Vincent Guyonnet

DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACPV

As a renowned poultry expert, Vincent advises global corporations, writes for industry publications, and coordinates a Poultry Continuing Education program.

Understanding Growth Disparities

In the field of automated weighing of birds and performance evaluation, broilers show different growth rates. These differences may be related to flock sex ratios, initial chick weights and other normal biological variations. They can also be linked to a range of management and environmental conditions, including the health of the birds and their ability to efficiently convert feed into body mass.

Current Monitoring Practices

Bird weight, feed and water consumption, temperature and ammonia levels are usually monitored during production. They provide an opportunity to assess the performance of a flock and also provide valuable information on the health and welfare of the birds. The more data points recorded, the more accurately the condition of a herd can be identified. Temperature and ammonia levels are usually recorded automatically and often continuously.

On the other hand, feed and water consumption is calculated daily, usually when the chickens enter the house in the morning. However, the weight of the birds is still determined weekly using a labor-intensive method that involves catching the birds and placing them individually on a hanging scale. Are we not missing valuable information for our management decisions during rearing?

Disadvantages of Manual Bird Weighing

Manual weighing of birds is time-consuming, stressful for the birds and can cause injury to birds and workers alike. However, the biggest disadvantage is certainly the limited number of birds to be weighed. As the weekly assessment only concerns a few hundred birds or 0.5% of the flock, it provides an inaccurate overview of the growth pattern and health status.

Manual weighing of birds is time-consuming, stressful for the birds and can cause injury to birds and workers alike.

Evolution of Automatic Weighing

Since their first use in poultry production in the 1980s, automatic weighing systems have been confronted with the need to validate each recorded weight against a standard curve to confirm its accuracy. The creation of standard curves by producers (defining a weight range for the animals on each production day) was extremely time-consuming and error-prone. In contrast, Intelia’s automatic bird weighing system relies on machine learning and the latest artificial intelligence technologies. It therefore creates the optimal algorithm to validate each recorded weight. And because the scale measures weight fluctuations, the accumulation of droppings and litter on the hanging plate does not affect the scale’s performance.

Combined with an accuracy of ± 2.4% (up to 2.72 kg or 6 lbs), this system offers producers a real sense of security. These weights, effortlessly recorded around the clock in the broiler house, are the true reflection of their flocks’ performance. Any day, any time, producers can access live data on average weight, daily gain, flock uniformity (percentage of birds within 10% of average weight) and number of birds tracked via a user-friendly touchscreen interface.

Based on this information, producers can decide which measures are best suited to improve the uniformity of their flocks or to reach the target weight at the end of the production cycles. Daily monitoring of average weight and weight gain is also an excellent tool for assessing animal health and welfare and for early detection of potential problems with a flock’s performance.

Any day, any time, producers can access live data on average weight, daily gain, flock uniformity and number of birds tracked via a user-friendly touchscreen interface.

Benefits of Intelia’s System

An added benefit of Intelia’s automatic weighing system is that it also provides some enrichment for broilers if more convincing was needed. By effortlessly providing more accurate and precise bird weights and improving broiler welfare, Intelia’s automatic bird weighing system should indeed be the tool of choice for producers to monitor the performance of their flocks and improve their overall profitability.

Stay Informed!