humidity too high for deep litter method?

[serendip]

This post is similar to the recent "my bedding is wet, do I need to start over," but I thought I'd just make a separate entry.

I live in the panhandle of Florida and summers are very wet. Although the chickens' bedding (pine shavings) will be protected from being directly rained upon, will the very, very high humidity interfere with a properly function deep litter system?

What are your thoughts or experience with this?

 

[Big Chicken Little]

When your chicks are out of the coop "till" over the pine shavings every day and this might give it a chance not to accumulate water due to dampness... good luck

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Toss in some DE and some scratch. The chickens will do the turning for you.

 

[mechagrue]

Ha! Totally OT, but I had to laugh at your avatar, Serendip. Oh hey, that was me!

I had a funny little confused moment when I saw it, because I debated about whether or not to use it as my avatar when I signed up. For a split second I wondered, "Did I decide to use it after all? But when did I post a question about the deep litter method?" It was very confusing.

I'm glad you like it! Please don't think this is a weird passive aggressive way of saying "U STOLE MAH PIX," it's totally fine, I promise! I just wanted to wave hi at Martha!

P.S. for those out of the loop on this one, chickens do not like to be made to wear shawls, even when they are really cute .

 

[serendip]

I wrote a bit about the significance of the avatar in my first post....

And thank you for your generosity!!! I'll tell everyone that it's Martha from WA!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
In principle anyhow, the answer is "not a problem as long as your ventilation is sufficient (which may mean most or all sides being wholly mesh)". The things to watch out for is deep litter heating up a small enclosed area, or getting moldy. Both should be easy to detect as long as you've got your radar turned on when you're in the coop.

Things will compost down faster than if you were in a colder climate, if that matters.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat