4 reasons why you want dry manure

If you choose to store or compost a pile of manure, it’s important to keep it dry. When poultry manure gets wet:

• it smells more

• it attracts a lot more flies

• it weighs more and is harder to move

• it loses around 30 per cent of its nitrogen content as gas

Fresh droppings have a high moisture content. The eye-watering smell of wet manure is its best quality – nitrogen – breaking down into ammonia gas.

Wet patches of manure, especially around drinkers, will give off lots of ammonia. That strong smell is irritating to poultry, and they will try to avoid it. If you can smell a faint whiff of ammonia, it’s already irritating your flock. It’s a sign you need to clean up the area, and fix any leaks.

The eye-watering smell of wet manure is nitrogen breaking down into ammonia gas, devaluing its use as fertiliser.