Why Should You be Concerned About the Level of Ammonia in Poultry?

Ammonia is a major cause of respiratory problems in chickens and a high level of ammonia in the bedding in a poultry house can cause severe sores on the breast and feed of the animals. Ammonia also causes lower weight gain, higher FCR, and decreased animal welfare.

Furthermore, working in an environment with high levels of ammonia is unpleasant and unhealthy to humans.

In some countries in the world, there are legislation on how much NH3 livestock farming can deduce to the surroundings.

How to Measure Ammonia Level in Poultry Houses Using an Ammonia Sensor

There are many different NH3 sensors available at the market, but it is important that you use a sensor, that gives you an accurate meassurement.

Also the quality and lifecycle of the sensor is a very important factor. Most ammonia sensors are quite costly, so replacing them is not something you want to do very often.

At dol-sensors’ we have made ammonia sensors that provide extremely accurate data and are specially designed for agriculture and the harch environment in poultry houses with lots of dust, temperature swings, and high humidity. Our sensors are negligible cross sensitivity to other gasses and work in both high and low NH3 concentration.

As a special feature you can just change the filter on the sensor instead of changing the whole sensors. This is both a much cheaper solution, better for the environment, and a lot easier.

Learn more about dol-sensors’ Award-winning ammonia sensor DOL 53 here and about our DOL 51 Ammonia Sensor for Air Cleaning here.

How to Lower Ammonia Level in Poultry

Since chickens are depending on fairly high temperatures, lowering the temperature is not a possibility, when aiming at reducing the formation of ammonia.

However, lowering humidity and litter pH will have a very possitive effect on formation of ammonia. This can be done by adjusting the ventilation rate and changing bedding between batches.

You can use DOL 114 to keep track on the temperature and humidity in poultry.

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