Stall Dry, my new best friend...

[speckledhen]

You can put food grade DE into the feed to keep it dry and bug free, but I dont think I'd actually put Stall Dri into the feed, though if they ingest some, it's probably safe enough. PDZ is not made to dry up anything, just to absorb ammonia odor. I've used PDZ, but you have to use alot of it to work the way I like. It's cheaper than DE, which costs me $25/50#.

 

[LittleFeat]

Quote:
Just ask your local feed provider to carry it . We can request most anything and our store here..TS or MFA will try to order it, if not carry if for us....Good luck!

I agree...for those having a hard time finding DE, my local co-op carries the 2 lb bag SOMETIMES, but I asked the manager if he could order a 50 lb bag for me. He said sure we can order anything anytime for you. So I am paying $36.36 for a 50 lb bag and NO shipping. Of course I will have tax but that's a LOT less than shipping. Think I'll run down to TSC today and see about Stall Dry. Haven't tried that. Oh and I haven't yet used any DE....will it get rid of mosquitoes??? All this rain and we're having so many mosquitoes you can't hardly even walk outside without being covered with them even with Deep Woods Off.

 

[lovemychix]

Our farm supply store just started carrying it and I got some and now I will use it forever. I love it. Great stuff!

 

[nuts4chicks]

Ok, DE by itself is only one ingredient in a bag known as Diatomaceous Earth. Sometimes it goes under the name Fossil Shell Flour (by Perma-Guard). It is available in both food grade and commercial grade for lawn and garden use. If you use it around any animals or children, you need the food grade. It's a very super-fine dust. Yes they will eat it and it will be beneficial to them if they do. It will help the chickens, ducks other livestock etc. by eliminating all internal parasites, grow healthier stronger bones, beaks, feathers etc, have better joint and cardio health and lots more. I even give it to my 4 year old son. He's always out in the yard bare footed and while I am working, hand washing gets forgotten. The DE helps keep he and myself parasite free. (90% of children in rural communities get pinworms and it's usually through the bare feet and highly contractable)
You can also dust your chickens in the same manner you would spray them to eliminate external parasites. You can dust the ground heavily and as they scratch, the DE will destroy any earth-borne parasites and their eggs.

Stall-Dry is a product that has food grade DE at 65% in it as well as other ingredients (one is made up primarily of a particular clay/volcanic ash). It is about the size of barely ground black pepper. They call it pellets, but more like tiny little itty-bitty balls...sort of. It is ok for the chickens or other animals to eat it, provided you don'y use the PLUS variety which has a "fresh scent" additive. It could be safe, but I don't take any chances with another critter's life. It is used primarily as a litter additive or base layer to keep down flies, other pests and odor.

Personally I do not use Stall Dry as I use the regular DE in so many other ways, it would be redundant to purchase anything else.

 

[grandmaof5]

nuts4chicks, Thank you, thank you, thank you for explaining all that!

That info was invaluable...

 

[nuts4chicks]

well, you're very welcome. It's the least I could do to contribute what little knowledge I have. Course I've been using DE since before I got into my chickens, so when it comes to the chickies themselves, I'm always the one with questions. And I attribute 95% of my sucess to those who post honest and thorough information here. One can only gain so much knowledge from a book; the rest is experience. So I rely heavily on the experience of the tried and true. So what I mean is don't thank me, Thank you!

I just wish I could have better internet access so this would be less time consuming. As I've stated before, I live in the stone ages. Dial-up is the only gosh darn thing available and it is SOOOOOOOOOOOO slow...

 

[txchickie]

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AMEN!

Regular DE can really be easily obtained through just about any feed store, just ASK! I get 25lbs for $14 bucks through the feed mill.

We mix DE with our dog food, chicken feed, cat food, horse food, etc...along with ACV we never have to worry about wormers. DE does the job for us. I sprinkle it lightly around in my coops, in shavings, in the alfalfa hay that I throw on the ground in my runs, the chickens favorite dustbathing spot, our dog kennels/runs, etc...

My DH and I put 2tbsp in water and drink it every morning. I put 1tbsp in my daughter's yogurt daily and she takes it that way. The benefits of this stuff are amazing. We use perma-guard DE. I wouldn't trust any sort of stall dry or anything with chickens who eat everything, go with DE!

 

[werecatrising]

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Do you know of any applicators that do work?

 

[nuts4chicks]

Not by personal experience, but that website I mentioned earlier sells the dustin-mizer dust applicator just for the purpose of spreading DE. It's cost more, but maybe it's worth it. You usually get what you pay for - unless you are a good runnere

 

[nuts4chicks]

Oh yeah, I also ONLY use Perma-Guard. I don't trust anyone else either. Since DE isn't heavily monitored by the FDA, someone could just as easily give you a bag that is the kind/quality of pool filtration DE and say it's PURE, but you never know. AND the other stuff usually comes from another source and is a different type of silicate, which could easily and swiftly kill you - no kidding.

You may find someone who sells it under a different name but chances are, if the package says it is food grade, somewhere on the label it will prolly say "repackaged from Perma-Guard Fossil Shell Flour". (Mine Does- and it's from www.earthworkshealth.com )