Rice husk, wood shavings, groundnut shells and chopped stalks each behave differently on a broiler floor. Pick the one you can buy every week.
Halaal Farms Ghana team5 May 2026 · 11 min read
There is no single best litter in Ghana. There is the material that stays dry under your drinkers, that you can buy from the same place every month, and that you can still afford when the feed price moves. A litter you saw once on a friend's farm and cannot find again is not a litter plan, however good it looked.
Litter sits between the bird and the wet. It takes up moisture from the droppings and from spilled water, it stays loose enough for the birds to scratch and turn, and it does not throw so much dust that the birds start coughing. Everything else you might want from it comes after those three things.
A good litter does all three for weeks, not for one morning. Plenty of materials soak up water fast and then turn to paste by the third week. Others stay dry on top but never really break down, so the floor builds up and you end up digging it out with a hoe in the last days, when the birds are heaviest. The cheapest bag is not the cheapest litter if you are shovelling it at week six.
Your house changes the answer too. A closed house in the harmattan, with dry light material, throws dust up to the height of the birds' heads. The same material in the rains, with the side curtains down and a drinker leaking into one corner, is a different job altogether. Choose litter for the house you have, in the season you are actually raising in.
Rice husk is what most growers reach for first, mainly because the mills produce it in quantity. Where there is a mill close by, it is often the easiest material to get in bulk. It is light, it spreads evenly with a fork or a shovel, and it holds up well under the drinkers when the line is kept tidy.
The trouble is dust. Dry husk lifts when the birds scratch, and in the harmattan that dust hangs in the house and settles on the feed and on the birds' faces. Keep the house ventilated during the day, turn the litter gently rather than digging into it, and keep husk out of the corners where water collects.
Ask the mill how it was stored before you load. Some mills sell it bagged, some only by the trailer load, and husk that has sat in an open yard through a wet week is not the same material as husk from a dry store. Look at it before you pay. If it is dark, sour or clumped together, leave it where it is.
Sawmills and carpentry shops are the usual sources. Clean shavings from untreated wood are soft, absorb well, spread evenly and break down slowly enough to carry a flock to market. Sawdust is finer. It packs down more, holds damp for longer, and can be dusty when it dries out.
Before you take a load, check three things. First, the wood must be untreated. Shavings from timber that has been painted, varnished or treated with preservative do not belong in a house with birds, and a sawmill will not always tell you what it was cutting that week, so ask. Second, pick out bark, nails and bits of plastic from the yard. Third, smell it. Fresh plain wood is fine. A sour or mouldy smell means the pile sat in the rain before it was bagged.
Store shavings off the bare floor, in a dry corner, with the bags closed. Damp shavings that have sat against a wall are the ones that go mouldy, and mould under the drinkers is a problem you will not notice until the birds are already coughing.
In the northern groundnut-growing areas, shells from the processors are a cheap litter that many growers overlook. They have a decent texture and take up moisture, but they carry more dust than shavings, and in wet weather they go soft and stick together. Expect to turn them more often and to top them up sooner than you would with shavings.
Chopped maize stalks, cobs and dried grass suit growers who farm their own maize or can cut grass from a clean field. The rule is to chop short. Long stalks wrap round the birds' feet, tangle in the fork and hold moisture underneath where you cannot see it. Dry the material fully after cutting, because hay that goes into the house damp from the middle of the heap will heat and sour.
Roadside grass is a different question. Grass by the road can have been sprayed, can carry waste from animals and people, and is often cut wet. Unless you know exactly where it came from, I would not bring it into a house with birds.
In the cocoa areas, husk can look attractive on price, and somebody will offer you a sack from the back of a van. Be careful. Cocoa husk that gets damp goes mouldy quickly, and I would not fill a house with it on the strength of one good recommendation. Ask an experienced keeper who has used it through a full rainy season, and talk to your vet before you put it down for birds.
The same rule applies to anything you have never used. Put down a small patch, keep the rest of the house on the material you know, and watch the patch for a fortnight. Look at the smell in the morning, at the feet of the birds, and at how the litter turns after a few hot days. Only then fill the house. A fortnight of care costs far less than a batch of birds with dirty feet on the weigh-in day.
