Moisture Management in Poultry Litter

Excess moisture in poultry houses causes both welfare and performance issues. We cannot eradicate moisture in poultry litter and neither do we want to. Moisture enters the poultry house in many different forms. This presentation aims to discuss how to identify moisture entering your house and ways of controlling it.

Moisture enters your poultry house via:

1. Drinking line

a.Spillage

b.Biofilms inside drinking lines (gut health)

c. Correct pressure

d. Height

e. pH levels in water

2. Lighting

a. Use of deflectors

b. Even light

3. Breed - Studies in Ireland have shown that some birds are more prone to enteritis and foot pad lesions which has an effect on moisture in your house.

4. Enzymes - As your litter is a working progress, when it is working it is dry and allows the material to breathe thus giving you dry litter with low moisture content. Studies have shown that a use of certain enzymes sprayed on litter reduces both ammonia and moisture at a cost of €10per tonne. It is mostly used in countries that are burning litter i.e. Holland and the UK.

5. Bedding material – Quality control studies have shown that foot-pad lesions differ depending on the type of bedding material used

a. Wood shavings

b. Home chopped straw

c. Milled straw

6. Heating

a. Direct heating

b. Indirect heating - the importance of your heating working with your ventilation system

7. Ventilation – Day and Night ventilation is essential. It is necessary to have different curves

WELFARE / FOOT PAD LESIONS

The welfare directive was introduced in Europe in 2007. Each of the 27 countries have introduced it into their national laws. The five freedoms under this directive are:

Freedom from hunger, thirst and malnutrition.
Freedom from discomfort.
Freedom from pain, injury and disease.
Freedom to express normal patterns of behaviour.
Freedom from fear and distress.

One of the main indicators of welfare is foot pad lesions. Moisture in litter can significantly increase the risk of developing foot pad lesions. We will show studies from both Denmark and Ireland where they identify bedding material, drinking lines, breed and heating systems. All of the above have been demonstrated to show large swings in reducing and increasing foot pad lesions.

REFERENCES:

BERG, C.C., 1998. Foot-pad dermatitis in broilers and turkeys: Prevalence, risk factors and preventions. Department of Animal Environment and Health Skara Sweden.

THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, 2007. Welfare Directive laying down minimum rules for the protection of chickens kept for meat production. Official Journal of the European Union L182, pp. 19-28.