Coop device for dead chicken anti-blocking detection and method for guiding chickens to use coop

Abstract

The invention discloses a coop device for dead chicken anti-blocking detection and a method for guiding chickens to use a coop. Comprising a hencoop body frame and at least one hencoop structure unit, and each hencoop structure unit comprises a hencoop activity space defined by a hencoop top plate, a hencoop front net, hencoop side plates and a hencoop bottom net; a perching rod adjusting mechanism which is provided with perching rods and controls the perching rods to move along with time is arranged in the hencoop activity space, troughs and egg railings are arranged on the front outer side and the rear outer side of the hencoop structure unit, and a drinking line is arranged in the middle. On the basis of laying hen perching rod characteristics and feeding standing characteristics, the coop with the troughs and the perching rods in synchronous linkage is optimally designed, the troughs and the perching rods are synchronously lifted, dead chickens are effectively prevented from being shielded, modification is small, arrangement is easy, the coop is suitable for dead chicken anti-shielding detection, and the key technical bottleneck of shielding in unmanned dead chicken accurate recognition tasks is broken through.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a chicken cage device for detecting dead chickens in egg-laying hen farming without obstruction, and a method for guiding chickens to use the chicken cage, belonging to the field of poultry farming technology. Background Technology

[0002] Poultry farming is a core pillar of modern animal husbandry, crucial for ensuring a stable supply of livestock products, promoting regional economic development, and increasing farmers' income. The tiered cage rearing model, due to its advantages of high efficiency, intensive farming, strong environmental controllability, and high degree of automation, has been listed as a key area for promotion by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs in its "Technical Guidance on Three-Dimensional Layer Chicken Farming." In large-scale layer chicken farming, accurate detection of dead chickens is the first line of defense in disease prevention and control.

[0003] Currently, the detection of dead chickens in large-scale egg-laying farms still mainly relies on manual inspection of each cage (twice a day). This method is time-consuming, arduous, and suffers from delayed information processing. Furthermore, it is constrained by an aging population and labor shortages, coupled with the health risks posed by the chicken house environment, making this traditional inspection model unsustainable. Vision-based dead chicken detection technology has gained significant attention due to its non-contact nature, rich information content, and high efficiency. While existing inspection robots can achieve a dead chicken recognition rate of over 95%, the problem of dead chickens obscuring the feed troughs and normal chickens within the cages remains unresolved, limiting the performance of the algorithms and making it difficult to completely eliminate false positives and false negatives. Therefore, manual inspection still requires significant human intervention, risking biosafety and involving substantial labor, to enter the chicken house for re-inspection. This is a key bottleneck hindering the widespread application of automated dead chicken inspection technology and equipment.

[0004] Studies have shown that exposure targets are a prerequisite for visual algorithms to capture effective detection targets, and are also key to achieving complete detection of dead chickens. Early researchers tried tapping on the chicken coop to stimulate normal chickens to stand up, thereby alleviating the occlusion of dead chickens by lying normal chickens. However, this failed to physically separate the dead and live chickens, as the claws / parts of the normal chickens could still obscure the dead chickens, posing a risk of missed detection. Furthermore, inappropriate stimulation can easily cause panic, stress, and affect the chickens' production performance and health.

[0005] Researchers in Sweden, Germany, and the United States have found that laying hens exhibit a strong perch-using habit, actively overcoming obstacles to use them and showing distress when deprived of them. Furthermore, perch placement helps improve poultry production efficiency. This invention also found that feeding operations stimulate a strong appetite in chickens, significantly increasing the incidence of standing behavior. Currently, the placement of perches in chicken cages primarily aims to satisfy the chickens' perch-using habits and improve animal welfare, but it does not yet address anti-obstruction technology for complete detection of dead chickens.

[0006] Therefore, most current optimizations and improvements to layer hen cages are based on the technical requirements of welfare farming in Europe and America, and involve adding perches to stacked layer hen cages in my country, or designing open welfare cages with activity areas, egg-laying areas, and rest areas. However, they have failed to consider, or even failed to consider, specific designs for detecting dead chickens against obstruction. Summary of the Invention

[0007] The problem of dead chickens being difficult to detect completely due to obstruction and interference still requires manual re-inspection at great biosafety risks, making it a major bottleneck to achieve fully automated "machine-for-human" operation in dead chicken inspection.

