I am trying the deep litter method and everything I read says the trick is to have it be very dry. So If you are planning on misting the chickens some in the summer does this mean you shouldn't use the deep litter method or is it so hot here it doesn't matter.
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I use deep litter and keep the mister and fan on all summer. The birds congregate around it and the cool soil underneath. Composting is hastened with the moisture. Some of my mesquite pods that I throw onto the pile even start to sprout. There have been no ill effects to my birds and no bad odor. I keep the litter deep, add plenty when needed, and the number of birds low for the space. They are let out to free-range, but would rather stay by the mister when it's hot. It's an open-air coop. The mister helps the birds, though they are still heat stressed and are offered blocks of ice in their water, etc.
Jane you and R Falletta are trying to achieve different things. The deep litter method revolves around the birds scratching around and digging, effectively turning the litter so that 'clean' dry bedding is exposed. Eventually it will all need some refreshing so you put a few more inches of new bedding on top. It will break down some and fertilize the soil under the coop over the course of the year or however long you go in between hauling it all out and starting fresh but this is not the same as composting, it's more about saving time/work with some added benefits to the soil.
Jane, it sounds like you're just trying to compost the bedding/poop right underneath the chickens. I would be very hesitant about keeping a bunch of damp poop where they are all of the time, though you having the whole barn and everything is different from most people's coop set up.
If your chickens are in an enclosed coop all of the time I would not mist in there, or at least I wouldn't mist in the 'coop' section (where the nest boxes/roost etc are) I would mist where they hang out during the day, hopefully these are two different things. If they are the same place, check and see if the ground is kept damp, if it is, I would find something else. Sometimes though, the misters are so fine that it can be refreshing to the chickens without keeping everything else wet. I hope I'm being clear here.... Basically you are trying to avoid the chickens hanging around damp soiled bedding all day long, since the area under the roost is really where most of the soiling is, that's the part I'd be most concerned about...
Yep, as Rachel says, mine is different, with the chickens about 8 - 10 feet above where the litter bed is. And, they do not hang out there, they just go to roost there. You gave me some food for thought though, Rachel. Where my girls hang out, the mister tends to build up H20 under the dirt and straw I have in their shaded hang-out area. I should lay down dry straw more often than I have been. It's not at all their roosting area, and it's very much open (walled in on two sides only), but the area near the misters does get rather wet.
How interesting. I had read about the method too and just remembered enough to implement it under my chickens' roost. I was worried about it not being damp enough to decompose properly, lol. I just wade in there every few weeks, add more wood shavings, and spray it good with some Effective Microoranisms. I even dump the remaining water in their barn waterer in there sometimes. The stuff on the bottom of the pile looks rich and I can hardly wait to use it. I haven't heard any complaints about smell. If it were me, I wouldn't worry about misting the chickens - I'd go ahead and do it, at least until the monsoon gets in to full swing, and if I thought it would help them survive, I'd continue misting even then.
I found this article via Backyard Poultry. I interpret what I see here as worrying about wetness only if there's a lot of it. And you're right, we'll not get that here. Here's a link to the article: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Deep-Litter-3.html. HTH :o)
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Jane, it sounds like you're just trying to compost the bedding/poop right underneath the chickens. I would be very hesitant about keeping a bunch of damp poop where they are all of the time, though you having the whole barn and everything is different from most people's coop set up.
If your chickens are in an enclosed coop all of the time I would not mist in there, or at least I wouldn't mist in the 'coop' section (where the nest boxes/roost etc are) I would mist where they hang out during the day, hopefully these are two different things. If they are the same place, check and see if the ground is kept damp, if it is, I would find something else. Sometimes though, the misters are so fine that it can be refreshing to the chickens without keeping everything else wet. I hope I'm being clear here.... Basically you are trying to avoid the chickens hanging around damp soiled bedding all day long, since the area under the roost is really where most of the soiling is, that's the part I'd be most concerned about...
I found this article via Backyard Poultry. I interpret what I see here as worrying about wetness only if there's a lot of it. And you're right, we'll not get that here. Here's a link to the article: http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Deep-Litter-3.html. HTH :o)