Poultry manure in layer nutrition

Interesting Topic Mr Joly. Obviously after fermentation or technical treatment, That ís correct? I think it is a difficult option considering EU rules.

Dear Joly,

We appreciate your effort and work you are doing, but it´s not a common practice in feeding poultry in management because it needs more research.

Dear Mr. Joly,

I have seen same practice few years ago in Saudi Arabia. One layer farm with manure dryer, they add around 5% of heat-dried manure to the layer rations with no noticeable problems. I found some figures as analysis of such kind of caged layer manure as follow:

Nitrogen % 4.9- 7.5
Ammonium Nitrogen mg/kg 91 -17780
Nitrate-N mg/kg <200
Phosphorus % 2.1- 3.1
Potassium % 1.6- 1.8
Calcium % 8.0- 15.9
Sulfur % 0.4 -0.6
Magnesium % 0.5- 0.6
Copper mg/kg 36- 61
Manganese mg/kg 370 -440
Iron mg/kg 690 -1300
Zinc mg/kg 330 -470

I hope we end up with more data on this topic from participants.

Dear Dr. Badr,

Thanks so much for the information and, with your expertise and experience, I would like to know how often can that inclusion of that manure be used and if there is still any relationship improvement in terms of production and at what percentage...

It´s interesting but those are not common practices all over in Sri lanka and Bangladesh. What is the benefit in using poultry manure as a feed?

Dear Philippe,

In the early nineties, a company has been established in The Netherlands, with the name FERM-O-FEED, ( near the village Mil) with the objective to develop and implement the controlled fermentation and drying of poultry manure ( mainly broiler manure) that should be used as a component in ruminant feed.

At the same time, there were also initiatives in the USA to develop such a process and product.

The research project and the construction of the fermentation- & drying-plant were supported by the Dutch government wit a substantial financial support. The fermentation and drying operation was considered to be essential, in order to eliminate pathogens from the manure, Most threatening and resistant was Clostridium.

After quite some troubles, a process was developed and a good product for ruminant nutrition could be produced in an industrial routine. So technologically, the project was successful. Also the nutritional aspects, for ruminants, were investigated in detail and expectations were met.
However, the objective to produce an ingredient for ruminant nutrition failed at the end, because of regulatory constraints. So finally, the FERM-O-FEED operation had to be shifted to the production of dry organic manure for horticulture applications.

Regretfully the factory was destroyed by a fire, some 3 years ago and not rebuilt as such.

There may be still useful information around about the composition and the applications of the intended poultry ( broiler) manure product., I do not have the details, but yoy may be able to find some.

Any way, good to be aware of this initiative and the hurdles that came up.

Good luck with your initiative.

I would compare the cost of one ton of phosphorus with the layer manure phosphorus and calculate how much of this phosphorus is reused by the layer. If it is processed over 120 degrees Celsius, and with steam, this would help prevent the manure to get out of the barn and go somewhere else (Contamination? Phosphorus to the ground if the manure is used as ammendement for agricultural soils?)t

IIf you assume that the value of MS is approximately 780 kcal and the cost of production is very low (less than $ 100 / MT) I think it could be used,
I also think that it cannot be compared layer manure  with broiler manure, because they are different, the second one has mixed with the bed as wood chips, rice straw and  layer manure is of cage

I do not agree to feed poultry or any other animal on poultry waste,maybe if there is a detailed scientific proof data on the same.
And on the same i would like to know anybody with information on how to turn poultry wet waste litter from cages into fertalizer,and if maybe we have a chemical to use?

I agree that poultry waste can be used to feed animals but it should be treated, to me as monogastric animal researcher, it is the level of inclusion that matters, though if u look at it in the angle of animal welfare, an eyebrow can be raised, but in a developing economy like pours even where the animal protein intake is lower than the recommended daily intake by the FAO, then producing healthy birds that will help increase the animal protein intake of the populace to produce a virile and healthy nation by feeding them with treated poultry waste is a welcomed trend. Its not a new topic at all.

At best, data on layer manure provided by Badr Alfaddil should be put in good use by the farm manager to modify or re-formulate layer's feed. For example, his data did show that Phosphorus and calcium were not effectively utilized and that magnesium,Copper,maganese, Iron and Zinc were oversupplied.

Based ob the observation of Philippe Joly: surely anything still with some nutritive values can be used as feed again . Directly incorporated back in layer's feed means adding the indigestible parts back to layers as pointed out by Kosin may not be a good choice.

We all know that it is technically feasible if we really want to use layer's manure as feed. Economical feasibility is actually the major issue here because we should evaluate different ways to make use of layer's manure. Ferm-O-Feed made a reasonable choice since manure was converted into ruminant concentrate ( indigestible part to birds is no longer a problem to ruminant). Should manure be incorporated into fertilizer?Should it be used to feed aquatic species in ponds?

Economic feasibility study will also point out the worthiness of sterilizing manure, drying manure, removal of toxins, hormones,bacterial and viral load in finished product prior to feed formulation. When energy inputs, time, technology investment become so excessive then we just have to forget about this idea of using layer's manure to feed back to layers

Although I have no experience in using poultry in layer rations, my experience in using it in ruminant rations would make me very cautious. First of all, there is no consistent analysis for poultry manure, which means you will have each batch analysed prior to incorporating into the feed. Then you have the problem of pathogens, which can be eliminated (hopefully) through sterilization which in turn will more than likely destroy vitamins, and other non-pathogenic bacteria which I would consider more important than the nutritional value. A laboratory analysis does not mean the nutrients are available to the bird.

As far as the effect of poultry manure on the health of the bird or the consumer will depend on the level of pasteurization or sterilization of the original product and the ability of any remaining pathogens(if any) to either be transmitted into the egg during egg formation or at the time of laying.

Inclusion rates of 5%(max) or less will probably not reduce feed costs significantly, but will increase the risk of loosing your flock due to improper sterilization/pasteurization and disease. Is it worth the risk?

Compost poultry manure, blend it with ruminant manure and apply as a soil amendment for crop production.