Smart chicken coops make poultry farmers future-proof

There is still a war to be won when it comes to innovation in the poultry sector. That is the opinion of Dennis Hoeks, product manager Data & System Integration at the Vencomatic Group. In his lecture at the Production Process Automation event on 24 January, he will explain how poultry houses can be made smarter. This will result in environmental benefits, higher yields and better animal welfare.

By: Dimitri Reijerman

The Vencomatic Group is active in the poultry sector with multiple divisions, services and products, says Hoeks: “We are active in stable design, the place where the chickens live. Agro Supply provides heat recovery with heat exchangers. And Prinzen mainly makes machines for sorting and packing eggs at the poultry farm. Together we try to come to total solutions for the poultry sector.”

According to Hoeks, animal welfare is always central: “We have never built battery cages for chickens, in our concepts the animals have always been free range. In this way, the chicken shows natural behaviour and lays her egg in the right place and under the right circumstances.”

He continues: “We have been working on this for forty years, but there is now an upper limit to what you can get out of it. You are not going to win as a farmer with half a percent more eggs. But we do see that there are big differences in how different customers of ours perform. This also means that the income distribution between poultry farmers is remarkably large. That is why we want to help poultry farmers who are lagging behind to reach a higher level.”

Sensors and smart machines

In order to arrive at a so-called 'smart barn' for poultry, there are several possibilities to increase animal welfare, make production as efficient as possible and at the same time minimize the impact on the environment. Hoeks: "For this, we are increasingly using sensors that provide a growing amount of data. For example, based on the egg weight, which is an important indicator of the health of an animal, we can determine whether problems arise in a barn. Think of an illness, for example. You can also see whether the feed for the animals is being used optimally. Because in the area of sustainability, you also have to deal with your feed as efficiently as possible."

The fact that there is still much to be gained is because many family businesses conduct their business operations in a conservative manner. “We are active in an industry that is lagging behind in some areas,” says the product manager of Vencomatic. So I sometimes say that we are working on the third and fourth industrial revolution at the same time. Because, certainly outside Europe, too much work is still done manually and most stables hardly contain any sensors. So automation is needed.”

Smart machines and efficient use of data are the solutions: “For this we are introducing machines to efficiently sort eggs into first and second choice. By taking eight photos of each egg at lightning speed, you can create in-depth quality reports very quickly. We are currently working on a cloud platform to make this data transparent for the farmer as well.”

Nitrogen problem

Vencomatic also provides solutions to reduce nitrogen by up to 90 percent, a problem that is high on the agenda in the Netherlands. Hoeks: “We advocate target regulations in the nitrogen dossier. Because we continuously measure ammonia emissions with our heat exchangers. And by building a system that is almost entirely made of plastic, we can precipitate the ammonia and thus capture it.”

During his lecture, Hoeks will delve deeper into the challenges and possible solutions to make poultry houses smarter and future-proof. If you want to hear Dennis Hoeks' lecture during PPA 2023 to attend? Register for free.