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User Manual for `dual incubating` kiwi “Chick Timer” transmitters V4

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1. Wilotechn New thinking User Manual for dual incubatine kiwi Chick Timer transmitters V4 4 Haast and V5 2 Rowi 1 0 Background Chick Timer transmitters for dual incubating kiwi have been developed specifically for the Rowi and Haast Tokoeka species The Chick Timer developed for Rowi and Haast has been designed to detect the start and end of incubation and hatch The transmitters output the number of days since the start or end of incubation and the number of days since hatch In addition there are a further 10 outputs a description of these outputs is provided below 2 0 Turning a transmitter on or off Over view The radio output of a transmitter can be turned on and off using a magnet At the time of turn on the user may set the time of day in hours after midnight but this is not compulsory If the time of day is set correctly then the transmitter will automatically adjust itself so that it rolls over each 24 hour period at 0800 in the morning If the time is not set at turn on then the transmitter will roll over the 24 hour periods in synch with the time that the transmitter was turned on Setting the time at turn on means that transmitters monitored after 0800 in the morning will tell you what happened last night and it will not be necessary to wait until later in the day for the time of turn on for the transmitter to role over the 24hr period When the Egg Timer is turned on it will start in the incuba
2. ctive for 590 minutes which is equivalent to 9 50 The mean is a measure of the average behaviour of the bird 1 4 weeks ago It may on occasions be noticed that recent activity is markedly different to that of the mean and this may be indicative of a possible future change of state Weeks of life remaining output Is an estimate of the projected time remaining in weeks before the battery has the potential to go flat It may be usefully as a guide to help prioritise transmitter changes or to assess the appropriate action should a bird be incubating near the end of the transmitters expected life 2009 05 04 Chick Timer User Manual Haast V4 4 amp Rowi V5 2 doc Page 3 of 6 The transmitter will continually adjust the projected time remaining and despite starting at 52 weeks is likely to take longer than 52 weeks to count down to zero However a transmitter that spends some time in mortality may count down to zero in less than 52 weeks because of the higher pulse rate The transmitter will always remember how much time is remaining even if turned off and on multiple times and will therefore automatically correct for situations where transmitters have been left on by accident prior to fit Twitch counter output Informs the user of how active the bird has been in the last few minutes The twitch counter is generally used for data logging but may be usefully as an indication of the birds agitation when being tracked Normally this value will be ver
3. ence is also aborted if the magnet is not moved away within 2 seconds after the continuous tone turns off Turn on with time set If the time is to be set the procedure is to start off as above but rather than moving the magnet away at the end permanently move the magnet away briefly and return it to the transmitter The transmitter will start to output pulses at a rate of one every 1 5 seconds Each pulse represents one hour after midnight Count the pulses as heard and remove the magnet when the count gets to that desired Ie if time of turn on was 3pm the time would be set as 15 hours after midnight therefore requiring the magnet to be held in place until 15 pulses had been counted Once the required number of pulses has been heard the magnet can be removed and the turn on sequence is complete If the time set function is used a partial non 24 hour first day will be created any activity that occurs during this partial day is ignored Ie if a transmitter is turned on at 3pm the first partial day will be 17 hours long and the first full day will be from 0800 the next morning If a transmitter is turned on at midnight then the time should be set as 24 hours after midnight since it is not possible to set zero hours after midnight Checking the time set after turn on To check the time that has been set the user may listen to the outputs Immediately after turn on the transmitter will output 10 pulses at a rate of 48 pulses per minute one pulse e
