Award details

Chickens on camera: practical application and commercialisation of the optical flow system for improved poultry welfare and health

Reference	BB/N012518/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Marian Dawkins
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Stephen Roberts
Institution	University of Oxford
Department	Zoology
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	194,114
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/03/2016
End date	31/08/2018
Duration	30 months

Abstract

unavailable

Summary

Chicken is the most widely eaten meat in the world but commercial producers of broiler (meat) chickens face a number of problems including competition from overseas, public criticism about the health and welfare of their birds, concern about food safety (e.g. Campylobacter) and pressure to reduce their use of medication, especially antibiotics. To help chicken producers with all of these problems, we have developed a camera/computer system that gives a readout every 15 minutes of the how their flocks are behaving in comparison to 'normal' flocks. It enables farmers to keep constant watch on all of their flocks and to take action at the first signs of disease or poor welfare. Before producers will buy or invest in our product, they need to satisfy themselves that it actually works in practices. We now want to put our system in the hands of farmers for use in their day to day management of their flocks to see if it genuinely does help to produce healthier, higher welfare chickens.

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Animal Welfare
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Follow-On Fund (FOF) [2004-2015]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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