Start with the material in your own town. Go to the sawmill, the feed shop and the nearest rice or groundnut processor, and ask three questions at each: what they have in stock, how often they restock, and how they will load it for you. A seller who restocks every week is worth more to you than one with a cheaper bag and a long gap between deliveries.
Then do the sum with the delivery in it. A material that needs a hired truck from a long way off is not cheap by the time it reaches your house, however low the price per bag looks. If transport doubles the cost, the option next door usually wins, even if it is a little dustier or needs more turning. Work out the cost per house for the whole batch, not per bag, because a litter that needs topping up every few days is taking your time and labour along with your money.
We do not quote litter prices, because they move with the season and with the seller, so confirm the figure with your supplier on the day you buy. What we can tell you is that our chicks go to all 16 regions, which means the litter question is different for almost every buyer. A grower in the rice belt and a grower on the outskirts of Kasoa will not end up with the same answer, and that is fine.
The table below sets the common options side by side on the points that matter on a broiler floor.
| Material | Where growers usually find it | What it does well | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rice husk | Rice mills in the rice-growing areas | Light, spreads easily, bought by the bag or the trailer load | Dust in the harmattan, caking in wet corners |
| Wood shavings | Sawmills and carpentry shops | Soft, absorbent, lasts well when kept dry | Treated or painted wood, bark, mould in damp stores |
| Sawdust | Sawmill sweepings and offcuts | Takes up moisture well | Packs down, holds damp, dusty when dry |
| Groundnut shells | Groundnut processors in the north | Cheap where the processing is local | Goes soft in rain, needs more turning |
| Chopped maize stalks or dried grass | Your own farm or a neighbour's field | Cheap or free if you grow it yourself | Long pieces tangle, damp from the bottom of the heap |
| Cocoa husk | Cocoa areas | Sometimes cheap locally | Mouldy when damp, trial on a small patch first |
Once the material is in, the litter tells you how it is working, every day, if you bother to look. Push a hand into the litter in three or four places, including one close to the drinkers. Good litter feels loose on the surface, with dry crumbs that move when you press them. Dark, flattened patches that stick to your hand mean moisture has got under the top layer, and that is where the smell starts.
Smell is the second check. Litter that smells of straw or plain wood is doing its job. A sharp, sour or ammonia smell at bird height means the floor is too wet or has not been turned often enough, and the birds will feel it in their airways before you notice it. Fix the cause first, which is usually a leaking drinker or a closed house in damp weather, then turn and top up. Writing the smell and the wet spots in the record helps you spot a pattern from one batch to the next.
If the litter cakes in the same corner every week, the cause is usually the same corner each time. Look at the drinker above it, at the air coming in from the side, and at whether the bags of litter are being stored damp.
Yes, many growers do. A mix of shavings and rice husk can give you the absorbency of one with the lighter feel of the other. Mix it thoroughly before spreading, so there are no wet pockets, and keep the same mix for the whole batch. Then if something goes wrong, you know what changed.
Keep the house ventilated during the day, move the litter gently rather than digging hard, and check the drinkers so the floor stays dry. Good airflow helps with both dust and damp. If the birds are coughing or their eyes look sore, call a vet and check the house before you add anything.
Be careful. Grass that has been sprayed, grass from a verge where animals or people pass, and grass cut wet and stored damp can all bring trouble. If you use grass at all, cut it from a clean place, dry it fully and chop it short.
That depends on the material, the weather and how well the drinkers are managed. Turn the litter and check the floor every day. Replace it when the floor stays wet or smells sour even after you have topped it up. Your flock record should show when it was last changed.
Once you have picked a material, the floor still needs a routine. Our deep litter guide walks through the steps from the empty house to the last week, and the litter and footpad guide shows what a wet floor does to a bird you want to sell.
When you are ready to stock the house, read about our broiler day-old chicks, then send the order form on the site or call 024 915 1503. You can also email support@halaalfarmsghana.com. We confirm the price, hatch date and delivery cost before any money changes hands.
Written by the Halaal Farms Ghana team. We hatch and import day-old chicks at Opeikuma, Kasoa, and deliver to all 16 regions. This article is general guidance for farmers. For diagnosis and treatment of sick birds, speak to a vet or your district veterinary office.
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