[0008] In order to achieve spatial separation of normal chickens and dead chickens at a specific time and avoid the obstruction of dead chickens so as to achieve complete detection of dead chickens, this invention, based on several years of research experience, combines the perch characteristics and feeding standing characteristics of laying hens to improve the design of existing laying hen cages. In response to the problems existing in the background technology, this invention proposes an anti-obstruction chicken cage device based on the perch characteristics and feeding standing characteristics of laying hens for the task of dead chicken detection, as well as a method for guiding chickens to use the chicken cage.

[0009] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention adopts the following technical solution:

[0010] I. A chicken cage device for detecting dead chickens without obstruction:

[0011] The chicken cage device includes a main frame of the chicken cage and at least one chicken cage structural unit installed in the main frame of the chicken cage. Each chicken cage structural unit includes a chicken cage top plate, a chicken cage front net, a chicken cage side plate, and a chicken cage bottom net. The chicken cage bottom net is arranged to the outside. The chicken cage top plate, chicken cage front net, chicken cage side plate, and chicken cage bottom net enclose the chicken cage activity space.

[0012] Each chicken cage activity space is equipped with a perch adjustment mechanism that controls the movement of the perch over time. Outside the chicken cage activity space, each chicken cage structural unit has feed troughs for placing chicken feed and egg racks for collecting eggs on its front, back, and outer sides. A water line for chickens to drink water is set in the middle of the chicken cage activity space.

[0013] Multiple chicken cage structural units were installed in the main frame of the chicken cage, and the multiple chicken cage structural units were stacked on top of each other.

[0014] The perch adjustment mechanism mainly includes two lead screw drive modules and a perch between the two lead screw drive modules. The two lead screw drive modules are arranged on the left and right sides respectively. Each lead screw drive module includes two vertical lead screw drive components and an inclined lead screw drive component between the two vertical lead screw drive components. The two vertical lead screw drive components are arranged vertically on the front and rear sides respectively. The perch is connected between the inclined lead screw drive components of the two lead screw drive modules.

[0015] The vertical screw drive assembly includes a vertical slide, a vertical screw, and a vertical drive motor. The vertical slide is fixedly installed, and the vertical screw is installed parallel to the side of the vertical slide. A vertical drive motor for driving the vertical screw to rotate is installed at one end of the vertical screw. The vertical screw and the inclined screw drive assembly are connected at one end. In each screw drive module, a first slider nut is threaded onto the horizontal screw of the vertical screw drive assembly near the front side of the chicken cage net. The feed trough and the first slider nut are fixedly connected.

[0016] The tilting lead screw drive assembly includes a slider nut, a horizontal lead screw, and... level The drive motor and the perch fixing rod are connected at both ends to the vertical screws of the two vertical screw drive components in the corresponding screw drive module via threads. A horizontal screw is installed parallel to the side of the perch fixing rod. A horizontal drive motor for driving the horizontal screw to rotate is installed at one end of the horizontal screw. A second slider nut is threaded onto each vertical screw. The second slider nuts of the tilting screw drive components of the two screw drive modules are fixedly connected by a perch.

[0017] Each subspace has a vertical slide groove for a vertical screw drive assembly installed at each of its four corners. The vertical slide groove is divided into a vertical slide groove near the inner side of the subspace and a vertical slide groove near the outer side of the subspace. A slider nut for connecting the material trough is installed on the vertical slide groove near the outer side of the subspace.

[0018] The chicken cage side panel includes left and right side panels and a middle side panel; the left and right side panels are set on the left and right sides of the chicken cage activity space, and the middle side panel is set in the middle of the chicken cage activity space, so that the chicken cage activity space is divided into two sub-spaces on both sides, and the bottom mesh of the chicken cage in each sub-space is set downward from the middle to the side.

[0019] It includes a row of egg racks arranged at intervals along the horizontal direction, with the egg racks at the same level, and an egg collection strip arranged above the egg racks for collecting eggs.

[0020] In each sub-space, a drinking line is set near the middle side panel, and nipple drinkers for chickens to drink are set at intervals on the drinking line.

[0021] The bottom of the main frame of the chicken cage is equipped with a manure collection belt for collecting chicken droppings.

