US-20260127756-A1 - GENDER IDENTIFICATION OF CHICKS USING DIGITAL IMAGE ANALYSIS

Abstract

The present application is directed to identifying a gender of a chick. A method includes: causing a chick to transition along a path that is associated with a stimulus for provoking an open stance by the chick; obtaining one or more images of the chick in the open stance; determining one or more gender-related features of the chick based at least in part on the one or more images; and determining a gender of the chick based in part on the one or more gender-related features. One or more portions of the method can include any various machine learning techniques, such as supervised machine learning and/or unsupervised machine learning. For example, a supervised machine learning approach can be employed to train a neural network to identify a pose of a chick, identify gender-related features associated with the chick's wing, and/or assess the gender-related features for making a gender determination.

Inventors

• Joshua S. GOFF
• David Cox
• Daniel N. RIGGSBEE
• Jonathan M. Adams

Assignees

• Targan, Inc.

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20231011

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A computing system comprising: memory; and one or more processors coupled to the memory and configured to: obtain image data comprising a set of images of a chick, wherein the set of images of the chick corresponds to a discrete time period in which the chick transitions along a predefined path, wherein the predefined path is associated with a stimulus for provoking an open stance by the chick, wherein the open stance comprises at least a partial extension of at least one wing of the chick; determine one or more gender-related features of the chick based on the image data; and determine a gender of the chick based on the one or more gender-related features.
2. 2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the determination of the gender of the chick is achieved with an accuracy rate equal to or exceeding 96%.
3. 3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to select an image from the set of images based on a pose selection policy, wherein the selected image is inputted into a trained neural network.
4. 4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the pose selection policy indicates to select an image in which a pose of the chick satisfies pose criteria.
5. 5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to determine that the pose of the chick in the selected image satisfies the pose criteria.
6. 6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the pose criteria comprises at least one of a body position threshold, a body orientation threshold, a wing position threshold, or a threshold wing orientation threshold.
7. 7 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the pose selection policy indicates to select an image that depicts a chick having extended wings.
8. 8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to: for each image of the set of images: determine a respective pose of the chick; and determine whether the respective pose satisfies pose criteria.
9. 9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the set of images comprises a plurality of images, wherein each image of the set of images corresponds to a different time of the discrete time period.
10. 10 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more gender-related features comprises a length of a set of primary feathers or a length of a set of covert feathers.
11. 11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the length of the set of covert feathers is less than the length of the set of primary feathers, and wherein the gender output indicates that the chick is female.
12. 12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the length of the set of covert feathers is equal to or greater than the length of the set of primary feathers, and wherein the gender output indicates that the chick is male.
13. 13 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the predefined path is a slide, wherein the stimulus is a downward sloping plane of the slide, wherein transitioning down the slide causes the chick to transition to the open stance.
14. 14 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the predefined path comprises a conveyor belt.
15. 15 . The system of claim 14 wherein the stimulus is a speed change, a drop, or vibration of the conveyor belt.
16. 16 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the stimulus comprises noise from a noise machine, or a spray of fluid activated by a fluid sprayer.
17. 17 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the stimulus triggers a reflexive movement by the chick into the open stance.
18. 18 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to automatedly sort the chick according to the gender identity output.
19. 19 . (canceled)
20. 20 . Non-transitory computer readable media comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a computing system of a data intake and query system, cause the computing system to: obtain image data comprising a set of images of a chick, wherein the set of images of the chick corresponds to a discrete time period in which the chick transitions along a predefined path, wherein the predefined path is associated with a stimulus for provoking an open stance by the chick, wherein the open stance comprises at least a partial extension of at least one wing of the chick; determine one or more gender-related features of the chick based on the image data; and determine a gender of the chick based on the one or more gender-related features.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims priority benefit to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/379,956, entitled “Gender Identification of Chicks Using Digital Image Analysis,” filed Oct. 18, 2022, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. FIELD The present disclosure generally relates to chick sexing and, more particularly, to feather sexing using digital image analysis. BACKGROUND Chick sexing is a method of identifying the sex of chickens or other hatchlings, for example to separate female chicks or “pullets” from the males or “cockerels.” Feather sexing is a form of chick sexing based on a rate of growth of a chick's wing feathers. In particular, if the chick's primary feathers are longer than its covert feathers, the chick is identified as female; and if the covert and primary feathers are the same length, or the primary feathers are shorter than the covert feathers, then the chick is identified as male. Conventional feather sexing requires trained personnel to manually spread a wing of a chick by hand, which can be harmful to the chick's wing. SUMMARY Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems, methods, and computer readable medium with instructions for identifying a gender of a chick. A method includes causing a chick to transition along a path that is associated with a stimulus for provoking an open stance by the chick. The method further includes obtaining one or more images of the chick in the open stance, determining one or more gender-related features of the chick based at least in part on the one or more images, and determining a gender of the chick based at least in part on the one or more gender-related features. One or more portions of the method can include any various machine learning techniques, such as supervised machine learning and/or unsupervised machine learning. For example, a supervised machine learning approach can be employed to train a neural network to identify a pose of a chick, identify gender-related features associated with the chick's wing, and/or assess the gender-related features to make a gender determination. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Throughout the drawings, reference numbers can be re-used to indicate correspondence between referenced elements. The drawings are provided to illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and do not limit the scope thereof. FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an example of training a machine learning model in connection with present disclosure. FIG. 1B is a diagram illustrating an example of applying a trained machine learning model to a new observation associated with identifying a gender of a chick. FIG. 2A illustrates a chick sexing system for accurately identifying a gender of a chick in accordance with some embodiments of the present inventive concept. FIGS. 2B-2F illustrate example comparisons of the wing feathers of male and female chicks. FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of an example routine for determining a gender of a chick, in accordance with example embodiments. FIGS. 4A-4F illustrate a plurality of example post-processing images of a chick transitioning along an example path. FIGS. 5A-5F illustrate a plurality of example post-processing images of a chick transitioning along an example path. FIG. 6 presents a bar graph illustrating example relationships between the age of a chick and the accuracy of sexing. DETAILED DESCRIPTION For purposes of this disclosure, the term “chick” is used to broadly refer to any breed of chicken. In some instances, the term chick generally refers to a baby chick that is less than one day (24 hours) old. In other instances, the term chick refers to a chick that is less than two days (48 hours) old, less than one week old, or less than four weeks old. Although the disclosure generally relates to identifying a gender of a chick, it will be understood that similar gender identification techniques may be implemented on a chicken of any age, any bird, or any other animal with sex-linked characteristics that can lead to identifiable phenotype characterizations that designate gender. For purposes of this disclosure, the term “pose” as used herein is a broad term encompassing its plain and ordinary meanings and may refer to, without limitation, position, orientation, the combination of position and orientation, or any other appropriate location information. By way of non-limiting example, a pose of a chick may refer to a position and/or orientation of the chick and/or a position and/or orientation of one or more features of the chick, such as the chick's wing. It can be desirable to separate male and female chicks at the hatchery so that they can be managed according to their differing requirements. Feather sexing is a method of determining the gender of a newly hatched chick based on the rate of growth of its wing feathers. Using this method, if the chick's primary feathers (also referred to as “primaries”) are longer than its covert f