The Delmarva broiler industry produces over 630 million birds annually in an area
generally defined by the limits of the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean to the east and west, by Smyrna, Delaware to the north, and Exmore, Virginia to the south. Five vertically integrated companies operate in this region with approximately 6,200 active production houses. Broilers rank first in gross agricultural income for both Delaware and Maryland. Because of the high bird density per square mile, there are many opportunities for recycling byproducts from broiler production and processing, including normal and catastrophic event mortalities. Large numbers of dead poultry can be composted on the farm to avoid the costs of transport and tipping fees,reduce the potential spread of pathogenic dis- eases, and prevent potential ground water pollution from burial practices. The compost process is the same used for normal mortality,but without the composting bins. However, composting materials must be on hand for an emergency. This fact sheet will cover composting catastrophic event poultry mortalities.

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