• Latest
  • Trending
  • All
  • News
  • Lifestyle
chicken farming

Chicken farming: How to keep the litter clean and dry

16th September 2021
This drone is collecting data which farmers can then access on the yield management platform. Photo: Supplied/Aerobotics

How the Internet of Things is transforming agri

13th August 2022
His life took a turn for the worst when he ended up in jail for dealing in drugs, but Thembinkosi Matika turned his life around and now helps others through his Legacy Farming Project. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Drug dealer turned farmer ploughs back

12th August 2022
ADVERTISEMENT
Beat the winter blues with yummy butter chicken

Beat the winter blues with yummy butter chicken

12th August 2022
Households in South Africa could be in for some respite in the coming months on food prices. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Food may soon be cheaper. What’s the catch?

12th August 2022
Archive photo. Western Cape agri MEC Ivan Meyer highlighted small towns' dependence on agriculture during a recent provincial summit with municipal leaders. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

ICYMI: MEC lines up municipal support for farmers

12th August 2022
Christo Van der Rheede is the executive director of Agri SA. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Former music teacher leads agri’s greatest symphony

12th August 2022
Bumper harvest for Mzansi’s olive growers

Bumper harvest for Mzansi’s olive growers

11th August 2022
Thanks to Netafim’s innovative solutions, drip irrigation is within reach of small-scale farmers. Photo: Supplied

Yes, precision irrigation is possible on a budget

11th August 2022
There's been a major breakthrough with South African citrus containers that have been contained at European ports. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Relief! Govt convinces EU to save SA citrus

11th August 2022
Willem Booise (left) is a trustee and has won the industry’s Specialist Agricultural Worker of the Year award in 2018. Photo: Supplied/Hortgro

Fruit farm shows there’s power in transformation

11th August 2022
Many people love avocados, but did you know that the introduction of just one of these fruits per day can improve the overall quality of your diet? Photo: Pixabay

An avocado a day can keep the doctor away

10th August 2022
Davidzo Chizhengeni, animal scientist, founder of KvD livestock, Ika Cronje, farmer and participant in the Corteva Women Agripreneur 2022 programme, Vuyokazi Makapela, a Director at Afrivet, and permaculture farmer, Stephanie Mullins. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Podcast: Prevent rabies with vaccination

10th August 2022
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
11 GLOBAL MEDIA AWARDS
Sunday, August 14, 2022
Food For Mzansi
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
    • All
    • AgriCareers
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Farmers
    • Groundbreakers
    • Innovators
    • Inspiration
    • It Takes a Village
    • Mentors
    • Movers and Shakers
    • Partnerships
    This drone is collecting data which farmers can then access on the yield management platform. Photo: Supplied/Aerobotics

    How the Internet of Things is transforming agri

    His life took a turn for the worst when he ended up in jail for dealing in drugs, but Thembinkosi Matika turned his life around and now helps others through his Legacy Farming Project. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Drug dealer turned farmer ploughs back

    Christo Van der Rheede is the executive director of Agri SA. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Former music teacher leads agri’s greatest symphony

    Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

    Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

    Claire and Martin Joubert have sacrificed and struggled to become top breeders of Ankole cattle in South Africa. But giving up was never an option, because they wanted to offer only the very best Ankole genetics in the country. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

    Farming couple lives and breathes Ankole cattle

    Tackling climate change, one tree at a time

    Agricareers: Veterinary science not for the timid

    Agricareers: Veterinary science not for the timid

    Once struggling farm now a family heirloom

    This drone is collecting data which farmers can then access on the yield management platform. Photo: Supplied/Aerobotics

    Optimal yields now at farmers’ finger tips

  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought
No Result
View All Result
Food For Mzansi

Chicken farming: How to keep the litter clean and dry

by Dona Van Eeden
16th September 2021
in Farmer's Inside Track
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
chicken farming

Having sufficient clean and dry litter in your chicken coop will keep your chickens happy and healthy. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Small-scale chicken farming is a great way to enhance family income or to improve your family’s diet with a regular source of chicken meat or eggs. It is also very flexible, as you can control and change the number of chickens between every batch. But as it remains important to get some fundamentals right, Food For Mzansi asked one farmer about the need to keep chicken litter clean and dry.

Sandiswa Kula, a small-scale farmer in eMxhelo just outside Alice in the Eastern Cape, started farming with chickens in April this year when her aunt gave her 100 day-old chicks as a start-up gift. Depending on the month, she mostly farms with between 20 and 50 chickens. She shares what she has learnt.

Chicken litter

Chicken litter is the layer of material used on the floor of the poultry house. According to Kula, the litter helps to keep the chicks dry when they are young and provides comfort for the little creatures. It keeps the area dry for longer and also helps to keep the odour of the poultry house to a minimum.

ADVERTISEMENT
If you own a chicken farm, you have to know these basics on how to prepare your chicken coop for a new batch of chickens.
If you own a chicken farm, you need to know some basics on how to keep your poultry house clean and dry. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

The material used for litter should be highly absorbent, lightweight and non-toxic. You need to provide the chickens with bedding material of at least 5cm deep.

“I use sawdust, which I change at least twice a week,” says Kula.

Keeping litter clean and dry

For the health of your chickens, the litter must be kept clean and dry. Dry litter hinders bacteria and mould growth in the poultry house, and also helps to control ammonia levels.

