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remove moisture from the poultry house

Forum: Removing Moisture from Poultry Houses

Published: September 19, 2012
By: Shabina Begum

If high moisture level is built up in the poultry house in bedding material then what would be the best way to remove it?

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Shabina Begum
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Ahmed Din Anjum
11 de octubre de 2012
Open house: 1. Add fresh dry litter. 2. Remove litter and sprinkle some limestone on floor. bring litter back. These two steps may help. Environment controlled house: 1. Check air speed. 2. Reduce stocking density in future.
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Shabina Begum
11 de octubre de 2012

Thanks for answering the question. This question is frequently asked in the class, but teachers are not satisfied well from answers like given by Ahmed Din Anjum, if the moisture is build up in very extreme weather like in summer or winter then what should be the economical way of removing this moisture?

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Esperidion Algabre
11 de octubre de 2012

For controlled temperature house increase air speed, install baffles so airflow drop to the floor, mix litter frequently to increase evaporation if possible decrease humidity. Choose from the above applicable for conventional.

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Dr Mohammad Yousaf
12 de octubre de 2012

| Thanks for answering the question.this question is frequently asked in the class,but teachers are not satisfied well from answers like given by Ahmed Din Anjum,if the moisture is build up in very extreme weather like in summer or winter then what should be the economical way of removing this moisture?


Sorry madam,your question is not specific, please reconsider.

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Faisal Shahid
12 de octubre de 2012

Litter pH and humidity causes ammonia production. When pH below 7 amonia release is reduced. At litter pH lower than 4.6, the economically devastating bacteria like E.coli, Salmonella, Clostridium, and Campylobacter do not grow. Here I would advise to stop conventionally using alkaline materials, such as agricultural lime, hydrated or slaked lime, and burnt lime, which increase the litter alkalinity and alkalinity makes favourable condition for pathogenic bacteria to grow and also converts more of the ammonium into ammonia gas.

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Faisal Shahid
12 de octubre de 2012

Ventilation is important both in summer and winter to control moisture build up or humidity but to explain summer and winter ventilation needs a lot of space.

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Dr Bayjut Bostami
12 de octubre de 2012

During severe winter generall side curtain are closed tightly by the farmer to prevent cold stress to the birds, at the same time it is very difficult to maintain the litter quality, In my opinion following can be done to maintain the moisture level as well as ammonia-
1. Remove the wet portion of the litter around the drinker and put new litter
2. Mix 1kg of Bleaching powder and 2 kg of lime powder fro 1000 sq ft area.
3. Check gut health of birds regularly to avoid loose droppings.

Regards
Dr Bayjut Bostami

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Leo Antony
Suguna Group
Suguna Group
13 de octubre de 2012

Removing moisture from wet litter:
I know that telling you to install fans or other equipment in the shed is not always practical. According to my experience adding limestone is not at all advisable for more than one reason.

1. Agreed that the lime stone absorbs the moisture from the litter. We should know that limestone is hygroscopic and therefore absorbs the moisture from the litter but also unnecessarily gathers more moisture from the atmosphere. Once this is done, the limestone forms into a sticky paste along with the litter, thus preventing the litter from being free and drying quickly.

2. Limestone being an alkali, raises the pH of the litter which in turn encourages the release of ammonia.

3. It is not a sound practice to unnecessarily upset the pH levels of the litter - Dr.Faisal Shahid has very correctly pointed out the reasons for this. 

The best way to tackle wet litter problem is to prevent it. Other authors in this form have told us how to do this.

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Shabina Begum
13 de octubre de 2012

I am very thankful to all the members who answered the question in different ways. I think these practices if adopted, would prove to be helpful in removing extra moisture from the bedding material.

