Airsacculitis problem

Turkey welfare
in extreme conditions
Dr Jérôme NOIRAULT
In Finland, the weather is very hard.
In winter it’s very cold and dry and in
summer time it’s hot.
It’s difficult to ventilate without wasting a
lot of energy to manage temperature in
winter and without creating dust in
summer.
This climate and your very good
growth curve induces two types
of problems
 Airsacculitis problem.
 Breast blister and Breast Button.
Airsacculitis problem
The interaction of dust, ammonia and temperature in
the turkey barn causes this problem.
In air-sacculitis, the lungs and air sacs become
plugged with fluid. Affected toms will gasp for air
and often appear to die suddenly (high mortality
near slaughter time).
 Losses for the farmers & for the slaughter plant
occur by condemnation
processing.
of
carcasses
during
Airsacculitis problem
Breast Blister & Button problem
Poor management, poor litter quality, high
stocking density, leg disorders, fast growth and poor
feathering of the breast cause BB in summer.
When toms are lying down a lot, the Breast
Blister appear by friction on the litter.
 Losses for the farmer & for the slaughter plant
by condemnation of carcasses during processing.
Breast Blister & Button problem
First factor : the stock density
Possibility to manage the density and weight per
square meter.
The production system of LÄNSI-KALKKUNA is
based on the brood&move.
Males and females (9 to 10/sqm) are brood in the
same house until 7 weeks of age.
Then males and females are raised separately
with the same stock density.
First factor : the stock density
Male and female are raised in the same farm.
The normal rate of male is 52% (hatch number).
Density
= number of bird / space
Weight/sqr
=density * weight
The Weight/sqr
57 to 63Kg
70
Males Standard
Males +10%
Females standard
Females +10%
Weight/sqm (kg)
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1
2 3
4
5
6 7
8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Age (wks)
The density
The target for the maximum weight per square
meter is between 45 and 50 kg for the female and
the male.
In your system at 14 weeks it’s around 60kg for
the tom and 40kg for the females.
 For this reason the risk increases in tom house
to get a bad litter and a poor air quality.
The Weight/sqr
70
Males +10%
Males 60% space
Females +10%
Females 40% space
Weight/sqm (kg)
60
47 to 52Kg
50
40
30
20
10
0
1
2 3
4
5
6 7
8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Age (wks)
The density
 With a better efficiency of the space, the risk
could be reduced.
 With 60% of the space allowed to the male
after transfer, the weight per square meter is
between 45 and 50kg (target weight) when the
female are killed (14wks).
 At 7 weeks of age, in order to obtain this
density, allow to the male one house and in
addition 20% of the surface of the female house.
Birds are responsible for most of the
humidity in a poultry house
 For every kg of feed that a
bird eats, it will drink
approximately two kgs of
water.
 2/3 of this water ends up in
the litter and air.
 To remove this moisture
you have to replace inside air
with outside air.
It’s important to find a good balance
between ventilation and humidity
 With dry and hard litter, Breast blister (friction) and
Airscculitis (risk of dust) can occur.
 With a litter to soft and wet leg issues
(pododermatitis) and Breast blister (burn risk with
ammonia) can occur.
 For this reason ventilation and foggers are
interesting to control heat, humidity and the
subsequent ammonia and dust problem.
Good air quality
The challenge for the farmer is to avoid too little
ventilation which results in ammonia and too much
ventilation which results in dust (from feed, feathers
and dried droppings)
 Good air quality for turkeys should have less than
20 ppm ammonia and 5 mg/m3 dust at bird level to
prevent air-sacculitis (8 mg/m3 can be tolerated if the
birds are not stressed by ammonia, heat, or the
presence of respiratory disease agents).
Good litter quality
The challenge for the farmer is to avoid too little
ventilation which results in wet litter (ammonia) and
too much ventilation which results in dry and hard
litter
 Relative humidity can be increased by lowering
barn temperatures or adding moisture through fogger.
Keeping relative humidity in the range of 55-70% and
litter moisture at 35-40% will keep dust levels
suppressed and the litter soft.
Litter quality
Footprint (5cm depth)
Crusted litter
Dry and hard litter
Possible management for the ventilation 
 With circulation fans, it is possible to have very
strong air movements in the barn but no air exchange
outside the barn.
