The reasons for the abnormal digestive system function generally include aging of the chickens, weak gastrointestinal function, infectious diseases, or poor quality of feed raw materials.

[0008] Therefore, the applicant proposed a flock health monitoring method and a flock health monitoring system, which supplement or replace the existing method of monitoring abnormal feces by detecting broken eggs, thereby improving the accuracy of health monitoring.

[0009] The chicken health monitoring method provided by the present invention comprises the following steps:

[0010] S100, randomly select a sample of the chicken flock to obtain the sample quantity;

[0011] S200, collecting the appearance time and frequency of each target color of the sample on the conveyor belt;

[0012] S300, collects real-time images of chicken samples;

[0013] S400, sending the information collected in steps S200 and S300 to the background for analysis and processing;

[0014] S500, the background calculates the ratio of the total frequency of the target color to the number of samples to obtain the sample egg breakage rate, and determines whether the flock is healthy by comparing the sample egg breakage rate with the healthy egg breakage rate. At the same time, the abnormal chickens that produce the target color and the number are located, and the photos and number of the abnormal chickens are sent to the terminal.

[0015] Preferably, the color levels of the target colors are: 255, 255, 0; 238, 232, 170; 240, 230, 140; 255, 215, 0; 218, 165, 32; 245, 222, 179; 255, 228, 181; 255, 165, 0.

[0016] Preferably, the positioning in step S500 is calculated based on the directional moving speed of the monitoring conveyor belt and the time when the color mark appears.

[0017] The chicken health monitoring system provided by the present invention is used to perform the above method, and the system comprises:

[0018] A chassis is mounted above the downstream end of the chicken coop excrement conveyor belt;

[0019] A light source is arranged on the top of the chassis;

[0020] Color sensor, used to sense target color;

[0021] Photoelectric sensor, used to record the number of times the target color appears;

[0022] Wireless IoT gateway, used to send the information collected by the above two to the background;

[0023] Microcomputers, used for background computing;

[0024] High-definition camera, real-time image acquisition.

[0025] Preferably, the chassis is made of a light-shielding material, or is a box body with an opening at the bottom and the inner wall of the box body is coated with a reverse coating.

[0026] Preferably: it also includes a cleaning device; the cleaning device includes a water washing pipe, one side of the water washing pipe has an opening to fit the conveyor belt, a cleaning brush is provided in the opening, the water washing pipe is divided into an inlet section and an outlet section with the opening as the boundary, and the outlet section is provided with an eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism.

[0027] Preferably: the eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism comprises a pair of limit plates arranged in parallel in the water washing pipeline;

[0028] A square inner cavity is formed between the two limit plates, in which a square tube is arranged which can only slide back and forth along the plumb line, and a channel is arranged in the center of the limit plates;

[0029] During the entire sliding process of the square inner cavity, the lumen of the square tube is always connected to the channel, and the diameter of the lumen of the square tube is smaller than the diameter of the channel, so that the square inner cavity is always isolated from the channel. A filter is provided at the outlet end of the lumen of the square tube, and the bottom of the square inner cavity supports the square tube through a weight sensing module.

[0030] Preferably, the mesh diameter of the filter is greater than 5 mm.

[0031] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0032] (1) Based on the applicant's research on the mechanism of egg breaking, this chicken flock health monitoring method introduces egg breaking as a more accurate marker by selecting specific color levels, and can locate abnormal chicken feces to specific abnormal chickens. Finally, it is verified by manual observation. It has high accuracy and is less affected by interference factors, which is very meaningful for chicken flock health guidance.

[0033] (2) The eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism of the present invention can not only effectively intercept the eggshells to prevent the circulating water tank from being blocked, but also dry the cleaning brush in the cleaning device after one cycle, and simultaneously dry and weigh the eggshells, thereby estimating the actual number of eggshells by dividing the total weight of the eggshells by the average weight of a single eggshell, and then verifying the monitoring results. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] In order to more clearly illustrate the specific implementation methods of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the specific implementation methods or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some implementation methods of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0035] Figure 1 It is an overall schematic diagram of Example 1 of the chicken health monitoring system;

[0036] Figure 2 It is an overall schematic diagram of Embodiment 2 of the chicken health monitoring system;

[0037] Figure 3 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of an eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism of Example 2 of a chicken health monitoring system;

[0038] Figure 4 A longitudinal section of an eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism of Example 2 of a chicken health monitoring system;

[0039] Figure 5 A longitudinal section of an eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism of Example 3 of a chicken health monitoring system;

[0040] Figure 6 It is a schematic structural diagram of a driving impeller of Example 3 of a chicken health monitoring system;

[0041] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the spiral sorting chamber of Example 3 of the chicken health monitoring system.

