Is it safe to use DE inside a coop?

[Rbrown369]

I know people are split between DE being safe or not, I’ve never used it but I have a bad lice/mite problem and I’ve sprayed the coop with dr doom and it didn’t work, I’m going to try again and do 2-4 treatments weekly but I built a dust bath inside the coop for them, I was going to use sand and wood stove ash. Would DE be safe inside coop there’s ventilation but it is still be a pretty enclosed space. Thanks!

 

[coach723]

DE isn't going to help at all, and you may cause respiratory irritation in your birds. I would not use it in the coop or out. In the US we use most commonly products that contain permethrin, both sprays and dusts to treat the birds and the coop. Spray tends to get in the nooks and crannies of the coop better. Elector PSP also works very well, but is much more expensive. Not sure what products you can get there, and am not familiar with Dr. Doom. In general you have to treat both the birds and the coop at least 3 times at weekly intervals, remove and replace all bedding and nesting materials each time (bag it up well or burn it). The chemicals kill the bugs, but don't kill the eggs, so the repeat treatments are necessary to get the ones that continue to hatch, so you kill them before they have time to lay more eggs. Otherwise, they will just keep coming back.
Good dustbathing areas are very helpful in prevention, I mix wood ash into my dustbath areas, just make sure it's only plain wood ash with no chemicals from paint or treatments to lumber, or other materials that could be toxic.
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

 

[Rbrown369]

That should last for quite a while, even if you use it a lot! If you have neighbors/friends with animals, they might be willing to share the cost with you to share. Lots of people do that with all kinds of supplies. Hopefully it will help you get rid of the bugs and you can have peace for a while!

Me too! I hate these damn bugs. When I check them I don’t see any on them because I think they pick them off and dust bath, but I had 2 hens die this year and both were crawling with the lice or mites so I know there is an infestation. They were old and I don’t think they were able to pick them off anymore.

 

[Rbrown369]

Some mites only come out at night and feed on the birds while they are roosting. During the day they hide in the nooks and crannies of the coop. That's why it's so important to treat both the birds and the coop at the same time, to get rid of them all. If you take a bird off the roosts after dark and check with a flashlight, you may see them then, look under wings and around the vent in particular. You an also wrap a piece of sticky tape around the roosts, at the ends, with the sticky side out, and check in the morning, see what you catch in the sticky tape.
Lice and mites will often find a bird that is sick or weak from something else, so not uncommon to find them infested. And they can weaken a bird a lot, make them anemic, so your birds will be a lot happier and healthier if you can get rid of them.

I am determined to beat it! I am getting the poultry dust as well as the permithryn. They have a dust bath in the coop now too will have sand and wood ash, I’m just collecting it from woodstove right now.

 

[Rbrown369]

DE isn't going to help at all, and you may cause respiratory irritation in your birds. I would not use it in the coop or out. In the US we use most commonly products that contain permethrin, both sprays and dusts to treat the birds and the coop. Spray tends to get in the nooks and crannies of the coop better. Elector PSP also works very well, but is much more expensive. Not sure what products you can get there, and am not familiar with Dr. Doom. In general you have to treat both the birds and the coop at least 3 times at weekly intervals, remove and replace all bedding and nesting materials each time (bag it up well or burn it). The chemicals kill the bugs, but don't kill the eggs, so the repeat treatments are necessary to get the ones that continue to hatch, so you kill them before they have time to lay more eggs. Otherwise, they will just keep coming back.
Good dustbathing areas are very helpful in prevention, I mix wood ash into my dustbath areas, just make sure it's only plain wood ash with no chemicals from paint or treatments to lumber, or other materials that could be toxic.
https://the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

Dr doom is permythrin

 

[Rbrown369]

Have you tried looking for permethrin in bulk, like to be used in houses and stuff?
Not for chickens, in other words.
Thats the only way I can get it in Australia, but I have no idea if you can in Canada.

I’ve never been able to find anywhere that will ship here up until now, last night I found a US company that will, it’s the 10% gallon jug you dilute it was 130$ cad to order it here but it should make like 20x more stuff than the can I was buying for 45$ cad hopefully!

 

[KRack]

I am determined to beat it! I am getting the poultry dust as well as the permithryn. They have a dust bath in the coop now too will have sand and wood ash, I’m just collecting it from woodstove right now.

What about ivermectin? Can you get the cattle pour on kind in Canada? Sorry if I missed this mentioned somewhere!

I’d do both simultaneously at this point, honestly.

 

[Rbrown369]

I would really like something to dust them but we don’t have any in Canada and they don’t allow elector psp here

 

[Rbrown369]

Lol I’m gonna have to rethink chickens if it’s gonna cost me this much money every year. The spray is 44$ each and you need 3. the bedding every time is 50$

 

[coach723]

In the US we have 10% permethrin concentrates that you mix with water to make the correct dilution, much less expensive and goes a long way (there are quite a few brands) and poultry dust containing permethrin that you can use on the birds.
I can get bedding for much less also, a bail of pine shavings is less than $10, and I always have hay scraps because I have large animals. I also use pine straw (from my pines), leaves in the fall I rake up, grass clippings from mowing after they have dried out. Maybe you can find some sources for bedding that are less expensive, or even free depending on where you are. Sometimes things are literally thrown away as trash that you might be able to pick up and use.