PSA - Poultry Genetics

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of mechanical pile turning/mixing with the addition of hardwood shavings to manure in deep pit layer housing. A commercial six row deep-pit poultry house were assigned treatments of : two rows each with 357.5 kg shavings base-mixed (treatment A), two rows each with 725.9 kg shavings-mixed (B), one row mixed without added shavings (T), and one row without mixing or added shavings (NT). Each treatment row was 21m long with mixing of designated rows by a belt stacking composter every 3d (approximately). Additional manure was added by the mature layers over the 51d observational period. Temperature levels in the manure were significantly greater for all treatments that were mixed with averages over the period of 50.9oC (A), 51.0 (B), 50.2 (T), 41.7 (NT). Percent moisture ranges at 51d were: 37.0(T), 37.1(B), 42.0(A), 48.3(NT). The practice of in house composting with mechanical manipulation of the pit manure may serve as a main component to an IPM program in commercial poultry housing.