When you consider the stunning technological innovations we have seen over the past couple of decades, chicken farming problem isn’t your first thought.
But… maybe it should be.
Tech and poultry farming have paired up in numerous unique ways, indicating a very different agricultural future.
What could this look like? Well, we have compiled four of the most surprising futuristic farming methods (in our opinion) for you to review.
If you own a chicken farm of your own, or you were considering starting, this will be especially relevant to you. Let’s take a look!
3D Printing
Yes, you read that correctly. 3D printing is definitely shaping up to be one of the more interesting facets of the modern landscape, and that now applies to poultry equipment too.
We aren’t necessarily implying that one-day chicken coops will be printed rather than built (though 3D printed houses show us that isn’t impossible!), but can you imagine how simple repairs could be via a 3D printer?
Instead of sourcing the material and waiting days for it to be delivered, you could print the piece you are missing and fix it right there and then. Now that’s efficiency.
Bring on the Robots
Okay, okay, we might be getting slightly ahead of ourselves here, but it isn’t beyond the limits of possibility. Cleaning out coops and farm buildings may no longer need to be a strictly human job.
In the future, robots could handle more time-consuming and arduous tasks. In fact, this process has already started on some farms.
Robot feeders already exist, providing automated feeding to many happy chickens year-in-year-out. The efficiency of this has led to reduced disease and mortality rates.
There are even robot nannies for chickens now.
What we’re trying to say is that when Isaac Asimov wrote ‘I, Robot’ he should have included more chickens.
Individual Sensors for Heightened Monitoring
The largest poultry farms can house hundreds of chickens at any one time. Keeping track of them all is an impossible task, or at least it used to be.
Sensors have been developed that allow farmers to keep track of each individual chicken, so you no longer need to worry about any runaways.
Additionally, temperature and lighting sensors are already in use to ensure the optimal environment is consistently maintained.
This may not sound like the most important detail, but consistent lighting has been shown to improve the growth rate of birds. A healthier chicken is a happier chicken, after all.
Drone Shepherds
Last on our list, but by no means least, the concept of a drone shepherd. Yes, it is exactly what it sounds like.
Foxes and other predators are frequent visitors to chicken coops, often with disastrous outcomes. It is generally agreed that a drone placed inside a coop or farmhouse would cause more stress than its worth. However, for free-range chickens, it could be the perfect solution.
Not only would it allow farmers to keep a closer eye on their flock, but it could also be used to herd them into a coop once dusk had fallen.
From a research perspective, the addition of a drone to monitor chickens in a more natural state could prove valuable too. Drones have already revolutionized photography, so why shouldn’t they do the same for poultry farming?
The Future is Now
Many of the innovations we have listed have already been implemented in farms across the world. At the very least, they are on their way.
The future of farming will be vastly different from how we once knew it, but that innovation is precisely what makes the world of tech so fascinating.
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