Any Help for a farmer from the west?

[Padraig Higgins]

Hi all,
I am new to this site and i am just starting this whole automation thing.

Ok, I have a farm in a little village called Corofin in west County Clare and i want to install some automation to try and make my life a little easier.

I have lots of chickens and they lay eggs. I want to try and automate the whole process so every time one of my chicken lays an egg i want to log it in a SQl database.

Now here's the tricky part,,,,,,I want the size, weight and colour of each egg logged in my database.

I am guessing i will need a PLC connected to a SQL database but i need help setting it up.

Any help you guys can give me would be great.

Thanks,

Padraig

 

[JesperMP]

I am betting that someone else already have a solution for eggs.
Try to aks on this site, there is a forum:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/

If not, then a shrinkwrapped PLC-to-SQL solution sounds like the fastest way to go.

There is RSSQL from Rockwell Automation. Best for AB PLCs.

And there is Trendworx from Iconics, it needs an add on option to log to SQL. Iconics uses OPC to talk to basically any kind of PLC.

And there are many other possible solutions.
Are your choise of PLC open or is that already decided ? This may narrow down or open up the possible solution.

 

[geniusintraining]

Hello Padraig,

If only you lived in the US... I have several friends that specialize in poultry automation I will tell them to look you up and let you know what they do over here

here is a article/success story to read you may get a idea or two

Good luck

http://www.automationnotebook.com/2007_Issue_8/featurestory_issue8_2007.html

 

[cntrlfrk]

dang, sounds like you'll have it made once you figure it out. I used to run a chicken farm, 30,000 eggs a day (one of my first 'initiations' into automation). All of the egg and feed conveyors were automated, but we had to hand pack the eggs with a 2-1/2 dozen suction cup 'grabber'.

Seems like a bit of overkill, though, to log all of that info for each individual egg. Wouldn't you just sort by color, then by size, and maybe log the info for the dozen or case or whatever you ship by?

Seems like invaluable information to track results in feed and medication changes etc...

Looks like these guys do some of what you are trying to do...

http://staalkat.inet-designer.dk/filer/STK5005%20ECM%20250-360-450-eng.pdf

 

[Lancie1]

Hello Padraig,

I visited your beautiful green country in June. I enjoyed the clifts of Moher, and Blarney Castle. Yes, I did kiss the Blarney Stone and now have the gift of eloquence.

I grew up on a farm, raising chickens, hogs, and cows. I also once worked on a poultry farm, gathering eggs, candling, washing, and packing eggs, grinding and putting out feed, and cleaning out houses (yuck!).

Based on those experiences, I think your difficult problem would be finding a way to detect when a chicken lays an egg. Chickens oftem mimic laying an egg, and then do not lay one. However, if your cages are laid out with chutes down to a main egg trough, then you could mount a photoswitch or other IR sensor that will detect the egg as it rolls down the chute. That would mean a sensor for every chicken in the house, a very costly method for a house of 5000 chickens. But for a smaller house it might be possible.

Another problem will be routing the wires so the chickens will not peck off the insulation and short out the cables. As you know, chickens will peck at anything, including each other! I suggest using 24 volt sensors so that there will be no danger when washing down the cages.

I suggest that you start out with a less inclusive system, with enough PLC capacity to expand later. If you intend to have a sensor for each chicken, then you will need a PLC that can be expanded to have that many Input points. I don't believe that you will need many output points, unless you also intend to use the PLC to control your lights, vent fans, and feed conveyors.

A first step might be to install photoswitch sensors on each lane at your egg-grading and wash station, with a sensor at the incoming lane that counts all eggs going into the candling station, and then at the output side, a sensor in each lane for each size egg, small, medium, large, and extra large. Then feed those inputs into the PLC, so that for each batch you are recording the total eggs going in, and how many of each size egg makes it through the candle, wash, and sizing stations. That way you will see immediately how many are being lost due to spoilage and breakage.

The PLC needs to be located in a separate room, dust-free and wash-down free.

 

[geniusintraining]

...Another problem will be routing the wires so the chickens will not peck off the insulation and short out the cables. As you know, chickens will peck at anything, including each other! I suggest using 24 volt sensors so that there will be no danger when washing down the cages.

Fried chicken

 

[atifplus]

now i truely admire PLC :O

never knew there could be a PLC application in some farm :O
At first i thought it is a joke. Coz the back in the old days we use to get eggs from people who work for us and they have hardly 20+ hens..

hehe ^^ man feeling so technologically behind