4. fter 24 hours of zero movement The timing output gives the number of days since the last movement The time since death output will keep counting every day until the transmitter is turned off and restarted The mortality pulse rate is set at 80 pulses per minute It should be noted that death may not necessarily result in zero movement of the transmitter the carcase can be moved intermittently presumably by scavengers for a number of days and in some cases in the region of 2 weeks Consequently mortality cannot be relied upon as a true measure of time since death If a mortality signal is heard with no number outputs the transmitter is likely to have a hardware fault that may go away but is more likely to become chronic and result in transmitter failure In such a case it is recommended that the transmitter be replaced immediately However other forms of management may also be appropriate depending on the circumstances Eg choosing to mark the nest of a known incubating bird rather than disturbing it so that it can be found in the event the transmitter fails 5 1 Listening to the number output The output format in mortality is similar to that in normal operation the only difference is that all the pulses will sound fast The start of the output sequence will be at the same time as normal If you get stuck leave your transmitter going and phone Wildtech for assistance on 027 672 4856 or 06 877 1563 When in mortality the days since change
5. nformation in the field it is recommended that you write down what you hear and work out the answers when you get back to base Using a Rowi Chick Timer just after turn on with the time of turn set to 1pm as an example the following should be recorded 48ppm 7 4 3 5 6 4 6 4 6 4 6 4 6 4 6 4 6 4 6 4 7 4 2 2 48 is the pulse rate for incubating and the comma separated numbers are the tens and units for each output some of the numbers are pre initialised values After the first full 24 hour day the outputs should be quite different and more so after 8 days 4 3 Working out the number of days The example above gives the following result 7 pulses followed by 4 pulses To obtain the true decimal values for the number of days it is necessary to subtract 2 from each individual number This yields 5 and 2 The first number is the number of tens and the second number the number of units therefore the final answer is 52 days since the start of incubation The number of days output immediately after turn on is relaying the software version For Rowi Chick Timer V5 2 transmitters this should be 7 4 i e Version 5 2 If a bird is incubating when the transmitter is fitted the Chick Timer will not switch out of the initial incubating state If this happens the day counter will count up from the initialised value 7 4 representing software version until the bird convinces the transmitter that it is not incubating In such a case the timing can
6. not be relied upon since the transmitter was not able to detect the start of incubation Note The maximum number output is 256 days In such a case the output for days will give 27 pulses followed by 8 After 256 days the counter roles over and restarts from 1 Only the most determined non breeders are expected to test this feature 4 4 Working out the activity or mean The example above gives coincidentally the following result 6 pulses followed by 4 pulses for both the activity and mean To obtain the true decimal values for the activity or mean it is necessary to subtract 2 from each individual number This yields 4 and 2 The first number is the number of tens and the second number the number of units therefore the final answer is 42 This it the number of minutes divided by 10 so the activity or mean is 420 minutes ie 7 00 4 5 Working out the number of weeks remaining The example above gives the following result 7 pulses followed by 4 pulses To obtain the true decimal values for the weeks remaining it is necessary to subtract 2 from each individual number This yields 5 and 2 The first number is the number of tens and the second number the number of units therefore the final answer is 52 weeks remaining 2009 05 04 Chick Timer User Manual Haast V4 4 amp Rowi V5 2 doc Page 5 of 6 5 0 Mortality The transmitters will also output the number of days since the start of mortality Mortality latches and will be activated a
7. of state output will tell you how many days since mortality started If the day counter was giving 2 9 then the time since death or more accurately the time since the transmitter stopped moving would be 7 days Note The maximum number output is 256 days In such a case the output for days would have given 27 pulses followed by 8 After 256 days the counter roles over and restarts from 1 However mortality pulse rates are approximately double the standard output pulse rates Consequently it is unlikely the output will get to 256 days before the transmitters battery goes flat 2009 05 04 Chick Timer User Manual Haast V4 4 amp Rowi V5 2 doc Page 6 of 6
