Causes and Prevention of Wet Litter

Wet litter can be caused by either extrinsic (environmentally related) factors or due to intrinsic flock factors involving excessive excretion of water.

Moisture content of litter exceeding 35% is deleterious and may lead to the following conditions: –
• Dermatitis of the foot pads resulting in pododermatitis which is reflected in poor growth rate in broilers and low fertility in breeder flocks.
• Wet litter contributes to folliculitis (inflammation of the feather follicles) which stimulates gangrenous dermatitis and is responsible for downgrading at processing or rejection by consumers.
• Oocysts of Eimeria spp. require moisture levels in excess of 25% to mature and wet litter is often associated with outbreaks of coccidiosis.
• Necrotic enteritis occurs frequently in houses with areas of wet litter due to the high level of Clostridium perfringens which occurs in the vegetative (infectious) form.
• Damp litter may contribute to proliferation of toxic fungi.
• The bacterial flora of damp litter favors the production of ammonia. If levels exceed 50-ppm, keratitis (erosion of the cornea of the eye) and respiratory stress will occur.