The Legbar Thread!

[lonnyandrinda]

You don't need a $1800 scanner if you have an Android phone. As it turns out, I am a professional app developer. When I have time in the Spring I will write an app to read those tags. I would do it now but I have a backlog of clients wanting me to create apps for them before their fiscal year ends. Someone remind me in late Feb or March and I will create it and distribute it for free. It will be my contribution back to the BYC community.

That sounds amazing! I agree with K- enlighten us please on how these systems work!

 

[DCchicken]

Please excuse my ignorance...but how would this work? Like would you have to put an android phone at each nest box?

I don't want to hijack the thread so I will start a new one in the Spring once I begin work on it. But for a quick info, I already wrote a similar app for a prepper that wanted an inventory management system. Personally I thought the guy was nuts to want to track everything in his stock-pile. But his check cleared, so he is good in my eyes.

Basically it would just be an inventory management app with the hens and eggs being the inventory. There are several ways to track:

1. RFID chip each chicken. Then a RFID reader attached to a disposable Android cell phone is mounted in a nest box (one should work for several nest boxes). The phones then collect data and relay the information to a website. We could also try it with less expensive NFC tags, but not sure the NFC tag would work well in a dirty environment like a coop.
2. This second way is lot more fun to implement but I would need to get permission from the company I already developed the technology for. Basically we mount web cams in the nest boxes and capture images of each hen as they are doing their thing. The photos are then relayed back to a website where they are run through facial recognition technology to identify the hen. With this method, we could even identify which egg came from which hen.
3. Third: I could create a mesh of white space signals generated by some disposable Android cell phones. The devices would talk to each other and then look for a disruption in the mesh of RF signals. Since each hen would a unique mass, the movement of that mass through the field would create a unique signature. The unique signature could be processed and displayed on a website. This system would probably require FCC approval. It might also not be that effective with staw/pine shavings being flung around by chickens.

Should be fun to write. Personally, I kind of want to try the facial recognition for each hen. And just for fun, I could have the app Tweet "I just layed an egg". You would, of course, need a Twitter account for each hen.

 

[lonnyandrinda]

Should be fun to write. Personally, I kind of want to try the facial recognition for each hen. And just for fun, I could have the app Tweet "I just layed an egg". You would, of course, need a Twitter account for each hen.

Haha that is awesome!

 

[racinchickins]

I don't want to hijack the thread so I will start a new one in the Spring once I begin work on it. But for a quick info, I already wrote a similar app for a prepper that wanted an inventory management system. Personally I thought the guy was nuts to want to track everything in his stock-pile. But his check cleared, so he is good in my eyes.

Basically it would just be an inventory management app with the hens and eggs being the inventory. There are several ways to track:

1. RFID chip each chicken. Then a RFID reader attached to a disposable Android cell phone is mounted in a nest box (one should work for several nest boxes). The phones then collect data and relay the information to a website. We could also try it with less expensive NFC tags, but not sure the NFC tag would work well in a dirty environment like a coop.
2. This second way is lot more fun to implement but I would need to get permission from the company I already developed the technology for. Basically we mount web cams in the nest boxes and capture images of each hen as they are doing their thing. The photos are then relayed back to a website where they are run through facial recognition technology to identify the hen. With this method, we could even identify which egg came from which hen.
3. Third: I could create a mesh of white space signals generated by some disposable Android cell phones. The devices would talk to each other and then look for a disruption in the mesh of RF signals. Since each hen would a unique mass, the movement of that mass through the field would create a unique signature. The unique signature could be processed and displayed on a website. This system would probably require FCC approval. It might also not be that effective with staw/pine shavings being flung around by chickens.

Should be fun to write. Personally, I kind of want to try the facial recognition for each hen. And just for fun, I could have the app Tweet "I just layed an egg". You would, of course, need a Twitter account for each hen.

Awesome! love to combine my inner tech geek with my inner chicken geek.

