Summary

Manual chicken weighing is critical for flock management yet is a labour intensive task. Automated, camera-based estimation of chicken weights would enable more frequent growth monitoring, whilst also enhancing chicken welfare through reduced manual handling. Earlier work progressed machine vision-based weighing from proof-of-concept through to extended trials. This project has the aim of further development and refinement of weight estimation of meat chicken flocks via evaluation at collaborator sites.

Program

Chicken Meat

Research Organisation

University of Southern Queensland

Objective Summary

Confirmation of the number of images and image capture protocol, especially for days 32 to 51 of the flock, to accurately assess weight;
Evaluation and refinement of the technology with ten users;
Development of the software app for commercial use including user interface and real-time weight estimation; and
Further development of the commercialisation strategy.
Engagement with commercial partner.