The new in-shed camera takes the bird-centric approach
1st August 2023
The Pondus in-shed camera system is relatively new to the market and uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to monitor birds. Unlike many other systems on the market, it focuses on what the birds are doing rather than traditional environmental monitoring. We spoke to Pondus CEO Claire Lewis to find out more…
The company says that Pondus offers a camera-based solution for weighing birds using a unique algorithm that eliminates many errors associated with current weighing methods. The Weighestimator can weigh around 5,000 birds per day throughout the life cycle. It also provides a weight profile to show how the weights are distributed, helping to inform management practices.
Another algorithm in the pipeline is Huddling/Clustering, which allows farmers to monitor and address huddling incidents, which often occur when the farmer is off-site and can cause significant losses. The new service will allow farmers to set up their own alerts to mitigate huddling.
A series of other behaviour features are also in development, including feeder and drinker behaviour, mortality and gate analysis.
Alerts and data can be viewed from a mobile app and a web application, and it’s possible to share data wherever you are, with whomever you wish, such as your poultry vet for example. Data can also be exported to an Excel spreadsheet to create your own charts if you prefer.
As well as providing data to inform decision-making, the camera-based system allows farmers to see the birds and zoom in – allowing them to target better when and how often they go into the sheds. With avian influenza continuing to present significant challenges, this is a particular benefit in reducing unnecessary visits to sheds.
Another key benefit of the system is that it is plug-and-play and can be self-installed for convenience and, again, to reduce visitors to the farm. Pondus provides YouTube training videos, manual and remote technical support.
One farmer user commented: “The weight estimations are accurate and the app is very easy to navigate. In the app you can also get an excellent view of the birds as well as keep track of your weight reports anytime anywhere. The beauty of this system is Pondus has the ability to provide more than just weighing and it is bird centric. We have our shed sensor data, this technology provides the other side of the equation – the birds.
“It’s a lot to offer and will bring great value to our poultry farm reducing labour needs whilst actually helping us to identify sooner any arising issues which we can act on to deliver an uptick in performance.”
Pondus was incorporated in February 2020 and prior to its launch in March, the camera system underwent four years
of R&D, which included developing Pondus’ own algorithms and trialling the technology in various different poultry systems, including the company’s own birds. Claire says it is now in use in sheds in the UK, Ireland, Canada and Australia and has had good feedback from poultry farms.
