We have developed a health monitoring system for chickens, which could facilitate the early detection of avian influenza outbreaks in poultry farms, by using wireless sensors.

This system consists of shoulder-mark type wireless sensor nodes with temperature and acceleration sensors, having the shape of a one-yen coin with a weight of less than 3 g (including the battery), and a network system which monitors the health of a chicken herd using the temperature and physical exertion data received from the nodes. This system allows constant monitoring of a chicken herd, facilitating the early detection of suspected avian influenza infection in the herd through real-time access to a database. The database used in this system, which is the first of its kind, was constructed on the basis of experimental data on the changes in temperature and reduction in physical exertion as well as modes of transmission of highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses in chickens.