8. ting state In theory this should be impossible since transmitters are normally changed outside the breeding season and a brood patch and or egg would be noticed if the male was incubating After 8 days the transmitter will have built an activity profile for the bird and should switch to not incubating However it is possible that the bird is incubating and in this case it will not switch out of the initial incubating state If this happens the day counter will count up from the initialised value 7 4 representing software version 5 2 see section 4 3 Working out the number of days 2009 05 04 Chick Timer User Manual Haast V4 4 amp Rowi V5 2 doc Page 1 of 6 Turn on with no time set A magnet is used to turn the transmitters on and off When a magnet is placed in the correct location the transmitter will sound a tone heard on a suitable receiver for approximately 1 second The magnet must be held in place until the continuous tone turns itself off To complete the turn on or off sequence the magnet must then be moved away from the transmitter within a further 2 seconds after the tone turns itself off This is a simple turn on and will start the transmitter with no time set and under these conditions the 24 hour days will role over every day at the time that the transmitter was turned on The turn on or off sequence is aborted if the magnet is not held in place long enough for the continuous tone to turn off by itself The turn on or off sequ
9. very 1 25 seconds the output sequence will then start and be transmitted to the user in the format described later The first number set is for days since change of state and the second for days since hatch After turn on these two output slots are hijacked and are used to transmit the software version number and the time of turn on that has been set The version number is inserted in the days since change of state slot and the time of turn on is inserted in the days since hatch slot If the time is not set at turn on then zero will be outputted in the days since hatch slot The time of turn on is cleared at the end of the first partial day but the software version number persists and increments up one at each full 24 hour period roll over and is only cleared when the transmitter changes state to not nesting If a mistake is made setting the time turn the transmitter off and try again it s fun you ll enjoy it 3 0 Pulse rates Chick Timer transmitters can output 3 different pulse rates 30ppm not incubating 48ppm incubating 80ppm mortality 2009 05 04 Chick Timer User Manual Haast V4 4 amp Rowi V5 2 doc Page 2 of 6 4 0 Outputs 4 1 Over view and explanations The not incubating incubating and mortality pulse rates are broken every 10 minutes by a series of 12 outputs as described in the following list 1 Days since change of state 2 Days since hatch 3 Activity Yesterday 4 Activity 2 days ago 5 Activit
10. y 3 days ago 6 Activity 4 days ago 7 Activity 5 days ago 8 Activity 6 days ago 9 Activity 7 days ago 10 Mean activity 11 Twitch counter 12 Weeks of life remaining for the transmitter The transmitters will not start to give accurate information about the bird until at least 8 days after turn on by which time the activity profile for the bird will have been confirmed Days since hatch output The days since hatch function has been designed to provide as much warning as possible about a successful hatch The days since hatch counter will change to 1 if the start of a hatch profile has been detected to provide an indication of progress this may happen a few days before hatch is detected The hatch counter will remain at 1 and not increment up until the hatch process is thought to be complete at that point it will change to 4 days and count up one day at a time from there The hatch counter value continues to count up one day at a time and is not cleared until the start of a new incubation this means that if a bird completes a hatch and then changes to the state not incubating it is possible to retrieve the information and form an appropriate management plan Activity and mean outputs The mean activity and previous 7 days of activity are output as the number of minutes divided by 10 that the bird was considered to be active ie out and about feeding in the relevant 24 hour period A value of 59 means that the bird has a mean or was a
11. y low for a bird during daylight hours the maximum value is 240 and is unlikely to be heard unless the bird is exercising 4 2 Listening to the outputs Listening to the output sounds a lot worse on paper than it is in reality so read to the end of the instructions to get the overall picture and then have a go If you get stuck phone Wildtech for assistance on 027 672 4856 or 06 877 1563 Overall scheme During normal operation the day counter outputs start exactly every 10 minutes based on the turn on time even if the time of day has been set i e If you turn on at 15 39 13 the next output sequence will start at 15 49 13 etc There are 12 outputs each output has two components tens and units see detailed scheme below Detailed scheme Using the first output for days since change of state as an example 7 Pulses 4 Pulses Standard pulsing 3sec gap eeee eee 3sec gap eeee 3sec gap 5 standard pulses before next output To interpret the days Wait for the 3 second gap Count the pulses Wait for the three second gap Count the pulses Wait for the three second gap Write down the two numbers obtained Doe Se a Following that five standard pulses at either 30 48 or 80ppm will be heard before the next output for previous days since hatch comes in exactly the same format 2009 05 04 Chick Timer User Manual Haast V4 4 amp Rowi V5 2 doc Page 4 of 6 4 2 Recording the information When recording i

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