 During the winter, the litter directly below the inlet
(sidewalls) is much cooler than in other areas of the
building. In fact, the cold air is heavier than warm air,
and will sink to the floor.
Turkeys have a tendency to avoid these cooler
sidewalls in winter. On this wall you have the air inlets,
the heat pipe and sometimes the fogger, for this reason
it’s important to mix the air in this area .
Good air flow
Poor air flow
Good air flow
Minimum ventilation rates
18°C
21°C
24°C
27°C
29°C
32°C
Minimum ventilation rates
required to limit carbon dioxide
Minimum ventilation rates required to
manage house moisture based on bird
water usage and inside temperature
Possible management for the ventilation 
 You could try fan (20 000m3/h) hung to the ceiling at
1 meter of height.
 The distance from one to the next should be
maximum 12 meters (but in the beginning you can try
the double: 24m). You can try 8 fans per room to make
a circle.
 Place the air circulating fans close to the wall of the
house (1 m) with an 80° angle with the floor. This angle
help to push the air warm from the floor to the ceiling
in order to manage the difference of the air inlet
temperature.
Possible management for the ventilation 
In summer time it is possible to change the direction of
the fan on one side to try to use tunnel ventilation with
extra fan in outside wall
Possible management for the ventilation 
In summer time it is possible to use the tunnel ventilation
in order to obtain the chill effect (to cool down the birds
with the “speed” of air ).
Possible management for the Breats Blister 
 In order to manage the fast growth of the birds (7 to
10 weeks), it’s possible to work on the level of birds
activity.
 Normally at this age the dark period is between 8
and 10 hours.
 We can try to reduce the length of the dark period
from 7 weeks (14L/10D) to 10 weeks (17L/7D) by one
hour per week to increase the activity of birds.
(Newberry, R, C. 1992. Influence of Increasing
Photoperiod and Toe Clipping on Breast Buttons of
Turkeys. Poultry Science. 71 : 1471–1479)
Possible management for the Breast Blister 
 In order to manage a good feathering of the breast,
it’s possible to work on the nutrition side.
 Whole grain (wheat and Oat) are used at a level of
2% at 6 weeks and 15 or 20% at 10 weeks
 Some toms shaking at this age and unfortunately
laying a lot of time on floor
 We can try to measure what is the total amount of
some vitamin B (B8, B12, B5 and B3-PP) , methionin
cystin & oligo-element in the feed in addition with the
whole grain. This element are indispensable for skin
healing and feather growth.
Recommendation for feed 
Age In Weeks
Table C9. Recommended
Vitamin and Mineral
Supplement Specifications
Nutrient
Units
per
kg
feed
0-4
5-12
13 kill
Vitamin A
i.u
15000
10000
Vitamin D3
i.u.
5000
Vitamin E
mg
Vitamin K
Age In Weeks
Table C9. Recommended
Vitamin and Mineral
Supplement Specifications
Nutrient
Units
per
kg
feed
0-4
5-12
13 kill
8000
Biotin
μg
300
300
200
3000
2000
Choline Chloride
mg
400
150
100
100
80
50
Vitamin B12
μg
20
20
20
mg
5
3
3
Iodine
mg
2
2
2
Folic Acid
mg
3
2
2
Selenium
μg
200
200
200
Nicotinic Acid
mg
75
50
40
Pantothenic Acid
mg
25
15
15
Copper
mg
20
20
20
Riboflavin B2
mg
8
6
6
Iron
mg
50
20
20
Thiamine B1
mg
5
1
1
Manganese
mg
120
100
100
Pyridoxine B6
mg
7
5
3
Zinc
mg
100
70
70
Growing
Growing
Conclusion 1
Use ventilation to control first moisture, then
ammonia and dust, and last, temperature. Usually
because of the cost, we have a tendency to reverse
the order of these priorities.
It is important to keep in mind that temperature
during ventilation can be stabilized by using
additional heat.
However, moisture, ammonia and dust can only be
controlled by sufficient movement and air
exchange rate.
Conclusion 2
Leg problems, Airsacculitis and Breast
blister caused by wet litter, dry litter,
ammonia and dust are much more
economically devastating than a slightly
higher electrical and heat bill.
The most important thing
is to use the right system in
in the right location during
the right season
Thank You