[0042] Reference numerals:

[0043] 1. Conveyor belt; 2. Target chicken manure; 3. Box; 4. Water washing pipe; 5. Cleaning brush; 6. Eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism; 61. Limiting plate; 62. Square inner cavity; 63. Square tube; 64. Filter; 65. Weight sensing module; 71. Vertical section; 72. Driving impeller; 73. Spiral sorting cavity; 74. Weighing ring; 75. Waterproof membrane. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0044] The technical solution of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, rather than all of the embodiments.

[0045] The components of the embodiments of the present invention generally described and shown in the drawings herein may be arranged and designed in various different configurations. Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present invention provided in the drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the claimed invention, but merely represents selected embodiments of the present invention.

[0046] Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in the field without making any creative work shall fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0047] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that the terms "center", "upper", "lower", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "inner", "outer", etc., indicating the orientation or positional relationship, are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as limiting the present invention. In addition, the terms "first", "second", and "third" are used for descriptive purposes only, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

[0048] In the description of the present invention, it should be noted that, unless otherwise clearly specified and limited, the terms "installed", "connected", and "connected" should be understood in a broad sense, for example, it can be a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; it can be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; it can be a direct connection, or it can be indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, or it can be the internal communication of two components. For ordinary technicians in this field, the specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood according to specific circumstances.

[0049] Embodiment 1:

[0050] In this embodiment, the chicken health monitoring method includes the following steps:

[0051] S100, randomly select a sample of the chicken flock to obtain the sample quantity;

[0052] Due to cost considerations, it is impossible to test every individual chicken in the farm. Specifically, when the number of chickens in a farm is n, one hundredth of n can be selected for testing, and the test results can then be used as a reference for the entire flock.

[0053] S200, collecting the appearance time and frequency of each target color of the sample conveyor belt 1;

[0054] Target colors include red, yellow, green, and black stools.

[0055] S300, collects real-time images of chicken samples;

[0056] S400, sending the information collected in steps S200 and S300 to the background for analysis and processing;

[0057] S500, the background calculates the ratio of the total frequency of the target color to the number of samples to obtain the sample egg breakage rate, and determines whether the flock is healthy by comparing the sample egg breakage rate with the healthy egg breakage rate. At the same time, the abnormal chickens that produce the target color and the number are located, and the photos and number of the abnormal chickens are sent to the terminal.

[0058] Because abnormal chicken individuals may repeatedly produce abnormal droppings or broken eggs, abnormal chickens are needed for location.

[0059] Specifically, the color levels of the target colors are: 255,255,0; 238,232,170; 240,230,140; 255,215,0; 218,165,32; 245,222,179; 255,228,181; 255,165,0.

[0060] The positioning in step S500 is calculated based on the directional moving speed of the monitoring conveyor belt 1 and the time when the color mark appears.

[0061] Specifically, assume that the monitoring conveyor belt 1 is 120m long and the constant moving speed of the conveyor belt is 10cm / s. When the manure is not cleaned, the chickens in each chicken cage clearly mark their corresponding positions on the conveyor belt by excreting. When cleaning the manure, synchronize color monitoring, and calculate the location of abnormal chicken manure by multiplying the time when abnormal chicken manure appears on the conveyor belt by the running speed of the conveyor belt. Then, the photoelectric sensor counts the number of times abnormal chicken manure appears.

[0062] like Figure 1 As shown, the system includes: a chassis, which is erected above the downstream end of the chicken cage excrement conveyor belt 1; a light source, which is arranged on the top of the chassis; a color sensor, which is used to sense the target color; a photoelectric sensor, which is used to record the number of times the target color appears; a wireless Internet of Things gateway, which is used to send the information collected by the above two to the background; a microcomputer, which is used for background calculation; and a high-definition camera, which collects images in real time.

