Can I use ONLY diatomaceous earth for my chickens' dust baths? Do I need to add in anything else?

Hmm, our hens just made their own dustbath on one of our garden beds. She kicked away the top layer of mulch and then bathed in the rich earth beneath it.

I will be using sand over concrete in my enclosed 4x8 run. There is an upper area which is the roost/nest house. A ladder will get them up there hopefully they learn to use it. Anyway my question is, can I mix some food grade DE in the sand to prevent unwanted bugs like fleas or what have you?

Should I put a pile of sand in their pen for a dust bath? Will they also use it for grit?

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If DE is only useful dry, what good would it be to ingest it? I understood It is supposed to be eaten (not by humans necessarily) to kill worms. It would definitely get wet by eating it.

It does no good to ingest it. As you've stated, its useless when wet. Its added to feed as a de-caking agent. It has no use as a wormer.

I was just told to use it if you have fleas in the house. Someone gave me a barn kitten and I brought her in the house. He had a couple of fleas that I didn't notice, so I was told to put it on the carpet to kill any eggs of fleas that might have come off of her.

BoltonChicken said:

If the diatomaceous earth is too large to get into the chickens lungs, then it is too large to kill mites and fleas. Worthless, in other words. This stuff is touted highly by the people who make it, but few others. As an aside, it is also useless as a wormer, because the moisture inside the body turns the stuff into little more than sand. Do some research before you do anything with this.

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This guy has no idea what he's talking about. Food grade DE particles have to be under 12 micrometers in size. Food grade DE is amorphous and not crystalline silica thus is quickly expelled from the lungs when breathed in. It works to kill insects and arachnids by getting on the cuticle and robbing them of moisture. I have personally tested DE by taking different insects and putting them into jars (with holes of course, so they don't suffocate) and found that every single insect was turned into a crisp within a very short time. It only took about 20 minutes to kill 8 fleas and an hour to kill a tree spider (the large brown spiders found in trees in Florida). I also put the stuff in cracks and crevices in my house and often times find dead palmetto bugs and spiders dried to a crisp in those areas.

You're also completely wrong about the body turning DE into "sand". Sand is made up of quartz (crystalline silica) and not amorphous silica.When DE gets wet it turns into wet dirt or mud and not sand hence why it's named "Diatomaceous EARTH" and not "Diatomaceous SAND". Whether or not it works as a dewormer is definitely not proven, but it getting wet wouldn't actually prevent it from destroying worm eggs inside of a digestive tract. This is because it's still abrasive when wet (since it doesn't mix with water) and worm eggs are very vulnerable to even minor abrasions. You'll notice that in the ingredients on toothpaste you will find DE listed and this is for use as an abrasive. Since toothpaste is wet this just goes to show that it's still abrasive when wet.

We use DE for all of our chickens and our rooster and they love to bathe in the stuff. I use only a brand I trust (the one that's just called "Diatomaceous Earth" you can buy it on ebay) which has no or only microscopic amounts of crystalline silica in it. I don't use Red Lake even though their stuff is less expensive simply because they list on their website that their DE has 1% or less crystalline silica and even 1% is still bordering on dangerous to breathe in.

Bear Foot Farm said:

When they have mites or lice.
Just a little bit mixed with other dirt is all it takes, or wait until they pick a dusting spot, and sprinkle some there.

Just keep in mind it won't work at all if it's wet

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Don’t wait until they have mites and lice, it is a preventative as well.