Working with world-renowned universities, Petersime continuously invests in research and development to create added value for hatchery owners. As an industry-leading innovator, we are introducing NestSound™ − a groundbreaking solution for monitoring chick vocalizations in hatcheries, aimed at improving the welfare of chicks.
Sound as a welfare indicator
The sound produced by new-born chicks is an important bio-signal to receive information about their welfare. When chicks are comfortable in their environment, they sit quietly and relaxed, often sleeping for extended periods, which aids in their recovery from the intense hatching process. However, if they are not completely comfortable, they are active and constantly vocal. Hence, monitoring chick conditions based on vocalizations is an essential element of welfare-friendly poultry production. Until now, research had not established a direct application to monitor vocalizations in the hatchery. This gap prompted Petersime to further examine the use of sound data and led us to develop NestSound™, a unique chick sound monitoring technology that automatically alerts hatchery managers when chicks require attention during storage.
“Of the five senses, hearing is the universal alerting sense. For experienced hatchery managers, hearing the sound produced by new-born chicks is an important source of information about their well-being. However, this crucial bio-signal is only picked up when they pass by the chick holding room,” explains Rudy Verhelst, Business Development Manager at Petersime. “This is where our new NestSound™ technology comes into play. By measuring the vocalizations new-born chicks make, NestSound™ automatically and continuously monitors the comfort level of the chicks stored inside the X-Streamer™ Chick-Store. This enables hatchery managers to promptly intervene whenever the chicks require attention.”
Monitoring chick conditions based on vocalizations
Temperature, airflow and oxygen play an important role in keeping the environment of day-old chicks in the right conditions. To consistently control these conditions, Petersime introduced the X-Streamer™ Chick-Store in 2020, a dedicated chick storage machine designed to automatically provide the perfect storage conditions in any climate. With NestSound™, the machine now comes with a powerful tool to monitor chick welfare. The NestSound™ technology continuously measures the sound emitted by the chicks. Based on the NestSound™ call detection algorithm, the Chick-Store controller’s on-screen information dynamically displays the chicks’ comfort levels, making it easy to monitor their well-being. The information is also remotely accessible via smartphone, tablet or pc. The advantage is clear: the technology gives real-time information - even remotely - compared to a situation where hatchery managers rely on their own occasional observations of chicks stored inside a traditional holding room.
The new NestSound™ technology also offers opportunities for market differentiation: end-customers are becoming increasingly aware of animal welfare. Thanks to the handy history reporting function, NestSound™ makes it very visible how the new-born chicks have enjoyed high comfort levels during their storage time at the hatchery.
NestSound™ is part of our Embryo-Response Incubation™ series and has been officially unveiled to a global audience during EuroTier 2024. Would you like to know more about this innovation? Don’t hesitate to contact us: our sales team is ready to answer all your questions.
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