JP6719071B2 - Drying method of bedding using poultry house management robot - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a poultry house management robot that dries bedding in a chicken house for raising chickens, a method for drying bedding using the robot, and a method for raising chickens.

Most chickens are now raised for livestock. Chickens, as eggs and meat, are important protein sources in the world. Then, in order to improve productivity for eggs and meat, breeding has been carried out using the chicken itself as a seed suitable for egg collection and a seed suitable for meat. Chickens for egg collection are called layers, and chickens for meat are called broilers.

The methods for raising chickens can be broadly divided into two categories: cage and flat. Cage keeping is a method in which several cages (bird cages) installed in a poultry house are used to divide and breed them. On the other hand, the flat breeding is a method in which the chickens are kept in cages and allowed to move freely around the floor in the poultry house.

In order to maintain a good feeding environment for flat-bred broilers, it is recommended that the floor be covered with a litter consisting mainly of ogre flour and shavings. This bedding needs to properly maintain and manage water content.

Maintaining the bedding in good condition has the following advantages:

First, chickens can perform desired behaviors. In order to take a bath in the sand, which is one of the normal desire behaviors of broilers, it is necessary that the litter be appropriately dried and loosened without solidifying. The ability to perform normal desire behavior is also important from the viewpoint of animal welfare, reduces stress and promotes foraging.

The second point is the prevention of injuries and diseases. In the flat-bed, chicken manure is excreted directly on the litter. Hazardous substances such as dampness and ammonia caused by excrement deteriorate the quality of litter (particularly damp or solidified) and cause leg injury (Foot Pad Dermatitis), octopus octopus (thoracic edema), etc. Affect sex. Therefore, keeping the litter in good condition will prevent injury and illness.

Third is the prevention of parasitic diseases. It is necessary to pay attention to the spread of chicken coccidiosis (enteritis due to infection with protozoan oocysts), since the chickens are raised in direct contact with excrement in direct contact. The cause of chicken coccidiosis is a high degree of dampness in the litter. Immature oocysts are excreted with feces, mature and become infectious.

Maintains infectivity for a long time, especially in moist conditions. Ingestion of this oocyst causes secondary infection. Therefore, keeping the litter in good condition will prevent parasitic diseases.

The condition in which the litter has become damp due to excrement is called "floor wetness". Patent Document 1 describes in detail as an adverse effect of floor wetness. Here, in addition to the fact that the above benefits are not obtained, the fact that the floor wet condition causes a bad odor and becomes an environmental problem inside and around the poultry house, and when processing the litter after shipping the broiler However, moist litter is difficult to decompose and does not burn easily, so it is costly to process.

JP, 2010-148500, A JP: Patent 5586923.

As described above, good maintenance of litter does not seem to directly affect the growth of chickens, but it contributes to higher productivity of chickens than expected.

However, good maintenance of bedding is not easy. First, the dampness of litter deteriorates due to insufficient ventilation. On the other hand, even if the poultry house is kept at an appropriate humidity by ventilation, it cannot be said that the bedding is in good condition. In other words, it is not possible to maintain the bedding just by controlling ventilation.

As a measure against summer heat, a method of releasing mist into the poultry house and evaporative cooling to lower the temperature inside the poultry house is adopted. In this case, the humidity in the poultry house naturally rises. Therefore, the litter becomes more difficult to dry.

It is conceivable that the bedding is manually stirred and dug up to perform the work. However, since it requires a great deal of labor and stresses the chickens during the breeding work, the timing and the working method of the work largely depend on the experience of the manager. In addition, there is a similar problem when refilling or replacing the litter.

The present invention has been conceived in view of the above problems, and provides a method for drying litter using a robot for regularly drying litter .

More specifically, the method for drying the bedding using the poultry house management robot according to the present invention,
A moving device for moving on the litter in the poultry house,
Have a drying device for drying the litter, further comprising the step of creating a house management robot equipped with environmental instrument, the pre environment map is run within the poultry house,
Determining a place to dry the litter based on the environment map,
Characterized by chromatic drying the bedding in to the location to be the drying.

Since the poultry house management robot according to the present invention dries the bedding, the condition of the bedding in the poultry house can be maintained in a good condition, and it has the effects of satisfying the desire behavior of chickens, injury/disease prevention, and parasitic disease prevention.

