A deep litter floor only stays dry when it is run as a routine. These are the steps we ask every broiler keeper to follow, from the empty house to sale day.
Halaal Farms Ghana team21 June 2026 · 12 min read
Most litter trouble starts before the first chick arrives. The house was emptied in a hurry, the old bedding was left in a corner, the drinkers were never checked, and then the floor goes sticky at week three and everyone blames the feed.
Deep litter is a sound system when you run it as a routine. You keep one floor for the whole cycle, add dry material when it is needed, and turn the top so the wet patches dry out before they set. You do not rake the house out after every batch. That saving on labour and new bedding is the whole point, but it only pays if the floor stays dry enough for the birds to walk on comfortably.
This guide follows the cycle in order, from the empty house to the last days before sale. Each step says what to do, what to look for, and what to do when the floor is not behaving. Where a number matters, we give the figure from our own records. Where it does not, we tell you what to check with your hands and your nose.
Whatever you do in the weeks ahead, the floor you start with sets the limit. If old litter still sits wet under the old drinkers, the fresh litter you spread on top will take up that moisture within days.
When the birds leave, take out all the old litter, plus any cakes or lumps stuck to the walls and corners. Sweep down the dust, then wash the floor, the walls at bird height and the drinker and feeder lines. Let everything dry properly before you put anything back down. Concrete holds moisture for days, even when the surface looks dry.
Disinfect after washing, not instead of washing. Disinfectant on dirt does very little. Our guide on disinfectants sets out which product suits which job. Follow the label for dilution and contact time, and do not guess the strength to save money.
Use the empty house to look for faults as well. Check every drinker, every joint in the pipe and every tap. A drinker that drips quietly for an hour a day is one of the most common reasons a floor goes wet, and it is far easier to fix now than under a full house of birds. Look for rodent holes too, because rats and mice carry dirt into feed and litter alike.
The best litter is the one you can buy dry, in quantity, close to the farm. In most parts of Ghana that means wood shavings or sawdust from a sawmill, rice husk from a mill, or chopped dry residue such as groundnut or maize stalks. Each behaves differently. Shavings hold water and dry out reasonably quickly. Husks are light and blow about in an open house. Some sawdusts pack down hard within a week.
Store the litter off the ground and under cover before the birds come in. Material stacked in the rain can go mouldy before it reaches the house, and mouldy bedding is one more problem to fight from day one.
Spread it evenly. Thin patches near the walls and deep heaps under the feeders both cause trouble. Birds crowd into the thin, cold spots or pile up on the warm heap. Walk the house after spreading, rake the heaps flat and check the depth by eye along every wall.
Work out how much you need from the floor area, not from a guess. Measure the house, decide the depth you want, and buy to that figure. Ask the farm what they recommend for your house size when you place the order, so the bedding is in place before the chicks arrive.
Day-old chicks need an easy start. Most keepers brood on paper or a thin layer of litter inside a brooder guard, which keeps the chicks close to the heat and within reach of the drinkers. Our guide on brooding space per chick covers the setup in full, so here we only look at what the litter does in that first week.
Check the drinkers at least twice a day in week one. Chicks are small, and a drinker that leaks a little makes a wet ring that they walk through, and the wet spreads from there. Fix a leak the same hour you see it. Do not wait until the end of the day.
Feed spill matters as well. Chicks scatter feed, and feed that gets damp on the litter sours quickly. Lift the feed pans as the birds grow, and sweep up the spill once a day. Feed lying in the litter is also a magnet for rodents.
Once the birds are bigger, the litter needs regular work. Birds scratch, drink and pass droppings all day long, and the top layer gets wet fastest near the drinkers and along the walls. Turning keeps the damp material in contact with dry air, and that is what stops it setting into a crust.
Follow this routine through the growing weeks:
Keep the fork for the poultry house only, and wash it after use. A tool that goes between pens carries disease from one to the next.
You do not need a meter to know how the floor is doing. Push your hand into the litter in several places, down to the depth of your fingers, and feel it. Dry litter crumbles and falls away from your skin. Damp litter holds its shape and leaves a film on your palm. Clumped litter that will not come apart is wet, and wet litter is where footpad burns start.
Your nose is the second test. A sharp ammonia smell at bird height means the litter is wet, the air is not moving, or both. Birds stand lower than you do, and the smell that bothers them is often strongest near the floor. Walk the house with your head down for a minute before you decide the floor is fine.
