Litter quality in poultry housing directly affects the welfare of chickens through footpad health, respiratory exposure and the ability to perform dust bathing and other natural behaviours.
Litter quality management is one of the most impactful and practical welfare interventions available in broiler and laying hen production. The welfare consequences of poor litter are direct and well-documented: footpad dermatitis causes lesions that are painful during walking and increase time lying in wet litter, creating a compounding cycle of welfare deterioration. Ammonia at high concentrations causes eye and respiratory damage. The absence of suitable dry substrate for dust bathing leaves a strongly motivated behaviour chronically unfulfilled. Conversely, farms that maintain dry, friable litter through appropriate stocking density, ventilation, drinker management and monitoring achieve dramatically better welfare outcomes at no additional cost and often improved production performance. Litter welfare is therefore a case where welfare and productivity interests are genuinely aligned.