Characterizing locomotor behavior variability in commercial broiler flocks using large-scale video tracking
Abstract
The surveillance of broiler chicken welfare requires objective and scalable approaches capable of capturing behavioral dynamics under commercial production conditions. This study characterized locomotor behavior in broiler flocks reared under commercial conditions using large-scale video observations. A multi-camera system was deployed across four commercial farms, encompassing 12 flocks and more than 14,500 h of recordings. Broilers were automatically detected and tracked to extract spatiotemporal movement descriptors. Three complementary indicators were analyzed: the trajectory segment-based proportion of inactivity, the mean speed of active trajectory segments, and collective movement events reflecting transient synchronization of motion. Statistical models were used to estimate expected temporal trajectories and prediction intervals for each indicator across age, daily activity period, sex, and farm. The results revealed structured patterns of locomotor organization across production cycles and farms, allowing the expected range of behavioral variability under routine commercial conditions to be quantified. When applied to observations recorded under non-routine conditions, deviations from these reference ranges occurred more frequently, indicating departures from typical flock locomotor dynamics. These findings demonstrate that large-scale video observations can provide quantitative reference patterns for broiler locomotor behavior under commercial conditions. Establishing such baselines offers a practical foundation for behavioral monitoring approaches aimed at identifying atypical flock activity patterns in commercial poultry production systems.
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BibTeX
@article{hernandez2026characterizing,
title = {{Characterizing locomotor behavior variability in commercial broiler flocks using large-scale video tracking}},
author = {Noslen Hernández and Sylvain L’hermite and Pauline Créach and Didier Concordet},
journal = {Poultry Science},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.psj.2026.107363},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05788752v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Characterizing locomotor behavior variability in commercial broiler flocks using large-scale video tracking
AU - Noslen Hernández
AU - Sylvain L’hermite
AU - Pauline Créach
AU - Didier Concordet
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - Poultry Science
DO - 10.1016/j.psj.2026.107363
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05788752v1
AB - The surveillance of broiler chicken welfare requires objective and scalable approaches capable of capturing behavioral dynamics under commercial production conditions. This study characterized locomotor behavior in broiler flocks reared under commercial conditions using large-scale video observations. A multi-camera system was deployed across four commercial farms, encompassing 12 flocks and more than 14,500 h of recordings. Broilers were automatically detected and tracked to extract spatiotemporal movement descriptors. Three complementary indicators were analyzed: the trajectory segment-based proportion of inactivity, the mean speed of active trajectory segments, and collective movement events reflecting transient synchronization of motion. Statistical models were used to estimate expected temporal trajectories and prediction intervals for each indicator across age, daily activity period, sex, and farm. The results revealed structured patterns of locomotor organization across production cycles and farms, allowing the expected range of behavioral variability under routine commercial conditions to be quantified. When applied to observations recorded under non-routine conditions, deviations from these reference ranges occurred more frequently, indicating departures from typical flock locomotor dynamics. These findings demonstrate that large-scale video observations can provide quantitative reference patterns for broiler locomotor behavior under commercial conditions. Establishing such baselines offers a practical foundation for behavioral monitoring approaches aimed at identifying atypical flock activity patterns in commercial poultry production systems.
SN - 0032-5791
SN - 0032-5791
ER -