[0022] It also includes a controller, which is electrically connected to the vertical drive motor and the horizontal drive motor of the perch adjustment mechanism, respectively.

[0023] II. A method for preventing obstruction detection and guiding dead chickens using chicken cages based on a chicken cage device:

[0024] This invention also proposes a method for guiding laying hens to use the chicken cage, which is also a method for raising and cultivating laying hens in the chicken cage. The method includes the following steps:

[0025] After the laying hens are transferred into the cages, the movement of the vertical and horizontal screws is adjusted to bring the feed trough and perch to their initial positions, so that the feed trough is at its lowest point and the perch is in close contact with the front and bottom wire mesh of the cage, and this is continued for a week.

[0026] Starting on the 8th day after the laying hens are transferred to the cages, gradually increase the height of the feed trough and perch by 10-30 mm each day until the feed trough reaches 23-35 cm and the perch reaches 15-30 cm.

[0027] Initially, the distance between the perch and the front net of the chicken cage should be half the length of the chicken, usually 18-25cm, and this distance usually remains unchanged after the laying hens are moved into the chicken cage.

[0028] The present invention adopts the above technical solution and has the following advantages:

[0029] 1) After the laying hens enter the chicken cage device of the present invention, the height of the feed trough is first lowered to the same height as that of ordinary chicken cages so that the chickens can quickly become familiar with the environment. Then, the feed trough and perch are raised by 10-30mm every day, which can guide the chickens to stand on the perch to eat and gradually develop the habit of using the cage.

[0030] 2) In this invention, the daily average rise rate of the feed trough and perch is 10~30mm, so the chickens will not be unable to eat normally due to excessive adjustment parameters.

[0031] In summary, based on the characteristics of laying hens' perches and their standing characteristics during feeding, this invention optimizes the design of a chicken cage in which the feed trough and perch are linked synchronously. By raising the feed trough and perch simultaneously, the dead chickens are effectively prevented from being obstructed. This design requires minimal modifications, is easy to deploy, and is suitable for detecting dead chickens without obstruction, thus overcoming the key technical bottleneck of obstruction in unmanned and accurate dead chicken identification tasks. Attached Figure Description

[0032] Figure 1 This is a front view of the chicken cage device of the present invention.

[0033] Figure 2 This is a side view of the chicken cage device of the present invention.

[0034] Figure 3 This is a slanted view of the chicken cage device of the present invention.

[0035] Figure 4 This is a slanted view of the internal structure of the chicken cage device of the present invention.

[0036] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the perch structure of the chicken cage device of the present invention.

[0037] Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram showing the detailed structure of the perch of the chicken cage device of the present invention.

[0038] Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram of the feed trough section of the chicken cage device of the present invention.

[0039] Figure 8 This is a frontal view illustration of a dead chicken in a typical laying hen cage, obscured by a live chicken.

[0040] Figure 9 This is a slanted view of a dead chicken in a typical laying hen cage, obscured by a live chicken.

[0041] Figure 10 This is a front view schematic diagram of the chicken cage device of the present invention, showing the separation of dead and live chicken spaces.

[0042] Figure 11 This is a slanted view of the chicken cage device of the present invention, showing the separation of dead and live chicken spaces.

[0043] In the diagram: 1. Chicken cage mounting base; 2. Manure cleaning belt; 3. Chicken cage front mesh; 4. Egg collection belt; 5. Feed trough; 6. Nipple drinker; 7. Feeding trolley guide rail; 8. Chicken cage main frame; 9. Controller; 10. Egg rack; 11. Drinking line; 12. Chicken cage top plate; 13. Vertical slide rail; 14. Chicken cage side plate; 15. Chicken cage bottom mesh; 16. Horizontal screw; 17. Sliding nut; 18. Perch; 19. Vertical drive motor; 20. Horizontal drive motor; 21. Vertical screw; 22. Perch fixing rod; 23. Normal chicken; 24. Dead chicken; 14-1 left and right side plates; 14-2 middle side plate. Detailed Implementation

[0044] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

[0045] like Figures 1-3 As shown, the anti-shading chicken cage device proposed in this invention includes a mounting base 1, a main frame 8 for mounting three layers of chicken cages, and a feeding trolley guide rail 7 for feeding trolley operation at the top of the main frame.

