Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.

If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

Abstract. Alternative housing systems become popular in the laying hen industry of China in an attempt to improve the welfare and health of hens. Perches are consistently assembled in those alternative housings. However, information about perch use on farm is still limited due to difficulties in manual observations. This study developed a new approach to automatically monitor the spatial-temporal perch use by laying hens in an alternative housing system. This approach obtained the number of hens on perch using the weighing measurement system, which consisted of a two-meter long steel perch, two weight sensors at the ends of the perch, and a data acquisition module. The weight calibration equation was firstly formed by least square fitting method. To assess the feasibility of this approach, a camera was installed to manually quantify the hens on perches. The results showed that the accuracy of this approach in prediction of the number of hens on perches was up to 95% in 720 trials. In terms of spatial-temporal perch use by hens, it was found that much higher perch use occurred during night than daytime, and perches with higher height were preferred compared to perches with lower height during night. In general, the proposed approach from this study is capable to give the real-time information of perch use by laying hens in the alternative housing system.