Politeknik Negeri Semarang (POLINES) students formed in the Science and Technology Application Student Creativity Program (PKM-PI) team led by Tamadestya Bayu Norahpradita (Electrical Engineering) with members Muhammad Zulvan Arrizqi (Electrical Engineering), Mutia Galih Normalita (Business Administration), Rani Thufaila Yofanda (Electrical Engineering), and Syah Lanang Yussufi (Electrical Engineering) with their Advisor Mr. Ilham Sayekti, ST, M.Kom successfully applied Automatic Feeding Technology with Solar-Powered Cage Temperature Control on laying hens farms in Semarang Regency.
The PKM-PI POLINES team is partnered with Muhammad Yahya Nuri (Owner of Laying Chicken Farm) who lives in Krajan Hamlet RT 003 RW 001, Sukorejo Village, Suruh District, Semarang Regency. This laying hens farm was established in February 2020 with a total of 120 chickens. Partner's laying hens are semi-type cages closed house which consists of 1 row cage with 2 levels measuring 8 x 1 x 1.2 meters.
The problems experienced by Mr. Yahya are unstable productivity, chickens are susceptible to disease, especially when there is a change in temperature at night which causes some chickens to die. Several times there was a delay in feeding because the process was still carried out conventionally, and the conditions of the cage were inadequate, such as the absence of a heating lamp for the cage, because if given such a lamp, the electric power was insufficient.
Based on these problems, an innovation emerged from the PKM-PI POLINES Team in the form of Application of Automatic Feeding Technology with Solar-Powered Cage Temperature Control. This technology has two main components, namely Feeding Equipment and Cage Temperature Control Device, both of which can operate automatically or manually.
The Feeder can work automatically according to the feeding time determined by the owner of the cage, when the Feeder is active, the tool will move along the feed line to feed and will stop after reaching the end of the feed line. Then, the Cage Temperature Control Tool in the form of a heating lamp can work to increase the temperature of the cage when there is an extreme temperature drop.
The uniqueness of this technology is that it uses solar panels for its power source, so the technology applied to this partner is more environmentally friendly and saves electricity costs.
It is hoped that with the implementation of this technology, disease and death in partner laying hens can be prevented so that productivity becomes stable and can increase partners' income.