[0046] It includes a chicken cage main frame 8 and at least one / layer chicken cage structural unit installed in the chicken cage main frame 8. The four corners of the chicken cage main frame 8 are installed on the ground through chicken cage mounting bases 1.

[0047] Each chicken cage structural unit includes a chicken cage top plate 12 arranged on the top side of the chicken cage activity space, a chicken cage front net 3 arranged on the front side of the chicken cage activity space, chicken cage side plates 14 arranged on the left and right sides of the chicken cage activity space, and a chicken cage bottom net 15 arranged on the bottom side of the chicken cage activity space. The chicken cage bottom net 15 is arranged at an outward angle. The chicken cage activity space is formed by the chicken cage top plate 12, chicken cage front net 3, chicken cage side plates 14 and chicken cage bottom net 15.

[0048] Each chicken cage activity space above the bottom wire mesh 15 is equipped with a perch adjustment mechanism that controls the movement of the perch 18 over time. The perch adjustment mechanism is symmetrically arranged between the front and rear sides of each chicken cage structural unit. Outside the chicken cage activity space, each chicken cage structural unit is equipped with a feed trough 5 for placing chicken feed and an egg rack 10 for receiving eggs on the front and rear outer sides. A drinking line 11 for chickens to drink water is set in the middle of the chicken cage activity space.

[0049] Multiple chicken cage structural units are installed in the main frame 8 of the chicken cage, and these multiple chicken cage structural units can be stacked on top of each other at intervals.

[0050] The perch adjustment mechanism mainly includes two lead screw drive modules and a perch 18 between the two lead screw drive modules. The two lead screw drive modules are arranged at intervals on the left and right sides of the space. Each lead screw drive module includes two vertical lead screw drive components and an inclined lead screw drive component between the two vertical lead screw drive components. The two vertical lead screw drive components are arranged vertically at intervals on the front and rear sides of the space. The perch 18 is connected between the inclined lead screw drive components of the two lead screw drive modules, so that a vertical lead screw drive component is arranged at each of the four corners of the space.

[0051] The vertical screw drive assembly includes a vertical slide 13, a vertical screw 21, and a vertical drive motor 19. The vertical slide 13 is fixedly installed, and the vertical screw 21 is rotatably and parallelly installed on the side of the vertical slide 13. A vertical drive motor 19 for driving the vertical screw 21 to rotate is installed at one end of the vertical screw 21. The output end of the vertical drive motor 19 is coaxially and fixedly connected to the vertical screw 21. The vertical screw 21 is connected to one end of the perch fixing rod 22 of the inclined screw drive assembly. In each screw drive module, a first sliding nut 17 is threaded onto the horizontal screw 16 of one of the vertical screw drive assemblies near the front side of the chicken cage front net 3, and the first sliding nut 17 can be slidably connected to the vertical slide 13. The feed trough 5 is fixedly connected to the first sliding nut 17. More specifically, both ends of the feed trough 5 are fixedly connected to the first sliding nut 17 on the horizontal screw 16 of one of the vertical screw drive assemblies near the front side of the chicken cage front net 3 in the two screw drive modules.

[0052] like Figure 7 As shown, the feed trough 5 and the vertical lead screw 21 are fixedly connected by the slider nut 17, so that the feed trough 5 and the support rod 18 move up and down synchronously together.

[0053] All four vertical drive motors 19 of each vertical lead screw drive assembly of the two lead screw drive modules operate synchronously, driving the two inclined lead screw drive assemblies on both sides to move synchronously along the vertical lead screw 21 axis, thereby driving the rod 18 between the two inclined lead screw drive assemblies to move up and down along the vertical lead screw 21 axis.

[0054] The tilting screw drive assembly includes a slider nut 17 and a horizontal screw 16. level The drive motor 20 and the perch fixing rod 22 are connected by threads at both ends to the vertical screws 21 of the two vertical screw drive components in the corresponding screw drive module and can be slidably embedded in the vertical slide groove 13. A horizontal screw 16 is rotatably mounted parallel to the side of the perch fixing rod 22. The horizontal screw 16 is also arranged at an angle and parallel to the bottom net of the chicken cage 15. A horizontal drive motor 20 for driving the horizontal screw 16 to rotate is installed at one end of the horizontal screw 16. The output end of the horizontal drive motor 20 is coaxially fixedly connected to the horizontal screw 16. A second slider nut 17 is threadedly fitted on each of the vertical screws 21. The slider nut 17 on the vertical screw 21 can be slidably connected to the vertical slide groove 13. The second slider nuts 17 of the two inclined screw drive components of the screw drive module are fixedly connected to each other by a perch 18. Both ends of the perch 18 are fixedly connected to the slider nuts 17.