Further, since the litter can be maintained in an appropriate dry state, generation of a bad odor is suppressed. In addition, the dry litter can be easily treated by decomposition and combustion.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the poultry house management robot which concerns on this invention. It is a figure which shows the control system of the poultry house management robot. It is a figure which shows the top view of a poultry house. It is a figure which shows the route which a poultry house management robot runs in a poultry house. It is a figure which shows the flow of a drying method. It is a figure which illustrates the method of dividing the inside of a chicken house into sections. It is a figure which shows the space|interval which runs a poultry house management robot, and the relationship of the age of a chicken. It is a figure which shows the other form of the poultry house management robot. It is a figure which shows the other form of the poultry house management robot. It is a figure which shows the other form of the poultry house management robot. It is a figure which shows the other form of the poultry house management robot.

The poultry house management robot according to the present invention and its operation will be described below with reference to the drawings. The following description describes one embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the following description. That is, the following embodiments can be modified without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows the appearance of a poultry house management robot according to the present invention. FIG. 1A is a side view and FIG. 1B is a front view. The poultry house management robot advances to the left side in FIG. The poultry house management robot 1 has a main body 10, a moving device 12, and a drying device 14. The main body 10 includes a drive unit 34 (see FIG. 2) such as a traveling motor and a reduction gear, a control unit 30 that controls the poultry house management robot 1, a communication unit 32 that communicates with the outside, and a battery 40 (both see FIG. 2). , Other devices are built-in.

Further, a rotary tower 10a is provided on the upper part of the main body 10 and a camera 38 is built therein. A rotary motor 10m (see FIG. 2) for rotating the rotary tower 10a is also incorporated in the main body 10.

Although the moving device 12 has four tires 12a as an example, the moving device 12 may be equipped with a larger number of tires 12a. It may also be an endless track. Further, the diameter and thickness of the tire 12a may be changed depending on the quality and amount of bedding used in the poultry house. The drive unit 34 and the tire 12a housed inside the main body 10 constitute the moving unit 12.

The drying device 14 has a stirrer including a protection portion 16 and a dug portion 18. The dug-out part 18 is composed of a hoe part 18a in which a plurality of discs 18aa having claws are coaxially arranged, and a dug-out drive part 36 (see FIG. 2) that rotates a shaft. A belt for transmitting a rotational force may be connected between the excavation drive section 36 and the rotary shaft of the hoe section 18a. The protection part 16 protects the rotating hoe part 18a from hitting the chicken. Although it is drawn by a dotted line in FIG. 1, the shape is not particularly limited.

In addition, a flexible cover (not shown) such as a fluff or curtain is provided at the lower end of the protection unit 16 to close the space between the lower end surface of the protection unit 16 and the upper surface of the litter to semi-enclose the protection unit 16. It is preferable to put it in a state.

Although only one row of the hoe portions 18a is shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of hoe portions 18a may be arranged side by side in the traveling direction. Further, an auxiliary wheel 12s (see FIG. 8) may be provided at the tip of the protection portion 16. This is to prevent the tip portion of the poultry house management robot 1 from sneaking into the litter when the tip portion becomes long.

The hoe portion 18a of the dug portion 18 is provided with a plurality of disks 18aa. As shown in FIG. 1, the disc 18aa has a plurality of claws oriented in one direction. The shape of the claw is not particularly limited. Further, one disk 18aa may be provided with a claw in the reverse direction. The same disks 18aa do not have to be arranged side by side for the plurality of disks 18aa in one hoe portion 18a. That is, the disks 18aa having the differently shaped claws may be arranged side by side.

Further, although the disks 18aa are arranged in parallel in FIG. 1 (see FIG. 1B), the disks 18aa may be arranged at an angle.

The rotation direction of the hoe portion 18a may be the same as the rotation direction of the tire 12a, or may be the opposite direction. This is because the litter may be agitated to contain air to accelerate the drying. A leveling part 20 for leveling the agitated litter is provided at the rear end of the main body 10.

FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the control system of the poultry house management robot 1. The control system includes a control unit 30, a communication unit 32, a drive device 34, a dug-up drive unit 36, a camera 38, and a battery 40. The control unit 30 controls the movement of the poultry house management robot 1. It is a computer including an MPU (Micro Processor Unit) and a memory. The communication unit 32 receives an instruction from the outside and transmits information from the poultry house management robot 1 itself to the outside. The poultry house management robot 1 according to the present invention may operate autonomously and may be operationally controlled by communication from the outside.

