Air quality in intensive poultry houses directly affects respiratory health and welfare, with ammonia and dust levels frequently exceeding safe thresholds in monitored surveys.
Poor poultry house air quality imposes chronic respiratory stress on birds throughout their production lives. A broiler chicken in a house with 30ppm ammonia from week 2 onwards is experiencing continuous airway irritation, reduced feed intake from reduced smell sensitivity, and elevated susceptibility to respiratory pathogens. These conditions are often accepted as normal in intensive production despite being directly measurable and remediable through ventilation management and litter quality control. The same air quality standards that protect birds also protect the workers who spend hours in these environments — creating a dual welfare argument for improvement.