SIMPLIFY BY USING POULTRY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS TO BRING ALL OF YOUR CAGE-FREE AUTOMATION TOGETHER
The face of the industry is changing as egg farmers install the latest production systems. Multiple producers are implementing some form of cage free system. Almost all production and processing managers rely on automation to improve performance of egg laying hens. PMSI systems, which enhance this new technology, is versatile enough to help improve these changes in the industry. As new tools emerge and existing capabilities such as variable speed manure blowers, inside humidity, litter scraper control and light dimming (to name a few) require the ability to monitor and control with precision accuracy, PMSI helps to make this a smooth transition.
- Custom egg counters – 6” and 8” image detecting sensors count eggs accurately without single-filing on the new aviary systems. PMSI went back to the manufacturer and requested these custom counters to help monitor and control eggs produced by the latest cage free systems.
- Variable speed control of feeders – The addition of variable speed drives to chain feeders allows for two primary functions:
- Gradual increase in feed chain speed from stopped to full speed over the course of a minute. This can improve the lifetime of the system, and reduce maintenance on the feed chains and sheer pins.
- In pullet systems, feed chains can be run at reduced speeds, allowing young chicks the ability to leave the feed trough when a feeding starts.
- Egg batching with encoder monitoring – Independent speed control of each house allowing for specialty eggs. Gather eggs from houses individually in order to keep products separate from one another on the main conveyor system.
- Light dimming – Sunrise and sunset schedules help birds to know when to come out and when to lay eggs. It encourages the birds to lay in the nest instead of on the floor. Slowly increasing light intensity in the morning and decreasing in the evening simulates natural lighting.
- Zoned temperature control – When birds migrate and pile, as they can in a cage free building, the ability to adjust the air in specific regions of the building is much more important.
- Heat map, simple temperature visual feed-back – Quickly identify anomalies and uneconomical temperature patterns using historical and real-time data.
- Litter scraper control – PMSI provides pushbutton start/stop and monitoring sensors for litter scraper control.
- Nest door control and monitoring – We can monitor and track the history of system doors with PMSI controls, and can provide custom door opening verification and hard copy reporting.
- Variable floor heating (radiant heat) – PMSI controls in-floor radiant heating which helps with uniformity in winter. This technology uses circulating fluid to transfer heat from one or more boilers directly to the floor of a building.
- Cage free temperature graph – Perching, foraging, dust-bathing, cage design, functional space, perching space, and nest boxes are all things which can affect the bird’s behavior and that need to be fully monitored. Monitoring the cage-free temperatures can help in understanding and adjusting for bird behaviors.
RAISING THE BAR WITH ATLAS SOFTWARE
Cage-free flock behavior makes it even more important to automatically monitor and control conditions throughout the barn. PMSI’s Atlas software is flexible, which enables us to meet the needs of changing production systems. On top of that, we’re constantly making improvements and additions to it’s features and abilities. New egg flow batching, egg indexing, localized egg flow control and improved reporting features are just a few of the things we’ve been working on. We also provide customized reports for easier adaptation to client needs. We know you want to utilize your flocks to their full potential, and these tools are designed to do exactly that.
