Only Detect Broilers Once (ODBO): A Method for Monitoring and Tracking Individual Behavior of Cage-Free Broilers

In commercial poultry farming, automated behavioral monitoring systems hold significant potential for optimizing production efficiency and improving welfare outcomes at scale. The behavioral detection of free-range broilers matters for precision farming and animal welfare. Current research often focuses on either behavior detection or individual tracking, with few studies exploring their connection. To continuously track broiler behaviors, the Only Detect Broilers Once (ODBO) method is proposed by linking behaviors with identity information. This method has a behavior detector, an individual Tracker, and a Connector. First, by integrating SimAM, WIOU, and DIOU-NMS into YOLOv8m, the high-performance YOLOv8-BeCS detector is created. It boosts P by 6.3% and AP by 3.4% compared to the original detector. Second, the designed Connector, based on the tracking-by-detection structure, transforms the tracking task, combining broiler tracking and behavior recognition. Tests on sort-series trackers show HOTA, MOTA, and IDF1 increase by 27.66%, 28%, and 27.96%, respectively, after adding the Connector. Fine-tuning experiments verify the model’s generalization. The results show this method outperforms others in accuracy, generalization, and convergence speed, providing an effective method for monitoring individual broiler behaviors. In addition, the system’s ability to simultaneously monitor individual bird welfare indicators and group dynamics could enable data-driven decisions in commercial poultry farming management.