A preliminary in vivo study on the potential application of e-tracking in poultry using ink printed 2D barcodes

A preliminary study on the potential application of electronic tracking in poultry in vivo has been conducted. The experimental procedure for this study was based on previous in vitro findings ( Fröschle et al., 2009) as part of the same research programme. The study consisted of two phases whereby an initial experiment using inkjet printing of 10 × 10 DataMatrix barcodes onto the beaks of broiler chickens in a live commercial setting has been carried out. Results demonstrated very poor percentage of readability after a short period of time. Barcodes deteriorated very rapidly and this was attributed to the physical effects on the barcodes of the actions of the chickens in a commercial environment, together with the inability of the ink to bond to the hard keratinous surface of the beak. In a subsequent part of the study, a number of commercially available ink types were screened, using a predetermined abrasion testing procedure, for their ability to bond to the beak and provide a readable barcode on the beaks following some predetermined graduated physical abrasion.