Short answer: Deep litter stays safe while its top layer stays dry and crumbly. Start with 5 to 7 centimetres of dry shavings on a dry floor, build to about 10 centimetres by market age, and do a squeeze test every morning. Fix leaking drinkers and damp corners before you add bedding, because strong ammonia almost always means wet droppings sitting under the birds.
Key takeaways
- Dry is the job: fix the water source before you add shavings
- Start at 5 to 7 cm and build to about 10 cm by market age
- Run a morning squeeze test at the same spots and write it down
- Rains cause caking and the harmattan causes dust, so plan for both
- Ammonia you can smell is already costing you weight
- Clear the house fully between flocks and let it dry before new chicks arrive
What the bed is actually doing
Deep litter is a bed that does a job. Droppings land on it, moisture soaks into the shavings, and the bed slowly breaks down with the help of bacteria and air. Done properly, it stays crumbly from the first chick to the last week of a broiler cycle, and you never have to shovel out a sodden mess in the middle of a flock.
The bed only works while its top stays dry, and water is what breaks it. Most of that water comes from the birds' own drinking, not from the weather. Our feeder and drinker guide shows how many drinkers a house needs and where to put them so they don't spill. Farmers often blame the rain for a wet house, then find the real culprit is a drinker that has been leaking onto one corner every night.
So treat litter as a daily job, not a purchase you make once. Ten minutes in the morning saves you a month of ammonia and foot problems.
Laying the first bed on a dry floor
Start with the floor. Concrete needs to be dry for a few days after washing, and if the ground under the house is damp you want a damp-proof layer before the bedding goes down. Never lay litter straight onto bare earth. Keep sacks and empty feed bags away from the walls, because they hold moisture against the concrete.
Wood shavings are the most dependable choice we see. Sawdust from a nearby sawmill works well too, provided it is dry and has not come from treated timber. Rice husks hold moisture longer, so they need more turning. Chopped dry maize stalks break down quickly and can mould in a damp house, so use them only as a top-up in a dry spell.
Avoid green sawdust. It ferments and heats, and the first week turns into a fight with the smell. Spread the bedding evenly to about 5 to 7 centimetres, then press a handful. It should feel light and dry, and it should not clump.
How deep the litter should be, and when to top up
How deep you start depends on the bird and the season. A brooder floor needs less than a grow-out house, because the chicks are small and the bed has less to absorb. The schedule below is the one we give buyers as a starting point. Your own house, your stocking density and your vet's advice will change the numbers.
| Stage | Typical bed depth | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 7 (brooder) | 5 to 7 cm under the brooder | Keep the area around the lamp dry; add shavings at the edges if damp |
| Weeks 2 to 4 | About 8 cm | Turn the top 5 cm each morning; add shavings to wet spots only |
| Week 5 to market | About 10 cm | Top up when the bed looks flat; check corners and the area under drinkers |
| Between flocks | Clear to the floor | Remove, wash, disinfect and dry before new litter goes down |
The most common mistake is adding litter every time you see a patch. A wet patch is usually a drinker or ventilation problem first. Fix the cause, then cover the spot. Piling fresh shavings on top of caked litter only buries the problem for a few days.
The morning squeeze test
Take a handful from the middle of the house. Test the wet corners separately, so one bad spot doesn't tell you the whole bed is wet. Squeeze hard for three seconds. If the litter forms a ball that holds its shape and leaves your palm damp, the bed is too wet. If it falls apart as you open your hand, it is in the right zone. You want a crumble that is slightly moist and does not stick.
Do the test at the same three spots each morning and write the result down. A record shows the trend long before the birds show you anything. A bed that goes from crumbly to sticky over three days is telling you the drinkers, the ventilation or the stocking density has changed.
Check under every drinker, around the feeders and in the corners behind the doors. Those are the spots that cake first.
Caking and wet spots: find the source first
Caked litter forms a crust over wet droppings. The crust holds heat and ammonia underneath, and chicks scratch at it and walk through the wet part. That is how foot sores start, and foot sores cost you weight at sale time. A bird that won't walk to the feeder is a bird that isn't growing.
