Noble Foods has launched a two-year on-farm trial exploring how acoustic technology could be used to monitor and improve the welfare of laying hens.

The egg producer has partnered with agri-tech specialists AgriSound and Aviasenze on the Innovate UK-backed project, which will use machine learning to analyse sounds made by laying hens and identify changes that could indicate shifts in behaviour, health or environmental conditions.

The technology is being tested at a working free-range farm in East Yorkshire, as well as at one of Noble Foods’ barn laying facilities, in a bid to assess how the system performs across different housing environments.

Noble Foods said the project, which has been nicknamed the ‘Happy-o-Meter’, is the first application of its kind within the UK egg sector.

The system analyses the soundscape inside poultry houses and uses machine-learning technology to detect patterns in flock vocalisations and activity.

It is hoped the data could provide farmers with earlier warning of potential welfare issues, complementing traditional stockmanship and existing welfare assurance measures.

Noble Foods agriculture sustainability manager Emily Marshall, who led the company’s successful funding bid to Innovate UK, said: “This project is about going beyond assurance alone and exploring how emerging science can give us deeper, more continuous insight into the lived experience of the bird, whether that’s within a free-range or barn environment.

“By listening to hens and understanding how changes in sound and behaviour might indicate shifts in welfare or environment, we can support farmers with earlier, more confident decision-making.

“This is not about replacing good stockmanship but complementing it with better data.”

The project marks Noble Foods’ second collaboration with AgriSound, following an earlier trial of bioacoustic technology to monitor pollinators on its farms.

AgriSound chief executive Casey Woodward said the latest project demonstrated how its bioacoustics expertise could be extended beyond pollinator monitoring to animal agriculture.

“We are excited to support Noble Foods and Aviasenze in developing new welfare-monitoring algorithms that have the potential to improve the health and wellbeing of laying hens at scale,” he said.

Aviasenze said its automated monitoring technology could help farmers identify potential flock problems before they escalate, supporting both welfare and productivity.

The free-range trial is being hosted by Happy Egg producer Will Waind, who said the technology could provide farmers with “another set of ears” inside poultry sheds.

“As a farmer, your job is to spot small changes before they become big problems, but you can’t be everywhere at once,” he said.

Noble Foods stressed the project is being treated as a research and learning exercise rather than a finished welfare solution.

Findings will be assessed throughout the two-year trial and shared with producers and industry stakeholders to determine where acoustic monitoring could add value across the wider UK egg sector.

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