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Ahmed Din Anjum
19 de octubre de 2012
Dear Student Doctor Shabina Please ask this question from your relevant teachers and post answer here.
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Shabina Begum
20 de octubre de 2012
Respected Dr Ahmed Din Anjum, i will ask this question from my teachers and will post their opinion here. THANKS
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Ganesh Kumar Dahal
Guybro Chemical
17 de enero de 2013

Dear Dr.Shabina Begum,

I would like to thank Dr.Faisal Shahid for reproducing my thought against conventional use of Agriculture Lime (CaCO3), hydrated or slaked lime (Ca(OH)2), or burnt lime (CaO) since they increase litter alkalinity (My article "Poultry Deep Litter System - Benefits & Hurdles" published in Engormix.com on 26th May'11).

In lieu of promoting lime powder, we must look into following for reducing moisture level of poultry litter:

These method will help to reduces ammonia gas formation as well as bacterial load of litter also.

Thanks !

G.K.Dahal

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Talaat Mostafa  El-Sheikh
15 de abril de 2013

Removing moisture from wet litter:
There are many source of moisture inside the house such waterers, litter, respiration and excreta,; about 20% of these moisture evaporate in the house air, so the lime stone is not sufficient, lime stone only for the small space of wet litter. If lime stone increase insider the house cause respiratory irrtention.
To remove moisture you should calculate the ventilation equpements.

Thanks
T.M. El-sheikh

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Dirk Zwiegelaar
15 de abril de 2013

Have you tried using Black soldier fly larvae to reduce moisture and volume of chicken manure?

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Maheswar Rath
15 de abril de 2013

Removing moisture from poultry house when bedding material has picked up high moisture? Use of lime, pH issue, etc have been ok. But question asked by a student only which is very important in deep litter system of poultry raising. In my opinion do not allow high moisture of the litter material and should be <20%. Select good litter material, put it at least 3 inch deep for proper capillary action and evaporation drying through day time best ventilation.
If litter is in wet condition let us remove and replace new soon. The cause of the wet litter condition or high moisture condition needs to be established first, then you can try to have best condition.

Thank you .
dr m rath

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Dr Asad Abbas Malik
16 de abril de 2013

If you ask the "Best Way" to remove high moisture levels built up in the poultry house's bedding material, then the best way is always to replace it. (If not possible) select the more dense patches and replace the very wet litter with dry one. And avoid moisture building again by several procedures, like improve ventilation, stopping leakages from water lines and nipples. Also very important point is to check salt levels in the feed.

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Athar Mahmud
UVAS, Lahore-Pakistan
UVAS, Lahore-Pakistan
16 de abril de 2013

In my opinion along with all the methods described with their pros and cons, the proper (calculated) ventilation and stirring of litter frequently particularly with age of bird in mind and weather condition can help a lot in reducing moisture level in the house.

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Engr Tariq Nazir
26 de agosto de 2018

Truly! The best way is to increase air velocity. In high humid areas, recirculating fans are the best solution. Have personnel experience in hundreds of Poultry houses in a Pakistan and Middle East. Especially in Bahrain at seaside.

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Puneet
Montajat Veterinary Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.
17 de abril de 2013

1. Yucca is a good means.

2. Another product I saw in the exhibitions was STALDREN.

3. Use of Sodium sulphate instead of sodium bicarbonate is another good means, which is picking up well in the EU. The sulphate excreted binds to ammonia in the litter.

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Vijayaraghavan Gonuguntla
Agrilife India
25 de abril de 2013
One can use Zeolites and Ammonia degrading Microbes
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Sushil Chandra
23 de mayo de 2013
High moisture in climatic controled houses deep littre poultry house-----due to poor ventilation,non raking of littre not using lime stone powder( feed grade),insufficent provision of fans ans not lifting the curtains during day time. We have tried as under:- 1.Rake the floor from 10th onwards every day in the morning using, steel raker and sprinkle LSP(feed garde) 2 lift .up the side curtains for few2 hrs during morning time . 3.provide frame mounted hanging fans 8ft above floor level at every 20 ft and -run them for 30 mts every day in the morning. 4.prevent spillage of water-check all leakages 5.check for loose dropping--chk Nacl,fiber SS and ,toxicity in feed follow as above ,you will notice lot of improvment. Regards Dr Chandra
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