National Research Development Corporation

Michael J Turner

Paul S Berry

Peter J Kettlewell

John A Benson

Michael Hanley

Eric S Hartwell

An apparatus for separating animals according to their weight or other chosen characteristic comprises support means for allowing the animals to be examined one at a time, boundary means providing a barrier between a first collection region for animals selected as satisfying a particular chosen criterion and one or more second collection regions for the remaining animals, and drive means operative when necessary to move the support means and/or the boundary means to introduce or to allow the introduction of a selected animal into the appropriate collection region.

Animal separator

A broiler harvester 10 (FIG. 1a) comprises contra-rotating pick-up rotors 12, 13 and a third pick-up rotor 14 arranged in front of and co-operating with the other two rotors in a triangular formation. In operation the rotors 12, 13 discharge the broilers on to a conveyor belt 18 which in turn discharges them on to a turntable 32 where they remain until removed for packing into crates etc. The support frame 20 for belt 18 is able to scan back and forth around an arc to accelerate the harvesting operation, the front rotor 14 at all times being rotated in the direction of the scan.

Poultry-harvesting assembly

A poultry-harvester 10 (FIG. 1) for use in a poultry house comprises two contra-rotating rotors 12, 13 arranged side by side with the flexible fingers 20 of each rotor abutting and/or intermeshing with the fingers 20 of the other rotor. In operation, as the harvester is driven towards the birds to be harvested, the two rotors are rotated in opposite directions to one another so that the fingers 20 co-operate to carry birds between the two rotors and deposit them on the conveyor belt 45.

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Clophill, United Kingdom

Michael J Turner