Applied Research Note: Operation of drones and autonomous vehicles in confined housing to assist in house management

Poultry farmers are required by many integrators to walk their houses at least once per day to observe the birds and check environmental conditions to make timely changes to optimize bird performance and wellbeing. Houses are now on average about 54 feet wide by 575 feet long. This can take a significant amount of time for the farmer to navigate each day while paying full attention to all activities. A drone has the capability to efficiently scan the birds and environment, collect data and provide remote access to conditions in the house to guide decisions around management. In a preliminary experiment, a drone was operated in a commercial facility for 1 flock 1 d a week sometimes in concert with a ground robot in half of 1 house. An analysis based on region motion profiles was used to compare motion effects. The performance of the experimental house compared to 3 other houses on the same farm in terms of mortality, water consumption and feed conversion were not statistically different. Other experiments operating autonomous vehicles do not report significant performance impacts. This implies that drones and other autonomous vehicles might be an additional tool in the management of broiler houses providing added flexibility and capability in a time where farm labor is difficult to find and retain. Integrated systems could be more responsive to perturbations resulting in more timely management decisions that would result in better house conditions thereby improving both bird performance and wellbeing.