[0063] In order to prevent the light source in the chassis from affecting the chickens or to prevent the light source from spreading outwards through the chassis while gathering at the sensor detection point, it is preferred that:

[0064] The chassis is a box body 3 made of a light-shielding material or having an inner wall coated with a reverse coating and having an opening at the bottom.

[0065] Embodiment 2:

[0066] like Figure 2 , Figure 3 and Figure 4 As shown, the system of the present invention also includes a cleaning device; the cleaning device includes a water washing pipe 4, one side of the water washing pipe 4 has an opening to fit the conveyor belt 1, a cleaning brush is provided in the opening, the water washing pipe 4 is divided into a water inlet section and a water outlet section with the opening as the boundary, and the water outlet section is provided with an eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism 6.

[0067] In order to save water resources, this type of cleaning device generally uses circulating water, that is, the water inlet and outlet sections of the water washing pipe 4 are connected to a circulating water tank, and a filtering device and a device for driving water flow are provided in the circulating water tank. However, eggshells are different from smaller granular garbage such as chicken manure. Eggshells are in flaky form. Flaky eggshells cannot be adsorbed by common adsorption structures such as activated carbon and sand layers, and may even clog the filtering device.

[0068] Therefore, before the egg shells enter the circulating water tank, the risk needs to be eliminated through the egg shell filtering and weighing mechanism 6.

[0069] The eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism 6 comprises a pair of limit plates 61 arranged in parallel in the water washing pipeline 4;

[0070] A square inner cavity 62 is formed between the two limit plates 61, and a square tube 63 which can only slide back and forth along the plumb line is provided in the square inner cavity 62, and a channel is provided in the center of the limit plate 61; during the entire sliding process of the square inner cavity 62, the tube cavity of the square tube 63 is always connected to the channel, and the tube cavity diameter of the square tube 63 is smaller than the diameter of the channel, so that the square inner cavity 62 is always isolated from the channel, and a filter screen 64 is provided at the outlet end of the tube cavity of the square tube 63, and the bottom of the square inner cavity 62 supports the square tube 63 through a weight sensing module 65.

[0071] The load-bearing principle of the eggshell filter weighing mechanism 6 is:

[0072] When the square tube 63 can slide up and down in the square inner cavity 62, it means that the gravity of the square tube 63 only falls on the weight sensing module 65, and the limit plate 61 in the water washing pipe 4 plays a role in gathering the water channel, and then makes the tube cavity diameter of the square tube 63 smaller than the diameter of the channel, thereby preventing water from entering the square inner cavity 62, thereby affecting the weighing quantity.

[0073] When the sewage carrying chicken manure and eggshells enters the square tube 63 from the left end of the water washing pipe 4, due to the effect of the filter screen 64 inside the square tube 63, that is, the mesh diameter of the filter screen 64 is more than 5mm (the diameter of chicken manure particles can refer to the application number 201420433399.8, it can be seen that the particle size of chicken manure is usually less than 5mm); the eggshells are retained in the square tube 63, and x hours are selected as a cycle. The initial weight of the square tube 63 and the weight at the end of the cycle are weighed by closing the water washing pipe 4. Note that the cleaning brush 5 of the general cleaning device needs to be dried with hot air, and this hot air will dry the items in the square tube 63 along with the water washing pipe 4, so that the weighing is more accurate.

[0074] The eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism 6 can not only effectively intercept the eggshells to prevent the circulating water tank from being blocked, but also dry the cleaning brush 5 in the cleaning device after one cycle, and simultaneously dry and weigh the eggshells, so as to estimate the actual number of eggshells by dividing the total weight of the eggshells by the average weight of a single eggshell, and then verify the monitoring results.