 

[GaryDean26]

My plan with no programing knowledge what-so-ever and not even owing a phone that does anything more sophisticated than text messaging (yep they finally got me to up-grade to the phone with texting), was to put the RFID leg bands or wing bands on each hen and use a gate in the nesting boxes so that each hen that crossed the gate would be ID's as having entered the box. Then I wanted roll out boxes that would have a sensor so when the egg hit the bottom it would record that an egg was lay. I figured that way all the eggs could be lined up with a read out of what time egg #1 was laid, what time egg#2 was laid, what time egg #3 was laid, and which hen/hens was/were in the box when each egg was laid. I figured that could get me decent accuracy of who each egg was from so I could pedigree my hatches as well as have software to automatically fill in my individual egg charts.

I like to keep all of my pullets in a laying flock for their first year so I can evaluate laying ability for a season before selecting the keepers. As it is now I have to but 1-2 blue egg layers, 1-2 light brown egg layers, 1-2 dark brown egg layers, 1-2 white egg layer in a pen so that I can keep all the records straight. If I get more than about three hens laying the same colored egg in a pens the differences in size, and shape, texture, color of the eggs aren't enough to keep straight who is laying what egg. Ideally I would have all the pullets in one big flock. It would reduce time required for flock management greatly as well as allow them to free range every day instead of on rotations like they do now.

I like the option #2 DC. I will be subscribing to the Egg Ap thread in the Spring.

 

[ChicKat]

DCchicken--

you have some genius ideas there..... There was this book once called "systemantics" - like a play on systems analysis - and the cover had a sturdy chain - with one link a paperclip..... implying that the weakest link controls the strength of the whole system. One thing I recall vividly from reading it is "The best systems run downhill" - -It's close to the old K.I.S.S. idea......

It would be very cool to have cams in the coop and be able to remotely snoop -- GaryDean's idea of knowing which hen laid when would be good - as long as they single-threaded the nest box.... but if you get there in the evening and there are two eggs in a roll away - it will be hard to tell who's who - unless the roll away was a trap nest..and then you wouldn't really need electronic system.

Who knows.. maybe you are on a gold mine....

 

[enola]

Well, I will have to depend on my old fashioned system of breeding pens.

As my daughter says, "mom you are the most technologically inept person I know!"



Hi DCchicken........ (waving )

 

[HaplessRunner]

This touches on something that I have wanted to do for some time. I have frequently though of placing a web camera or some other camera that could display on a monitor near my computer work station. The challenge was to find something that worked well and had some range. My coops are almost 200 feet from my house. Yes, I do have broadband internet and have a router already setup. Getting information on web cams is easy. Getting range information is not. Most assume that your web cam is at the computer or some other room/area close such that many are very range limited.

My thoughts were to indentify which hens were producing and how many eggs. This was both a function of identifying which hens were the most productive as well as identifying which hens needed to be retired. Another issue that I have identified is that over time the quality of eggs that are produced by a given hen can change and not usually for the better. I have on BR hen who has been a reliable egg layer but whose albumen has degraded to the consistency of a little better than water. While the eggs are still nutritious, they are not marketable to the local farm-to-table restaurant.. Just try making a poached egg with a very watery egg white! It took quite a bit of time and effort to find the hen with this issue.

The logical extension into selective breeding for production quantity, egg size, etc. is also valuable.

If any one has some suggestions for this scenario, I would appreciate the information.

 

[GaryDean26]

DCchicken--

but if you get there in the evening and there are two eggs in a roll away - it will be hard to tell who's who - unless the roll away was a trap nest..and then you wouldn't really need electronic system.

The roll away box would be rigged to where the eggs were stacked in a single file line in the order they were laid. The idea is to have dozens of egg all lined up with a list of which hen laid each one.

 

[ChicKat]

The roll away box would be rigged to where the eggs were stacked in a single file line in the order they were laid. The idea is to have dozens of egg all lined up with a list of which hen laid each one.

Oh I see, kind of funneledl into an egg width narrow column. :O)