Look at the birds as well. Birds that scratch and dust-bathe normally, with clean feet and bright eyes, are telling you the floor is working. Birds that sit hunched in one corner, or wet droppings stuck around their vents, point to the floor or the drinkers. Our guide on litter and footpad health shows what the early signs look like on the feet and hocks.
The table sums up the cycle. Print it, pin it up in the house, and tick it off on your daily walk. It is the same routine as the steps above, in the order you will meet it.
| Stage | What you do | What to check |
|---|---|---|
| Empty house | Remove old litter, wash, disinfect, dry fully | No standing water, no old cakes, drinkers and walls clean |
| Placement | Spread fresh dry litter evenly, set the brooder and drinkers | Litter dry to the touch, drinkers level and not dripping |
| Week one | Watch the drinkers, lift the feed pans, sweep the spill | No wet ring round the drinkers, no sour feed on the floor |
| Growing weeks | Turn the top layer, remove caked lumps, top up thin spots | Crumbly top, no sticky patches, no strong smell |
| Heavy weeks | Daily walk, check drinker lines, keep ventilation running | Ammonia at bird height, wet patches, footpad and hock condition |
| Last week before sale | Disturb the floor only when you must, keep the house dry | Floor condition written in the batch record |
Between batches you have a choice: take out the litter completely, or keep some of it for the next flock. There is no single right answer. Keep litter only when the floor was dry at the end of the cycle and you turned it well, and write your decision in the record. A floor that finished wet should come out.
Ventilation and litter are the same problem seen from two sides. Air that moves dries the top of the litter. Air that stays still lets moisture and ammonia build up together.
In the harmattan, the air outside is dry and dusty, and the nights turn cold. Many keepers shut the sides too early to keep the birds warm, and then the floor sours inside a house with no air moving through it. Keep vents open a little where you can, and warm the house with a heat source rather than by closing it up. Our guide on summer and harmattan batches covers how timing changes across the dry season.
In the rains the problem is humidity. Wet days mean damp air, and litter takes much longer to dry. Turn the top more often when the weather stays wet, and check the roof and the gutters, because a leak from above will wet the litter faster than any drinker. Do not let the drinkers drip because the house feels cooler. Cool air dries things more slowly, so a cool, wet house takes longer to recover.
Sometimes you find a wet floor at week four and there is no time to start again. You can still fix it, though you may not save every bird.
Litter looks like a small cost next to feed. The real cost hides in the mortality line, and that is where it hurts.
Our figures put a well-managed broiler flock at around 3 to 5 per cent mortality, and a poor one at 10 to 20 per cent. A broiler eats about 4.2 kg of feed to market over six to seven weeks. A 50 kg bag of feed broadly costs GH₵400 to GH₵470, depending on brand and season, and feed is more than half of what it costs to keep a bird.
Here is what that means for a 100-bird batch, as an illustration only. The birds eat about 420 kg of feed to market, which is roughly 8.4 bags, or about GH₵3,360 to GH₵3,950 in feed at those bag prices. The gap between 3 to 5 losses and 10 to 20 losses is 5 to 15 birds. At our from price of GH₵20 a chick, that is GH₵100 to GH₵300 in chicks alone, before you count the feed those birds ate. Confirm today's chick price with us before you run your own sums, because prices move with the season.
A floor that stays dry is cheaper than a floor you have to rescue. A fork, a bag of fresh litter and a few minutes each morning cost very little next to a batch that never reaches the buyer.
We do not give a depth here, because it depends on the material and the house. Start with an even, dry layer that covers the whole floor, then watch how it behaves in the first week. Confirm the figure for your house when you order.
Yes, if the floor was dry at the end and you turned it well. Litter that finished wet carries the problem into the next batch, so remove it. Make the call on the day and write it down.
Wet litter and poor airflow together are the usual cause. Check the drinkers for leaks, look at the vents, and inspect the footpads. Open sores or lame birds need a vet.
It can be, because you save on labour and fresh bedding. That saving only holds while the floor stays dry. A floor that goes wet costs more in birds than the bedding you saved.
A dry floor starts with a clear plan for the chicks. We hatch and vaccinate our broilers here in Opeikuma, Kasoa, and we import Ross 308 and Cobb 500 birds. Tell us your house size and the date you want birds, and we confirm the price, the hatch date and the delivery cost before you pay. An order starts with a message, not with money.
Read the litter and footpad guide before you place the order, and work out your feed with the feed guide for 100 broilers. When you are ready, look at the broiler chicks we hatch or follow the steps on how to order day-old chicks. You can also call us on 024 915 1503. The minimum order is one box of 50 chicks.
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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