Work through the causes in this order. First, look at the drinkers. A bell drinker sitting too low, a nipple line dripping or a float valve that won't shut will soak one spot every night. Second, look at the house. Cold, damp nights with closed sidewalls trap moisture that would otherwise leave the house. Third, look at density. Too many birds on one floor puts more water into the litter than the house can dry.
Only once those three are right should you think about the litter itself. Caking is often the bed's way of telling you it has been wet for a while. Damp litter is also the breeding ground for coccidiosis, so don't leave a wet corner alone for a week.
Turning the bed without raising dust
Turning means lifting the top 5 to 8 centimetres with a fork or rake so air gets into the bed. Work from the back of the house towards the door. Do not dig to the floor every day, because that brings wet litter to the surface and throws ammonia into the air at bird height.
On a wet spot, scrape the crust off first and carry it out of the house in a bucket. Fork in dry shavings. Where the floor under the spot is still soggy, use a litter treatment only as the label says. We don't give rates here, since the product and your house decide them. Ask your vet or supplier to show you the figure on the packet, and write it in your record.
In the harmattan, gentle daily turning keeps dust down. In the rains you turn a little more often, because the bed takes longer to dry after each wet night.
Ghana's seasons: rain, harmattan and the dry spell
Around Kasoa the heavy rains usually run from April to June, with a lighter spell later in the year. Those are the months we see the most litter trouble. Roofs leak at the joints, water runs in under the eaves, and humid air means the bed can take days to dry after a storm. Walk the house after every heavy downpour. A patch you can fix in an hour becomes a week of cake if you leave it. Rain also pushes the airflow around, so check your curtains against our ventilation guide at the same time.
The harmattan, from about December into February, is the opposite problem. Dry dusty air pulls moisture out of the litter, so the surface goes light and powdery, and the dust hangs at bird height where it gets into eyes and airways. Your job in those weeks is dust control. Turn gently, sweep up spilt feed, dampen the walkway outside in the early morning, and close the curtains only at night when the air is cold.
The dry spell between the rains is when people relax. Don't. A house that dries out quickly can still hold yesterday's wet patches under a crust, so keep up the squeeze test all year.
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Ammonia: the smell that quietly costs weight
If you smell ammonia the moment you walk in, the birds have been breathing it for a while. It irritates the eyes and airways first. You'll see watery eyes, birds sitting hunched near the wall, and feed intake that slips without anyone noticing. Growth slows long before anyone blames the bed, and by then the weight is already gone.
The fix is not a spray can. Remove the wet crust, dry the patches, get air moving across the bed at bird height (our ventilation guide explains how) and cut the source. Most of the ammonia in a grow-out house comes from wet droppings breaking down on the litter. Once the bed is dry, the smell usually drops within a day or two.
Here is a check we use in our own brooder rooms. Shut the door, stand at bird height in the middle of the house for one minute, and count how long it takes before your eyes sting. If they sting straight away, the house is not safe for the flock, and you should act that day.
Clearing out between flocks
This is where the bed gets its reset. Remove all the litter, not just the top layer. Sweep the walls, the perches and the bases of feeders and drinkers. Wash with detergent first, then disinfect once the surfaces are dry, because disinfectant poured over dirt does very little. Leave the house empty and dry for at least a week before new chicks arrive, and longer after heavy rain.
Used litter is still useful. It is manure, and local farmers often take it for maize and vegetable plots. Stack it away from the house and away from the water supply, and cover it if the rains are coming. Do not spread it in front of the house where the birds walk.
Write down the date you cleared the house and what you used to disinfect it. That record is the first thing your vet will ask for if the next flock gets sick. Our biosecurity guide sets out the wider routine for the house and the people who walk through it.
A worked example: 500 broilers on deep litter
Say you are putting 500 Ross 308 chicks into a house with 50 square metres of floor. At about 10 birds per square metre, which is a common planning density, the house is full at 500. Eight centimetres of bedding over 50 square metres is 50 multiplied by 0.08, so you need 4 cubic metres for the early stages. By week five, at 10 centimetres, the bed holds 5 cubic metres.
