|
Tuscarora, MD | PPC would request that we till the brooder litter everyday. We usually complied with every request they had because we assumed they are smarter than us. Well, that was a lot of work and it also caused air quality issues. I always noticed a strange foul odor when we stirred the litter. We stopped doing it everyday and went to once a week under the water and feed lines only. When we did that air quality really got better. Now we only fork the cake away from the feeders and till under the waterline with the walk behind. Much easier. When the barns were new in 1996 the flocks kicked butt for about 5 years. Always ranked very close to the top. We didn't even work at it, but as time went on problems started to develop to the point of a de-pop. After de-pop, kicked butt again for two flocks, then more problems. The harder we worked, the worse it got. As I said before, we think we got loaded with asper from wet Canada shavings. The worst was when we set rings up way ahead of recieving the birds. I think mold developed. We clean and disinfect the brooders after each flock. We have a two-age farm. The growouts have new hardwood sawdust that we cleanout once a year. We treat the litter with sulfuric acid to control ammonia. That really works, but you've got to be careful around the equipment and lungs.
What about the beetles? What's the potential hazard with them? | |
|