The drive device 34 includes a motor, a reduction gear, and the like. The excavation drive section 36 rotates the hoe section 18a. It also has a motor 36a for selecting a lift-up state in which the hoe portion 18a is lifted up without touching the litter and a lift-down state in which the toe is bited into the litter. This is because when the litter is not dug up, it is not necessary to bite the hoe portion 18a into the litter.

The camera 38 captures the surrounding situation as an image. Further, the rotary tower 10a in which the camera 38 is housed is rotated by the rotary motor 10m. The battery 40 supplies electric power to each unit. Each of these units is connected to the control unit 30 and operates according to an instruction from the control unit 30.

Further, the poultry house management robot 1 may be provided with a temperature/humidity meter, a non-contact (infrared) moisture meter, and an environment measuring instrument 42 such as an ammonia concentration measuring instrument. The environment measuring device 42 measures the temperature and humidity immediately above the litter, the ammonia concentration in the atmosphere at the height where the chicken inhabits, and the like. These devices are also connected to the control unit 30, and the measured values are sent to the control unit 30 as data.

The operation of the poultry house management robot 1 having the above configuration will be described. The dug-up part 18 rotates the hoe part 18a in a state where the hoe part 18a is lifted down so as to hit the litter. The bedding can be sufficiently stirred at a rotation speed of about 10 rpm to 100 rpm. The agitated litter soars in the protective portion 16 and can be sufficiently exposed to the air. By letting air through the bedding, the bedding dries. In this way, while stirring the litter, the poultry house management robot 1 moves inside the poultry house at a speed of about 3 m/min to 8 m/min so as not to surprise the chicken.

FIG. 3 illustrates a plan view of the poultry house 50. The poultry house 50 exemplifies an ordinary poultry house. A feeder 54 of the feeding device 52 is provided along the feeding line 56. Although not shown, the water supply device is provided in another line parallel to the feed line 56 for feeding. The supply line 56 is connected to the silo 58. Food is dispensed from silos 58 through feed lines 56 to each feeder 54.

FIG. 4 illustrates a plan view of the poultry house 50. Here, each dotted line is an example of a movement line of the poultry house management robot 1. The number of poultry house management robots 1 in the poultry house 50 is not particularly limited. Line 60 is a case where one poultry house management robot 1 is arranged in the poultry house 50. The poultry house management robot 1 stirs the litter while moving throughout the poultry house 50. The poultry house management robot 1 according to the present invention may avoid any obstacle on the moving line and move.

For the movement line of the poultry house management robot 1, it is efficient to focus on the place where chickens concentrate. For example, since chickens tend to gather around the feeder 54 and the water feeder, it can be said to be a place where manure is concentrated. Therefore, the litter in the poultry house 50 can be effectively dried by moving around the feeding device 54 and the water supplying device.

Further, as another operation method, a method may be used in which a damp place is searched for in advance and the drip is focused and dried. The operation flow of such a drying method will be specifically described with reference to the flow of FIG. By storing this processing as a program in the memory of the control unit 30, the poultry house management robot 1 can perform the following operations.

Referring to FIG. 5, when this process starts (step S100), initial setting is performed (step S102). In the initial setting, a map in which the poultry house 50 is divided into sections is read in advance, and the representative point 50x of each section 50a and the moving route 50r that goes around the representative point 50x are set in the memory.

FIG. 6 shows a diagram in which the poultry house 50 is divided into sections 50a. There may be any number of compartments 50a. The triangular mark of each section is the representative point 50x. Here, a movement route 50r moving from the start point 50xs to the final point 50xe along the arrow is shown.

Referring again to FIG. 5, the vehicle moves to the first representative point (start point 50xs) (step S104). At this time, the hoe portion 18a is lifted up. Then, the humidity of the litter is measured (step S106). Alternatively, the ammonia concentration may be measured. The measurements are recorded. Here, it is determined whether or not all the measurements have been completed (step S108). This can be determined by whether the current location is the final location 50xe.

If there is still a point to be measured (N branch in step S108), move to the next representative point 50x (step S110). Then, the process returns to step S106 to repeat the measurement again.

When the measurement at all the representative points 50x is completed (Y branch of step S108), the recording result of the humidity or the ammonia concentration of the litter at each representative point 50x is obtained. This result is a result of a pair of the position and the measured value, and since the position indicates the position in the poultry house 50, it can be called an “environment map”.

