Feed intake is the major factor that influences both the body weight gain and feed efficiency in meat-type poultry. Because so many factors can influence feed intake, it is often difficult to correct a problem of poor feed intake unless a complete review of feed and management practices is made. Management and flock health issues are usually more likely to reduce feed intake than dietary factor...

To take tracheal swabs from poultry flocks, for detection of avian influenza viruses is time-consuming and involves a high workload the staff lot stress sampled animals. Therefore, an animal-friendly at same time reliable method collected samples flocks needed. A simple would be significant improvement in control influenza, especially poultry-intensive regions. Swab in/on drinkers can easily ta...

Pheasants and chickens were compared as sentinels for monitoring the transmission of arboviruses of public health significance in Florida during 1991-93. Results suggest that pheasants are better sentinels for eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) virus. They detected virus transmission 3-6 weeks earlier in epizootic years, 2-4 times more frequently during the season, and twice as many birds within...

This paper describes an algorithm for the coordination of a flock of multirotor UAVs which cooperate in performing a wide area monitoring mission. The key characteristics of the proposed approach are the self-organising ability and the decentralisation. The flock has the basic task of covering a certain area of terrain and is able to self-organise in order to (i) find a coverage of the area whi...

Consideration of animal welfare is essential to address the consumers' demands and for the long term sustainability of commercial poultry. However, assessing welfare in large poultry flocks, to be able to detect potential welfare risks and to control or minimize its impact is difficult. Current developments in technology and mathematical modelling open new possibilities for real-time automatic ...

Flocking is an emergent behavior in which each individual agent follows a simple behavior rule that leads to a group behavior that appears cohesive and coordinated. In our work, we consider how to influence a flock using a set of ad hoc agents. Ad hoc agents are added to the flock and are able to influence the flock to adopt a desired behavior by acting as part of the flock. Specifically, we fi...

Raising chickens in urban settings is a growing phenomenon in the United States. The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) conducted a cross-sectional study to better understand health and management of privately owned chicken flocks, and Salmonella awareness among chicken owners, in three urban settings-Denver, Colorado; Los Angeles, ...

BACKGROUND The public health threat represented by a potential circulation of bovine spongiform encephalopathy agent in sheep population has led European animal health authorities to launch large screening and genetic selection programmes. If demonstrated, such a circulation would have dramatic economic consequences for sheep breeding sector. In this context, it is important to evaluate the fea...