experiment with bedding

[chichichickapea]

I have two fans, I do put out DE. Linoleum floor....and i just cleaned out Saturday. I keep my feed in a metal trash can with a lid on it once a bag is opened. The worms were on the floor around where the feeders are....where they scratch out all the excess food.....but no where else.

 

[chichichickapea]

deek, I am in south georgia too!!!! the flies are about to carry us off....we have a big pasture of cows just behind the chicken coop and i could hang 12 fly strips a day and still need to hang 12 more the next day!!!!!!!!!! i really like the forage blend although i keep fighting using it due to $$$$$ but i think i use less than the wood chips...

 

[deek]

deek, I am in south georgia too!!!! the flies are about to carry us off....we have a big pasture of cows just behind the chicken coop and i could hang 12 fly strips a day and still need to hang 12 more the next day!!!!!!!!!! i really like the forage blend although i keep fighting using it due to $$$$$ but i think i use less than the wood chips...

Well hello South Georgian! If you have a place to hang a fly trap, that will help immensely. The huge problem is that the pheromones stink to high heaven. If you can find a place where you won't smell it, you might give it a try. Flies don't like fans either.

 

[Selfsufficiency]

Hello all,
We have been using the Lucerne Farms Chris Cox Forage Blend about a week now. We are in the panhandle of Florida and were using pine shavings and hated them. It seemed like no matter how often we changed it out it had a horrible odor and was so damp. I love the Forage blend so far but since using it we have those outside roaches literally invading our coop. We saw a few with the pine bedding but now it is just plain creepy to open the coop door because they crawl all over your hands why we refill feeders. I definitely don't like getting in coop for cleaning and maintenance with roaches all over. I also can't imagine that it can be real healthy for our babies. We put down a layer of DE below the bedding. Is there anything else we might try? We are only about 7 weeks into our chicken adventure and I'm not sure where or what other types of bedding we can find in our area. I was thrilled to find this at Tractor Supply. I'd love to keep with this Lucerne stuff but seeing how the roaches seem to love the stuff not sure if it can work for us. We have a 4x12 coop and have 13 seven week old chicks. They spend the whole day out in a 20x30 fenced pen unless it is raining. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[chichichickapea]

I have noticed all the "silver fish" is what we call them (little roaches) in our coop as well.....and had not noticed them at all prior to using the forage blend.....I use DE regularly...

 

[coolcanoechic]

If you guys are using a blend that contains molasses, then that is probably why. Do you still have the bags it came in? The Lucern Farms GOLD is the stuff you want. It does not contain Molasses.

 

[oldrooster]

Pardon me for the following stupid question, But what is DE? other than Delaware or Dale Earndhart?

 

[coolcanoechic]

It is diotomatious earth.
It is made from diatoms.
If you google it, you can find all kinds of info on it.
You can also find lots of useful info here from other members who use it to help control critters in the coop and on the chickens.
Happy reading!

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Quote: Keep in mind 99.9% of the info you'll find will be sales hype and misinformation.

The only PROVEN uses for DE is as a mechanical insecticide, and a moisture absorbant
For both uses, it ONLY works when dry

 

[chichichickapea]

I am NOT using the blend with molasses....I think one major factor is that our weather is a lot different than yours in NH