Next, in step S112, ranking is performed in the order in which the litter is wet in the environment map. The ranking may be performed by ranking each section in descending order of humidity of the litter. Then, the representative point 50x where the litter is moistened to a predetermined threshold value or more is selected (step S114). That is, the place (representative point 50x) where the litter should be dried is determined based on the environment map. The selected representative point 50x is called a candidate representative point 50v. For example, the representative point 50x surrounded by a square in FIG. 6 is the candidate representative point 50v.

Next, it moves to the candidate representative point 50v (step S116), the hoe 18a is lifted down, and the bedding is dried in the section 50a (step S118). It is judged whether or not the place to be dried is finished (step S120), and if it is finished (Y branch of step S120), the work is finished (step S122). If not completed (N branch of step S120), the process proceeds to step S116 and the drying operation is repeated again.

When the temperature and humidity inside the poultry house 50 are measured and rotated in advance in this way, the movement of the poultry house management robot 1 also calls attention to the chickens and also promotes the movement of the chickens. Especially among chickens bred in the poultry house, broilers grow rapidly, and there is a risk that they will not be able to walk because they cannot keep up with the increase in muscle due to their weight gain.

Therefore, the poultry house management robot 1 moves in the poultry house 50 and promotes the movement of the chicken (particularly, the broiler), thereby creating a space between the chicken and the ground, which helps to reduce the body temperature of the chicken. If the temperature in the summer is high and you continue to sit on warm ground, the temperature of the chicken and the temperature of the ground will cause the chicken to overheat and die, which can be solved. Here, the exercise includes an action of standing up.

The poultry house management robot 1 is preferably run while the inside of the poultry house 50 is lit. When turned off, the chicken is resting or sleeping. Then, when the poultry house management robot 1 is run, the chicken is alerted and sleep is disturbed. Here, turning off the light includes not only turning off the light completely, but also a state in which the illuminance is lower than when the light is turned on.

In addition, it is preferable to illuminate a place to feed the broiler, that is, a feeding point brighter than the surroundings when moving the poultry house management robot 1 by utilizing the habit that the broilers gather in a bright place. Especially, it is effective for the windless poultry house where daylight from outside does not enter. As a result, the broiler that has stood up by noticing the running of the poultry house management robot 1 moves to the feeding point, and the effect of promoting feeding is obtained.

Specifically, by illuminating only the feeding points in the vicinity according to the traveling position of the poultry house management robot 1, it is possible to more efficiently promote feeding of the broiler than illuminating all the feeding points at the same time.

Here, as means for illuminating the feeding point brighter than the surroundings, spot lighting is provided separately from the lighting inside the poultry house 50, a cylindrical light collector that changes the lighting inside the poultry house 50 into spot lighting is attached, or the poultry house 50 It is possible to apply means such as moving the inside lighting downward. Of these, spot lighting is preferably provided because the activity becomes dull when the surroundings become dark.

The pace at which the poultry house management robot 1 moves within the poultry house 50 is shortened according to the age of the chicken. As long as the chicken is small, the amount of excrement is small and it may be about once a week. However, as the age increases and the size of chickens increases, the amount of excrement also increases, and the litter soon becomes damp.

FIG. 7 exemplifies the relationship between the running interval and the age of the chicken house management robot 1 in the chicken house 50. The horizontal axis represents the age (days), and the vertical axis represents the running interval (days). The vehicle is allowed to run every 7 days until the age of 14 days, and thereafter, the running interval becomes shorter as the age of the day advances. After 40 days of age, run daily. Of course, the poultry house management robot 1 may be run in a pattern other than that shown in FIG.

As described above, by causing the poultry house management robot 1 according to the present invention to travel in the poultry house 50 at regular intervals and to dry the bedding regularly, the bedding can be maintained in a constant dry state, and the growth of chickens can be improved. A good environment can be provided.

FIG. 8 illustrates another form of the poultry house management robot. The subsequent poultry house management robot can move in the same manner as the poultry house management robot 1. The description of the same reference numerals as those for the poultry house management robot 1 will be omitted.

In the poultry house management robot 2, the disc 18aa of the hoe portion 18a of the dug portion 18 is a disc 18ab having no claws. As described above, even with a disc having no claws, the hoe 18a can be rotated to expose the air to the air by rotating the hoe portion 18a, which can accelerate the drying of the bedding.

FIG. 9 shows the poultry house management robot 3. In the poultry house management robot 3, a blade 18ac is provided on the hoe portion 18a of the dug portion 18. When the poultry house management robot 3 moves forward with the tip of the blade 18ac submerged in the litter, the litter is dug up. Further, in the poultry house management robot 3, the drying device 14 is provided with a blower fan 22 as a blower. Therefore, the poultry house management robot 3 can dig up the litter with the blade 18ac and apply the air with the blower fan 22 to accelerate the drying of the litter.