[0075] Embodiment 3:

[0076] Different from Example 2, in this embodiment, the eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism 6 is replaced by the following structure:

[0077] like Figure 5 , Figure 6 and Figure 7 As shown, a vertical section 71 is provided on the water washing pipe 4, and a driving impeller 72 is rotatably provided in the vertical section 71. The rotation of the driving impeller 72 generates centrifugal force through the vertical section 71, and the top of the driving impeller 72 throws the water flow into the spiral sorting chamber 73. Since the water flow in the spiral sorting chamber 73 has centrifugal force, under the action of the centrifugal force, the eggshells with higher density will move closer to the outside, and a plurality of arc channels are provided in the spiral sorting chamber 73. When the water flow is thrown into the arc channel, the eggshells with higher density therein will move closer to the outside of the arc channel, and a plurality of protrusions along the vertical direction are provided on the outer wall of the arc channel, and the eggshells are intercepted by the protrusions.

[0078] The spiral separation chamber 73 can be vertically slidably connected to the water washing pipe 4 and is not sealed, which is mainly achieved by the abutment between the water washing pipe 4 and the bottom of the spiral separation chamber 73, and can be achieved by a flexible tube or the like.

[0079] The top of the vertical section 71 supports the spiral sorting cavity 73 through a weighing ring 74 for easy weighing. A waterproof membrane 75 is connected between the vertical section 71 and the spiral sorting cavity 73 .

[0080] The centrifugal separation method of Example 3 avoids the blockage of the filter screen structure by eggshells in Example 2, thereby affecting the flow of water, and is relatively advanced.

[0081] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or replace some or all of the technical features therein with equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring chicken health, characterized in that: The following steps are involved: S100, randomly select a sample of the chicken flock to obtain the sample quantity; S200, collecting the appearance time and frequency of each target color of the sample on the conveyor belt (1); S300, collects real-time images of chicken samples; S400, sending the information collected in steps S200 and S300 to the background for analysis and processing; S500, the background calculates the total frequency of the target color and the ratio of the sample quantity to obtain the sample broken egg rate, and determines whether the flock is healthy by comparing the sample broken egg rate with the healthy broken egg rate, and locates the abnormal chickens and the number of the target color, and sends the photos and the number of the abnormal chickens to the terminal; The color levels of the target colors are: 255,255,0; 238,232,170; 240,230,140; 255,215,0; 218,165,32; 245,222,179; 255,228,181; 255,165,0; The positioning in step S500 is calculated based on the directional moving speed of the monitoring conveyor belt (1) and the time when the color mark appears.

2. A chicken health monitoring system, the system being used to execute the method of claim 1, characterized in that: The system includes: A machine box is mounted above the downstream end of the chicken cage excrement conveyor belt (1); A light source is arranged on the top of the chassis; Color sensor, used to sense target color; Photoelectric sensor, used to record the number of times the target color appears; Wireless IoT gateway, used to send the information collected by the color sensor and photoelectric sensor to the backend; Microcomputers, used for background computing; High-definition camera, real-time image acquisition.

3. The chicken health monitoring system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The chassis is a box body (3) made of a light-shielding material or having an inner wall coated with a reverse coating and having an opening at the bottom.

4. The chicken health monitoring system according to claim 2, characterized in that: Also includes a cleaning device; The cleaning device comprises a water washing pipe (4), one side of the water washing pipe (4) has an opening and is in contact with the conveyor belt (1), a cleaning brush (5) is provided in the opening, the water washing pipe (4) is divided into a water inlet section and a water outlet section with the opening as a boundary, and the water outlet section is provided with an eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism (6).

5. The chicken health monitoring system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The eggshell filtering and weighing mechanism (6) comprises a pair of limiting plates (61) arranged in parallel in the water washing pipeline (4); A square inner cavity (62) is formed between the two limiting plates (61), a square tube (63) that can only slide back and forth along the plumb line is arranged in the square inner cavity (62), and a channel is arranged in the center of the limiting plate (61); During the entire sliding process of the square inner cavity (62), the lumen of the square tube (63) is always connected to the channel, and the diameter of the lumen of the square tube (63) is smaller than the diameter of the channel, so that the square inner cavity (62) is always isolated from the channel. A filter screen (64) is provided at the outlet end of the lumen of the square tube (63), and the bottom of the square inner cavity (62) supports the square tube (63) through a weight sensing module (65).

6. The chicken health monitoring system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The mesh diameter of the filter (64) is greater than 5 mm.

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