During the past 12 years the deep litter system of housing poultry has been developed on a wide scale in Britain.

Deep litter is primarily a labour-saving idea and in the U.S.A. it is commonplace for a poultryman to attend to the needs of 4 to 5 thousand layers in one building, or as many as 30 or 40 thousand broilers.

The one great danger is that of the spread of disease. Such "built-up" or "deep" litters are those which have undergone considerable bacterial decomposition, during whIch process ammonia and heat are produced, and it is for this reason that they invariably smell of ammonia, the strength of which varies from day to day.

The essential thing is to build-up the litter gradually so that it remains dry and absorbs all the droppings, disintegrating them into a fine powder. As a result of the heat produced the litter remains comparatively dry and powdery, but there are also nutritional effects, because some of the germs which are present form vitamins of the water soluble B complex, including vitamin B12 which is one of the animal protein growth factors.

These vitamins may in certain circumstances assist the growth of chicks and also hatchability in the case of breeding stock, but they can have no nutritional effects unless they are actually eaten, and it is not good hygienic practice for chicks or breeding stock to be trained to eat their own litter.

Furthermore, if one is using a "balanced" chick or breeders ration no such vitamin supplement is ever required.

Deep litter can be used for poultry of all ages from day-olds to breeding stock, and it has the following advantages:-

(1) The litter doesn't require to be changed for at least a year, sometimes for several years, which is very labour saving indeed. When, however, the litter is going to be used for a second time it should always be "heaped" for several days in order to kill off bacteria and parasites.

(2) Properly constituted deep litter keeps comparatively dry and warm.

(3) Better fertility and hatchability.

(4) Saving of labour.