[0055] All two horizontal drive motors 20 of the tilting screw drive assembly of the two screw drive modules operate synchronously, driving the second slider nuts 17 on both sides to move synchronously along the axial direction of the horizontal screw 16, thereby driving the perch 18 between the two second slider nuts 17 to move closer to or away from the front net 3 of the chicken cage along a plane parallel to the bottom net 15 of the chicken cage.

[0056] Both the vertical lead screw 21 and the horizontal lead screw 16 are fitted with a sliding nut 17 via threads. Normally, the sliding nuts 17 on the vertical lead screw 21 and the horizontal lead screw 16 are slidably connected to the vertical slide groove 13 and the rod fixing rod 22, respectively.

[0057] Each layer of chicken cage is equipped with a perch 18. Both ends of the perch 18 are fixed to the slider nuts 17 on the horizontal screw 16. The perch can be moved horizontally by rotating the screw.

[0058] The perch 18 is made of rough-surfaced wood with a rectangular cross-section, measuring 2.5 to 4.0 cm in length and width.

[0059] like Figure 5 As shown, the horizontal lead screw 16 is fixed on the perch fixing rod 22. The two ends of the perch fixing rod 22 are connected to the vertical lead screw 21 through screw holes. Both ends of the perch fixing rod 22 are limited and cannot rotate. The perch can be raised and lowered by rotating the lead screw.

[0060] like Figure 6 As shown, each cage position, taking the third layer front cage position as an example, is equipped with two outer vertical slide grooves 13-1, the rear cage position is 13-3, and two inner vertical slide grooves 13-2, the rear cage position is 13-4. Each vertical slide groove is equipped with a vertical screw 21.

[0061] like Figure 4 As shown, the vertical lead screw 21 is installed in the vertical slide groove 13, and the vertical slide groove 13 is fixed at the four corners of the chicken cage main frame 8.

[0062] Each subspace has a vertical slide groove 13 installed at each of its four corners, which is a vertical lead screw drive assembly. The vertical slide groove 13 is divided into vertical slide grooves 13-2 / 13-3 near the inner side of the subspace and vertical slide grooves 13-1 / 13-4 near the outer side of the subspace. The vertical slide grooves 13-1 / 13-4 near the outer side of the subspace are equipped with a first slider nut 17 for connecting the material trough 5.

[0063] The inner side of the subspace is the side closest to the middle of the chicken coop's activity space, and the outer side of the subspace is the side closest to the outer side of the chicken coop's activity space.

[0064] The chicken cage side panel 14 includes left and right side panels 14-1 and a middle side panel 14-2; the left and right side panels 14-1 are set on the left and right sides of the chicken cage activity space, and the middle side panel 14-2 is set in the middle of the chicken cage activity space, so that the chicken cage activity space is divided into two sub-spaces on both sides, and the chicken cage bottom mesh 15 in each sub-space is set downward from the middle to the side.

[0065] In practice, the chicken cage is composed of a top plate 12, side plates 14, front net 3, and bottom net 15. The bottom net 15 has a downward tilt angle of 11 degrees so that the eggs can roll smoothly into the egg rack 10 below.

[0066] The egg rack 10 is equipped with an egg collection belt 4 for automatically transporting eggs that fall into the egg rack 10. Specifically, it includes an egg rack 10 arranged at intervals along the horizontal direction. The egg rack 10 is located outside the subspace and is at the same level. An egg collection belt 4 is arranged on the upper side of the egg rack 10 to collect eggs. The egg collection belt 4 is a conveyor belt, and its upper surface is arranged close to the lower side of the egg rack 10 so that the eggs on the egg rack 10 can be transported out by the egg collection belt 4 to an external collection device.