At our starting price of GH₵20 per chick, 500 chicks come to about GH₵10,000 before feed, water, heat and labour. Litter is cheap next to that, so don't cut corners on it. Expect to add shavings once or twice in a seven-week cycle, usually under the drinker line and by the doors. Keep a spare bag in the store so you are not hunting for it on a wet Sunday. If you are still laying out the house, our broiler house setup article walks through the order of jobs, and our heavy broilers guide shows how litter condition feeds into final weight.
When you are ready to order, message us on WhatsApp at +233 24 915 1503, or use the order form. Our starting prices for broiler day-old chicks are on the price page, and we confirm the final price in writing before you pay.
The litter checklist to pin up in the house
- Every morning: squeeze test at the same three spots, result written down
- Every morning: stand at bird height for a minute with the door shut, and note any eye sting
- Every morning: scrape and remove any crust under drinkers, then top up with dry shavings
- Every day in the rains: check the roof and eaves after rain for leaks
- Every day in the harmattan: gentle turning and sweep up spilt feed
- Weekly: check drinker height, nipple drip and float valves
- Weekly: count spare bags of shavings and reorder before you run out
- Between flocks: clear, wash, disinfect, dry, and record the date
Questions farmers ask
How often should I change deep litter?
You usually don't change it during a flock. Keep it dry by turning, spot-cleaning wet patches and topping up. Clear the whole house between flocks, which for a broiler house means every seven weeks or so. Some farms run a layer house on the same bed for a year or more, but only while the squeeze test keeps passing and the smell stays low. If you can't keep the bed dry, change it sooner, because a bad bed costs more than new shavings.
What is the best litter material for deep litter in Ghana?
Dry wood shavings or dry sawdust from untreated timber are the most reliable choice we see. Rice husk works but holds moisture longer, so it needs more turning. Chopped maize stalks break down fast and can mould in a damp house. Whatever you use, buy it dry and store it off the floor, out of the rain. A material that arrives damp from the sawmill will start the flock on the wrong foot.
Why is my deep litter wet even when the house looks dry?
Look at the drinkers first. A leaking nipple, a bell drinker sitting too low or a float that doesn't shut will soak one spot every night. Overcrowding and closed sidewalls on cold nights add moisture faster than the house can dry it. Spilt feed in the litter ferments and holds water. Walk the house at night with a torch and find where the wet is coming from before you add more shavings.
Can I use deep litter for layers?
Yes, many layer farms use deep litter, and the same rules apply. The difference is that layers stay on the floor for longer, so the bed takes more droppings over the lay period. Keep nest boxes dry and clean, and watch for eggs laid on the litter, which get dirty. Deep litter suits a flock that is well ventilated and not overstocked. Compare it with the cage option in our <a href="/blog/battery-cage-vs-deep-litter-ghana/">battery cage comparison</a> before you commit.
Is wet litter really the cause of foot problems?
It is one of the main causes. Chicks standing in wet, caked litter develop sores on the feet and hocks, and those sores can turn into bigger problems. Sore feet also reduce how much a bird walks to feed and water. Fix the wet spots and check footpads on a sample of birds each week. If you see many sores, call your vet, since they can also point to nutrition or disease.
How deep should litter be for broilers?
Start at 5 to 7 centimetres under the brooder and build to about 10 centimetres by week five. That depth holds enough absorbent material for seven weeks of droppings without becoming too deep to turn. Treat the depth as a guideline, because your house, the season and your stocking density all change it. What matters more is whether the surface stays crumbly.
Can I reuse litter from one flock for the next?
Not without a full clear-out. Litter left from a previous flock carries disease and a high bacterial load, which can infect new chicks. Remove everything, wash, disinfect, dry and then lay fresh bedding. Used litter can go onto crops, but compost or dry it first so it is safer to handle. If you are unsure about your flock's disease history, ask your vet before you decide what to do with it.