In addition, it is preferable that the poultry house management robot 3 be provided with an auxiliary wheel 12s in front of the protection unit 16. This is because if the blade 18ac hits a portion where the bedding is hard, the poultry house management robot 3 may be bent and may not be able to move forward. Since the auxiliary wheel 12s is provided in front of the blade 18ac, it is possible to avoid slipping.

In addition, when the litter is dried at the same time when the temperature and humidity are measured, the blade 18ac may not be provided and only the blower fan 22 may be provided as the drying device 14. This is because when the running interval is short and the litter is less damp, the litter can be blown off by the wind of the blower fan 22 and agitated. In this case, a bendable cover provided at the lower end of the protection unit 16 is required. That is, the litter is agitated only between the protection part 16, the main body 10 and the litter.

FIG. 10 shows the poultry house management robot 4. In the poultry house management robot 4, a digging fork 18ad is provided on the hoe portion 18a of the digging portion 18. A blower fan 22 and a heater 24 are also added as the drying device 14.

The dug-up fork 18ad has the same role as the blade 18ac of the poultry house management robot 3, but the tip is bent so that more litter can be dug up. In addition, warm air 25 is blown onto the litter by the blower fan 22 and the heater 24. It is desirable that the poultry house management robot 4 also be provided with the auxiliary wheel 12s.

FIG. 11 shows the poultry house management robot 5. The configuration of the drying device 14 of the poultry house management robot 5 is the same as that of the poultry house management robot 4. The difference is that the blower fan 22 and the heater 24 are dug up and are provided at the base of the fork 18ae. The dug-up fork 18ae is provided with a ventilation hole at the center, and the warm air 25 can be blown from the tip of the dug-up fork 18ae.

Therefore, the poultry house management robot 5 can also send the warm air 25 to the lower litter that is dug up and the forks 18ae have not reached. That is, the warm air 25 can be blown deeply in the depth direction of the litter, and the litter state can be further improved. In particular, if the bottom of the litter is damp, anaerobic microorganisms may be generated, which may give off a bad odor. Since the poultry house management robot 5 can dry the bottom of the litter, it is possible to suppress the generation of a bad odor.

As another form, the hoe portion 18a of the dug portion 18 may be a groove or a protrusion of the tire 12a of the moving device 12. In this case, the drive device 34 also serves as the dug drive portion 36 and the poultry house management robot. Simplifies the configuration of.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The poultry house management robot according to the present invention can be preferably used for poultry houses, particularly for broiler breeding houses.

1 Poultry house management robot 2 Poultry house management robot 3 Poultry house management robot 4 Poultry house management robot 5 Poultry house management robot 10 Main body 10a Rotation tower 10m Rotating motor 12 Moving device 12a Tire 12s Auxiliary wheel 14 Drying device 16 Protecting part 18 Digging part 18a Hoe part 18aa Disc 18ab Disc 18ac Blade 18ad Digging fork 18ae Digging fork 20 Leveling unit 22 Blower fan 24 Heater 25 Hot air 30 Control unit 32 Communication unit 34 Driving device 36 Digging driving unit 36a Motor 38 Camera 40 Battery 42 Environmental measuring device 50 Poultry house 50a Section 50x Representative point 50r Movement route 50xs Start point 50xe Final point 50v Candidate representative point 52 Feeding device 54 Feeder 56 Supply line 58 Silo 60 line

Claims (5)

A moving device for moving on the litter in the poultry house,
A drying device for drying the litter, a chicken house management robot equipped with an environment measuring device, a step of running in advance in the chicken house to create an environment map,
Determining a place to dry the litter based on the environment map,
A method of drying bedding using a poultry house management robot, comprising the step of moving to the place to be dried and drying the bedding. The method for drying litter using a poultry house management robot according to claim 1, wherein the drying device includes a stirrer that stirs the litter . The method of drying a litter using a poultry house management robot according to claim 1, wherein the drying device includes a blower that blows air to the litter . The method for drying litter using a poultry house management robot according to claim 3, wherein the blower has a heater and is capable of blowing warm air. The poultry house according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein the time interval for running the poultry house management robot becomes shorter according to the age of the chickens bred in the poultry house. A method for drying litter using a management robot .