[0067] In each subspace, a drinking line 11 is provided near the middle side panel 14-2, and nipple drinkers 6 for chickens to drink are installed at intervals on the drinking line 11.

[0068] In practice, a feed trough 5 is set on the front side of the chicken cage outside the activity space of the chicken cage, and the drinking line 11 inside the chicken cage is set near the middle side plate 14-2. Nipple drinkers 6 are evenly arranged below the drinking line.

[0069] The bottom of the main frame 8 of the chicken cage is equipped with a manure collection belt 2 to collect the chicken droppings that fall from the activity space of each chicken cage. The manure collection belt 2 transports the chicken droppings to an external collector.

[0070] A manure removal belt 2 is installed directly below the bottom net of each layer of chicken cage. The manure removal belt 2 is the same width as the projection of the bottom net 15 and is used for automatic cleaning of excrement.

[0071] It also includes a controller 9, which is installed on the left and right side plates 14-1 near the main frame 8. The controller 9 is used to control the position of the perch and the height of the feed trough 5. The controller 9 is electrically connected to the vertical drive motor 19 and the horizontal drive motor 20 of the perch adjustment mechanism. The controller 9 has a built-in timer. The controller 9 calculates and controls the time according to the timer, and then controls the vertical drive motor 19 and the horizontal drive motor 20. The vertical drive motor 19 and the horizontal drive motor 20 work together to drive the perch 18 to move up and down along the vertical screw 21 axis, and to move towards or away from the front wire mesh 3 of the chicken cage parallel to the bottom wire mesh 15.

[0072] In practice, a feeding trolley guide rail 7 is installed on the top surface of the main frame 8 of the chicken cage. A layer hen feeding trolley is arranged on the feeding trolley guide rail 7. The layer hen feeding trolley moves along the feeding trolley guide rail 7 to feed the feed troughs 5 of each layer below.

[0073] In the above example, the height of the front mesh 3 of the chicken cage is 60-75cm, and the height of the middle side plate 14-2 is 35-45cm.

[0074] In the above example, the perch 18 is set parallel to the bottom net 15. After the adaptation period, the final set height of the perch 18 is 15-30 cm, and the distance from the front side of the front net 3 is 18-25 cm. The height refers to the vertical height of the perch 18 relative to the bottom net 15 of the chicken cage, and the front distance refers to the horizontal distance of the perch 18 relative to the front net 3 of the chicken cage.

[0075] In the above examples, when raising chickens, it is necessary to ensure that each chicken has at least 750 cm of space. 2 The area of ​​the chicken coop, that is, the bottom area of ​​the chicken coop's activity space, and the length of the perch for each chicken is not less than 18 cm.

[0076] In the above example, since the material trough 5 and the vertical lead screw 21 are fixedly connected by a slider nut, they will be raised in sync with the support rod, and the final height is set at 23-35 cm.

[0077] This invention also proposes a method for guiding laying hens to use the chicken cage, which is also a method for growing and cultivating laying hens in the chicken cage. The method includes the following steps:

[0078] After the laying hens are transferred into the chicken cages, the vertical screw 21 and the horizontal screw 16 are adjusted by the controller 9 to drive the feed trough 5 and the perch 18 to be adjusted to the initial position, so that the height of the feed trough 5 is at the lowest point, which is the same as that of ordinary chicken cages. At the same time, the perch 18 is close to the bottom net 15 of the chicken cage activity space, 18~25cm away from the front net of the chicken cage. The chickens are raised for a week to familiarize the chickens with the environment in the chicken cage and the layout and use of the feed trough 5 and water line.

[0079] Starting on the 8th day after the laying hens are transferred to the chicken cages, gradually increase the height of the feed trough 5 and perch 18 by 10-30 mm each day until the height of the feed trough 5 reaches 23-35 cm and the height of the perch 18 reaches 15-30 cm. The distance from the perch 18 to the front net 3 of the chicken cage should be 18-25 cm, without affecting the chickens' normal feeding.

[0080] The chickens included 23 normal chickens and 24 dead chickens.

[0081] When no food is put into the feed trough 5, both normal chickens 23 and dead chickens 24 will move around on the bottom wire mesh 15 of the chicken cage.