The litter material must therefore be replaced regularly. The drinkers used in the poultry house must also be properly maintained to prevent them from leaking water.

ALSO READ: Chicken farm guide: Preparing the poultry house

Making use of old litter

Used litter has value and need not be seen as waste. It can be used as a fertiliser for crop production, so if you have a small farm or garden as well, make use of old chicken litter as a source of nutrients for your crops.

“I personally don’t use it in the garden because I have very rocky, infertile soil where I am,” says Kula. She uses goat droppings and chicken manure from her other free-range chickens, and don’t dilute it with the sawdust mix.

“I’m sure other people use the litter though, should they feel it is necessary,” she says. “It’s just something I prefer not to do with my little veggie garden.”

Watch the World Poultry Foundation’s training video on chicken litter here:

ADVERTISEMENT

ALSO READ: Chicken farm guide: Tips on chicken feed

Sign up for Farmer’s Inside Track: Join our exclusive platform for new entrants into farming and agri-business, with newsletters and podcasts. 

Tags: AdviceChicken farminglitter
Previous Post

Deputy Minister Hlengiwe Mkhize dies

Next Post

Poor roads should be fixed for economy’s sake

Dona Van Eeden

Dona Van Eeden

Dona van Eeden is a budding writer and journalist, starting her career as an intern at Food for Mzansi. Furnished with a deep love and understanding of environmental systems and sustainable development, she aims to make the world a better place however she can. In her free time you can find her with her nose in a book or wandering on a mountain, looking at the world through her camera's viewfinder.

Related Posts

Food technologist Precious Hlongwane and pig farmer Eric Memani were among the first crop of Food For Mzansi readers trained as part of the newly-launched Farmer’s Inside Track Academy. Their trainer was well-known poultry farmer Jo-Andra Cloete from Our Poultry Place in Kraaifontein, outside Cape Town. Photos: Ivor Price/Food For Mzansi

Photos: Broiler training kicks off with a bang

by Staff Reporter
22nd February 2022
0

“The workshop ignited my passion for poultry farming,” exclaimed one of the future farmers who attended Food For Mzansi’s Western...

Food For Mzansi’s newly-launched Farmer’s Inside Track Academy kicks off with a series of chicken farming workshops. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Register now for chicken farming workshops

by Staff Reporter
26th January 2022
0

Are you an aspiring broiler chicken farmer? Do you have a space of at least 3x6 metres to start? Join...

Mzansi, meet your latest “urban farmer”. His name is Cole Oncke. At 14, he is already farming with chickens and vegetables at his parents’ place in Kuils River in the Western Cape. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

The most adorable story you’ll read today. Fact!

by Nicole Ludolph
19th October 2021
0

This grade 8 learner’s future is so bright, he has to wear his shades! At 14, he is already farming...

Thuli Mageba is a young poultry farmer from KwaZulu-Natal with big dreams in her pocket. Photo: Supplied/FoodforMzansi

‘Who needs big retailers when you’ve got taxi ranks?’

by Duncan Masiwa
26th January 2021
0

If there’s one piece of advice that agripreneur Thuli Mageba has taken to heart, it is the words of her...

Next Post
Potholes are starting to take up the whole lane in some Free State roads. Photo: Friedl von Maltitz

Poor roads should be fixed for economy's sake

Households in South Africa could be in for some respite in the coming months on food prices. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi
News

Food may soon be cheaper. What’s the catch?

by Duncan Masiwa
12th August 2022
0

There’s a whole list of basic food items that are set to become cheaper soon. But there are factors at...

Read more
Archive photo. Western Cape agri MEC Ivan Meyer highlighted small towns' dependence on agriculture during a recent provincial summit with municipal leaders. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

ICYMI: MEC lines up municipal support for farmers

12th August 2022
Christo Van der Rheede is the executive director of Agri SA. Photo: Supplied/Food For Mzansi

Former music teacher leads agri’s greatest symphony

12th August 2022
Bumper harvest for Mzansi’s olive growers

Bumper harvest for Mzansi’s olive growers

11th August 2022
Thanks to Netafim’s innovative solutions, drip irrigation is within reach of small-scale farmers. Photo: Supplied

Yes, precision irrigation is possible on a budget

11th August 2022

Bumper harvest for Mzansi’s olive growers

Seasonal farmworkers struggle to get UIF

ICYMI: MEC lines up municipal support for farmers

Agripreneur 101: Creating a beauty brand

Ecological farming the answer to food insecurity

Setting up a regenerative smallholding

THE NEW FACE OF SOUTH AFRICAN AGRICULTURE

With 12 global awards in the first three years of its existence, Food For Mzansi is much more than an agriculture publication. It is a movement, unashamedly saluting the unsung heroes of South African agriculture. We believe in the power of agriculture to promote nation building and social cohesion by telling stories that are often overlooked by broader society.

How the Internet of Things is transforming agri

Drug dealer turned farmer ploughs back

Beat the winter blues with yummy butter chicken

Food may soon be cheaper. What’s the catch?

ICYMI: MEC lines up municipal support for farmers

Former music teacher leads agri’s greatest symphony

  • Our Story
  • Contact Us
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Copyright

Contact us
Office: +27 21 879 1824
News: info@foodformzansi.co.za
Advertising: sales@foodformzansi.co.za

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Changemakers
  • Lifestyle
  • Farmer’s Inside Track
  • Food for Thought

Copyright © 2021 Food for Mzansi

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.