What are the dangers of Ammonia in a pen

[Ekwueme Henry]

I have about 2300 two weeks old chicks in a pen. This is my first time. I feel like the space is not enough for them but I do not have another pen to rear birds of their age.

Now each time I enter their pen, I perceive so much of ammonia gas around. What danger does this gas poss to my beautiful flock. Help please!

 

[Eggcessive]

Welcome to BYC. Ammonia odors from droppings can cause eye ulcers resulting in blindness, and problems breathing that may lead to respiratory diseases. That could lead to deaths, lower weights, and lower egg and meat production. Chickens must have room to roam around and to get out of their droppings. A grown chicken ideally should have 4 square feet of room in a coop. This seems to be way too many chicks to have for a first time chicken owner.

 

[KentuckyRooster]

two thousand? That must be a typo.

They need to be clean you shouldn't be smelling ammonia like that. How do you plan to house all these chickens as adults??

Ammonia can cause scalding in the lungs along with blindness and death in many animals. It's not good for you or for them

 

[Ekwueme Henry]

Thank you so much. Actually, this is my first time managing such a number, but I had worked for other people before coming up with this particularly one.

Now, please does the ambience of such gas has any relationship with viral diseases like flu, Newcastle or Gumboro?

 

[KentuckyRooster]

Thank you so much. Actually, this is my first time managing such a number, but I had worked for other people before coming up with this particularly one.

Now, please does the ambience of such gas has any relationship with viral diseases like flu, Newcastle or Gumboro?

A build up of ammonia will depress the immune system and make them more prone to all viral disease and bacterial disease as well. Since it impacts the respiratory system, burning it, the entire system becomes vulnerable to the entry of pathogens.

 

[Ekwueme Henry]

Thank u so much. I will quickly see what I must do for the good health of the flock and myself.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Hi @Ekwueme Henry

I see you have recieved some good information from the other posters.
Here's is some reading for you:
http://www.poultryworld.net/Breeders/Health/2010/10/Harmful-effects-of-ammonia-on-birds-WP008071W/
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/ammonia-burn

 

[Birdinhand]

wow, that's kind of a mind boggling number! you are talking industrial numbers, for which the care and management are super critical. if you can't give them the proper space, I would start finding folks to take some/most off your hands. there are so many problems that will crop up, it's hard to know where to begin. without the proper space for them to roam, they will start pecking on each other, you will see full on cannibalism. to get around this, the industry clips their beaks, but not fun to resort to and it can be avoided be proper space. the river of poop you will be dealing with is going to require serious management, like tractors, industrial scale composting. if you don't deal with the droppings properly, you will have a disaster on your hands. venting the ammonia is tricky, if you added forced air, the draft can cause problems for the birds, and if you don't have enough venting, the ammonia can kill. the ammonia is just one of the many issues. the microbes can go nuts. if the birds are too close together, they get stressed, and one of those stresses is added microbial load, they get sick from wallowing in such a nutrient dense muck. as one gets sick, it quickly passes disease to the next, in close quarters, particularly through the water. you would need a substantial watering system, usually a nipple system, continuous on demand, pressurized. with such large numbers in a small sapce it becomes difficult to avoid the use of medications/medicated feed. honestly, I'd gradually move up to these kind of numbers. this is by no means a backyard chicken scenario.

 

[ChickNanny13]

In total agreement with everyone above. Where is your location? Why so many at once? What size area are you raising them in? Is there any ventilation? What are you feeding them? What do you intend to do with so many? Got any pictures?

 

[chickengeorgeto]

FYI ammonia is as sign that there is to much protein in the flock's rations. The excess protein is being excreted in the manure and is converted into ammonia.