[0082] When food is put into the feed trough 5, normal chickens 23 will go through the front net 3 of the chicken cage to feed in the feed trough 5. As the perch 18 is gradually raised and moved away from the front net 3 of the chicken cage, normal chickens 23 will stand on the perch 18 in order to feed, so as to keep their relative position to the feed trough 5 closer. Dead chickens 24 will remain at the bottom of the bottom net 15 of the chicken cage, thus distinguishing normal chickens 23 from dead chickens 24.

[0083] like Figures 8-9 As shown, in a normal laying hen cage, because the normal chickens 23 are located at the bottom of the cage and the feed trough is low, the dead chickens 24 located on the bottom net 15 are easily blocked. The normal chickens 23 are easily blocked by the dead chickens 24, which makes it easier to misdetect or miss dead chickens.

[0084] like Figures 10-11 As shown, in the dead chicken detection and anti-obstruction chicken cage device for egg-laying hen farming of the present invention, the present invention utilizes the perches and feeding standing characteristics of chickens to design a chicken cage device structure that allows chickens to stand on the perches to feed. By gradually raising the perches 18 and adjusting the height of the feed trough 5, normal chickens 23 stand on the perches 18 to eat the feed in the feed trough 5 during feeding operations, thereby achieving spatial separation between normal chickens 23 and dead chickens 24 and avoiding the key technical bottleneck problem of dead chickens obstructing feed in the industry.

[0085] As can be seen from the above, the design of this invention has clear differences and unique features compared to existing similar technologies. Addressing the problem of dead chickens being easily obscured by healthy chickens and the feed trough in the H-type stacked cage laying hen farming model currently promoted by Chinese industry and government, this invention optimizes the traditional stacked cage design by incorporating a cage with synchronized feed trough and perch, based on the characteristics of laying hen perches and their standing posture during feeding. The feed trough and perch are raised synchronously, and a method is proposed to guide the chickens to use the cage. This technology ensures that during feeding, healthy chickens stand on the perches to eat, thus removing them from the cage floor space where dead chickens are distributed, effectively preventing obscuring of dead chickens and facilitating complete identification of dead chickens by visual algorithms.

[0086] The chicken cage proposed in this invention features minimal structural modifications to existing chicken cages, is easy to deploy, and is suitable for detecting dead chickens without obstruction. It not only meets the actual needs of poultry farms (low cost, minimal changes to existing facilities, and significant results), but also overcomes the key technical bottleneck of obstruction in unmanned, accurate dead chicken identification through a spatial separation scheme. Given that this solution is expected to effectively address the current industry pain points in dead chicken detection, and that there are currently no direct patents in this area, it is necessary and valuable to protect the technical solution of this invention with a patent.

[0087] The present invention is illustrated by the above examples only. The structure, position and connection of each component can be varied. Based on the present invention, any anti-obstruction design that utilizes the physiological behavior characteristics of laying hens (perch characteristics and feeding standing characteristics) and combines the perch or other devices in the chicken cage to achieve spatial separation of normal chickens and dead chickens is protected by the present invention. In addition, any improvements and equivalent transformations made to individual components based on the principles of the present invention should not be excluded from the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A chicken cage device for detecting dead chickens without obstruction, characterized in that: The cage includes a main frame (8) and at least one cage structure unit installed in the main frame (8). Each cage structure unit includes a top plate (12), a front net (3), a side plate (14), and a bottom net (15). The bottom net (15) is arranged to the outside. The top plate (12), the front net (3), the side plate (14), and the bottom net (15) enclose the cage to form the cage activity space. Each chicken cage activity space is equipped with a perch adjustment mechanism that controls the movement of the perch (18) over time. Outside the chicken cage activity space, each chicken cage structural unit is equipped with a feed trough (5) for placing chicken feed and an egg rack (10) for receiving eggs. A drinking line (11) for chickens to drink water is set in the middle of the chicken cage activity space.

2. The chicken cage device for detecting dead chickens without obstruction according to claim 1, characterized in that: Multiple chicken cage structural units are installed in the main frame (8) of the chicken cage, and the multiple chicken cage structural units are stacked on top of each other.

