The extent of ammonia younger chicks will probably be uncovered to in the course of the first week of their lives is set to a big extent by what was completed to the litter between the flocks.
Michael Czarick, Extension Engineer; Dr. Connie Mou, UGA Poultry Science (PhD 2020)
In the direction of the tip of a flock the birds are including hundreds of gallons of water to a home every day. Throughout chilly climate, diminished air flow charges, in try to hold heating prices to a minimal, may end up in a big share the moisture remaining within the litter. Essentially the most prevalent location for moisture build-up in litter is close to a home’s drinker traces. If truth, it’s not unusual on the finish of the flock for the moisture content material of the litter inside a few toes of every drinker line to be 40% or better.
Since water is likely one of the key constructing blocks for ammonia, the elevated moisture content material results in elevated ammonia manufacturing from the litter close to the drinker traces. The truth is, analysis has proven that the ammonia manufacturing of the litter within the neighborhood of the drinker traces could be 4 occasions or greater than that in different areas of the home the place the litter is drier.
After a flock leaves a home throughout chilly climate, the temperature of the air in a home shortly drops. Although this truth could appear trivial, it may well trigger issues for the chicks that will probably be exhibiting up in a few weeks. It is because each the evaporation of water and era of ammonia from the litter are temperature-dependent. The colder the home turns into, the decrease the quantity of ammonia generated, and the decrease the quantity of moisture faraway from the litter. In a way, the colder a home turns into, the deeper the litter tends to enter a state of hibernation. If warmth is added to a home per week or so later, it may well appear to be the birds simply left. The ammonia era course of begins again up and the ammonia ranges quickly improve. Consequently, one of many keys to conserving ammonia ranges to a minimal at the start of a flock is to take away as a lot of the ammonia-producing cake from a home as attainable after which work on drying the litter that is still. The earlier the cake is eliminated, the extra time you need to dry the remaining litter and the simpler it will likely be to manage the ammonia at the start of the following flock.
Delaying the removing of cake from a home for a number of days after the birds go away successfully reduces a home’s downtime a number of days as a result of little drying of the cake and the litter beneath the cake will happen. Determine 1 exhibits the common litter moisture taken from a number of places close to the drinker traces from three broiler homes on the identical farm. The day after the birds left the litter moisture was 45%. Over the following seven days there was no important lower within the moisture stage of the caked litter close to the drinker traces. 
Although the moisture content material of the litter underneath the cake was not measured, it might be extremely uncertain if there would have been any change due the truth that the moisture content material of the caked litter above it didn’t change. On this case, for the reason that homes weren’t decaked for roughly seven days after the tip of the flock, from a litter-drying standpoint the 21-day downtime grew to become a 14-day downtime.
Although acid-based ammonia management merchandise can be utilized to successfully decrease ammonia previous to chick placement, how lengthy an ammonia management product will final relies upon upon the ammonia-generation charge of the litter when it’s utilized. There’s a exact quantity of ammonia that every pound/gallon of litter remedy will eradicate. The upper the ammonia-generation charge, the sooner any litter management product will probably be used up and ammonia ranges will begin to rise. If previous to chick placement caked litter has not been eliminated and the litter hasn’t not been dried sufficiently, the ammonia-generation charge could be so excessive that the ammonia binding functionality of a litter remedy could be overwhelmed.
To assist guarantee chicks is not going to be uncovered to extreme ammonia throughout brooding, caked litter ought to be eliminated quickly after the earlier flock’s departure, then home ought to be closed up and ventilated in a fashion just like that if there have been birds current. Minimal air flow followers ought to be managed by a timer.
Ideally, the common home relative humidity could be stored under 70%. If daytime temperatures are reasonable (+50 °F) minimal air flow followers ought to be operated repeatedly. If extra litter moisture shouldn’t be faraway from the home then little moisture will probably be faraway from the litter and the ammonia era charge at the start of the following flock is extra prone to overwhelm any ammonia-control product utilized. As well as, if a home shouldn’t be ventilated correctly between flocks, extreme humidity/condensation and excessive ammonia ranges can find yourself damaging a poultry home’s construction and gear.
Ultimately the purpose fairly easy: don’t let the moisture and the cake from a earlier flock adversely have an effect on the present flock’s efficiency and well being.
This text was initially revealed in Poultry Housing Suggestions, Quantity 34, Quantity 2, 2022. College of Georgia, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Cooperative Extension
From the Proceedings of the Midwest Poultry Federation Conference 2022
