Egg collection systems (alternative production)

Main advantages

• the unit can be removed, thus facilitating cleaning with a high-pressure washer;
• anti-crack “fingers” provide a light pressure on the eggs, which ensures a controlled transfer to the cross belt;
• stainless steel tension wires guarantee a smooth transfer of the eggs while simultaneously allowing feathers, dust and soft-shelled eggs to fall down between them.

Rod conveyors connect the nest with the downstream cross collection system. They can only be used in a straight line. The rods are made from small, stabilised plastic tubes that are connected by a roller chain on both ends. The distance between the rods is small enough for safe egg transport, even when bridging ascending or descending gradients of up to 25°.

Vertical conveyors are mainly used when nests are arranged in an offset layout, for example with Big Dutchman’s NATURA Nova aviaries, when there is little space between the nests and the cross collection system, or when obstacles need to be circumvented.

They operate at ascending or descending gradients of 50° and are available in two widths: 350 mm and 500 mm. Vertical conveyors are powered by a separate drive unit for a more flexible collection speed. Big Dutchman recommends frequency-regulating the longitudinal egg belts (optional).

Lift systems can be used for nests with multiple levels. Eggs are collected simultaneously per level in all rows. The lift system transports eggs especially gently as there is only one transfer point. The production system is fully accessible because, once all eggs have been collected, the lift moves into its parking position, which can be at a height of more than 2 m. Another advantage is that the lift requires only little space in the end set area. Lifts can also automatically collect eggs mislaid in the system, so-called “system eggs”.

For improved hygiene, lifts should be installed in the service room.

The EC elevator is able to collect large numbers of eggs. Especially in multi-level houses (up to three levels), the elevator can be equipped with an extra wide elevator chain and is thus an efficient egg collection system: it does not require much space and collects up to 15 000 eggs per hour. A new feature is the option for “system egg collection”: the elevator can simultaneously collect eggs mislaid in the system. All belts either run into the elevator in parallel or system eggs are collected separately.

Main advantages

• ideally suited for the manual collection of eggs;
• standard drive speed: 2.6 m/min, optionally VarioSpeed;
• available for different egg belt widths (2 x 200 mm, 245 mm, 350 mm, 400 mm and 500 mm);
• integrated egg belt brush for clean egg belts;
• robust and fully galvanised design.

Different farm layouts as well as differences in height often require individual solutions for egg transport. In these cases, curve conveyors are the right choice because they are very flexible and can be adapted to any type of layout.

The core part of each curve conveyor is a galvanised or plastic-coated conveyor chain that consists of two hardened outer chains with welded-on cross bars on the same level. The eggs are thus transferred gently to the chain and do not accumulate along the inner radius of the curve. The distance between the cross bars allows for ascending gradients of up to 20°. Standard bends of 180°, 90° and 45° are available to create curves.

Big Dutchman offers two cleaning units, both available as stationary and mobile versions, to clean reliably the entire curve conveyor’s chain from dirt and thus from bacteria, salmonellae and fungi. Both units use ultrasound technology in combination with hot water and a special cleaning agent. The compact cleaning unit can clean up to 200 m of chain before the basin has to be refilled, while the larger unit cleans chain sections of up to 600 m. Depending on the degree of contamination, multiple repetitions may become necessary.

EggCam 3D is installed mainly above the egg cross belt, for belt widths of 350 mm, 500 mm and 750 mm. For some aviary types, EggCam 3D can even be installed directly behind the nest, i.e. in front of the egg belt drive.

The hardware consists of a 3D camera with image analysis technology. A bracket for use above longitudinal or cross belts is also included in delivery. Users who do not work with ViperTouch or amacs can view the counted results on a website provided by EggCam 3D.

Main advantages

• graders and packers are continuously loaded at full capacity for significantly shorter collection times;
• ideal egg quality thanks to a smooth and gentle transport of the eggs;
• belts start automatically in the morning and the flow of eggs stops in front of the packer or grader to prevent delays at the beginning of collection;
• collection groups can be planned one day in advance;
• egg collection is completed simultaneously in all houses that belong to the same collection group – at maximum filling rates;
• the eggs from the next collection group are transported to the cross belt subsequently;
• Digital EggFlow allows the synchronisation of up to ten cross belts for up to four graders/packers;
• better planning in advance due to higher transparency of the processes at the packer.