3. A chicken cage device for detecting dead chickens without obstruction, as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The perch adjustment mechanism mainly includes two lead screw drive modules and a perch (18) between the two lead screw drive modules. The two lead screw drive modules are arranged on the left and right sides respectively. Each lead screw drive module includes two vertical lead screw drive components and an inclined lead screw drive component between the two vertical lead screw drive components. The two vertical lead screw drive components are arranged vertically on the front and rear sides respectively. The perch (18) is connected between the inclined lead screw drive components of the two lead screw drive modules. The vertical screw drive assembly includes a vertical slide (13), a vertical screw (21), and a vertical drive motor (19). The vertical slide (13) is fixedly installed, and the vertical screw (21) is installed parallel to the side of the vertical slide (13). A vertical drive motor (19) for driving the vertical screw (21) to rotate is installed at one end of the vertical screw (21). The vertical screw (21) and the inclined screw drive assembly are connected at one end. In each screw drive module, a first slider nut (17) is threaded onto the horizontal screw (16) of a vertical screw drive assembly near the front of the chicken cage front net (3). The feed trough (5) and the first slider nut (17) are fixedly connected. The tilting screw drive assembly includes a slider nut (17) and a horizontal screw (16). level The drive motor (20) and the perch fixing rod (22) are connected by threads to the vertical screws (21) of the two vertical screw drive components in the corresponding screw drive module. A horizontal screw (16) is installed parallel to the side of the perch fixing rod (22). A horizontal drive motor (20) for driving the horizontal screw (16) to rotate is installed at one end of the horizontal screw (16). A second slider nut (17) is threaded on each vertical screw (21). The second slider nuts (17) of the tilt screw drive components of the two screw drive modules are fixedly connected by a perch (18).

4. A chicken cage device for detecting dead chickens without obstruction, as described in claim 3, characterized in that: Each subspace has a vertical slide groove (13) for a vertical screw drive assembly installed at each of its four corners. The vertical slide groove (13) is divided into a vertical slide groove (13-2 / 13-3) near the inner side of the subspace and a vertical slide groove (13-1 / 13-4) near the outer side of the subspace. A slider nut (17) for connecting the material trough (5) is installed on the vertical slide groove (13-1 / 13-4) near the outer side of the subspace.

5. A chicken cage device for detecting dead chickens without obstruction, as described in claim 1, characterized in that: The chicken cage side panel (14) includes left and right side panels (14-1) and a middle side panel (14-2); the left and right side panels (14-1) are set on the left and right sides of the chicken cage activity space, and the middle side panel (14-2) is set in the middle of the chicken cage activity space, so that the chicken cage activity space is divided into two sub-spaces on both sides, and the bottom net (15) of the chicken cage in each sub-space is set downward from the middle to the side.

6. A chicken cage device for detecting dead chickens without obstruction, as described in claim 5, characterized in that: It includes an egg rack (10) arranged at intervals along the horizontal direction, the egg racks (10) are at the same level, and an egg collection strip (4) is arranged on the upper side of the egg rack (10) for collecting eggs.

7. A chicken cage device for detecting dead chickens without obstruction, as described in claim 5, characterized in that: In each subspace, a drinking line (11) is provided near the middle side panel (14-2), and nipple drinkers (6) for chickens to drink water are provided at intervals on the drinking line (11).

8. A chicken cage device for detecting dead chickens without obstruction, as described in claim 5, characterized in that: The bottom of the main frame (8) of the chicken cage is provided with a manure collection belt (2) for receiving chicken manure.

9. A chicken cage device for detecting dead chickens without obstruction, as described in claim 1, characterized in that: It also includes a controller (9), which is electrically connected to the vertical drive motor (19) and the horizontal drive motor (20) of the perch adjustment mechanism, respectively.

10. A method for detecting and guiding dead chickens without obstruction based on the chicken cage device according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that: The method includes the following steps: After the laying hens are transferred into the chicken cages, the movement of the vertical screw (21) and the horizontal screw (16) is adjusted to drive the feed trough (5) and the perch (18) to be adjusted to the initial position, so that the height of the feed trough (5) is at the lowest point, and the perch (18) is in close contact with the front net (3) and the bottom net (15) of the chicken cage activity space, and the chickens are fed for a week. Starting on the 8th day after the laying hens are transferred to the chicken cages, gradually increase the height of the feed trough (5) and perch (18) by 10-30 mm each day until the height of the feed trough (5) reaches 23-35 cm and the height of the perch (18) reaches 15-30 cm.

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