Is Red Lake Earth right DE?

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Alphagamchick

Alphagamchick

Songster
12 Years
Mar 26, 2007
174
10
141
MI
Someone else has asked this question but has no reply. My local feed store is willing to order this Red Lake Earth DE for me but I'm not sure this is the right DE. I don't know if it is food grade and I don't think the feed store guy asked this question. I described what I was looking for, he called his vendor who said he knew just what I was talking about. This product is 65% DE 35% monmorillonite(sp?). Maybe someone could check their food grade bag to see if this is what is written on their bag. I did google this brand but I'm still not sure about it. Any help?
 
Pure Food Grade DE does not have anything else in it. It is pure bright white. I think no one answered your question because we just dont know the answer. I dont know what that ingredient is, but I know it is not in pure DE. DE will only say "Food Chemical Codex Grade". And the Perma Guard brand calls theirs "Fossil Shell Flour", but also says has the first saying on it.
 
Hello,

I kinda know the answer. The Red Lake Earth IS food grade. I opted not to buy it because I wanted 100% DE.

I bought the Perma Guard brand and had it shipped to me. It was more expensive than the Red Lake Earth but I had already had it in my mind that 100% is what I wanted.

I think the Red Lake Earth is advertised as an anti-caking agent for feed. Maybe that is why the volvanic ash is added to it.

Take care,

Tami
 
Hmmm...I guess it *is* okay to use. I'd looked at something another posted, but that particular kind of Red Lake didn't look good, but their food grade DE seems to be just fine, according to this http://www.ereleases.com/pr/2003-01-17b.html. Oh, here's another place that has a nice write-up of this 'montmorillonite' stuff http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/clay2.htm.

The stuff I just got from my CO-OP isn't the pure white like I'd read about from other posters here, but I had the lady at the counter call where they order their stuff from and *that* lady said the bag they had left was food grade, only the stuff in the bag is a slight grey color...I'm going to presume it's Red Lake. I've put some in the chicks' feed and I'm going to check in a few hours. If they're dead, CO-OP will owe me money for my 4 weeks time, 25 chicks, and for the bag of DE I bought. If they're alive and doing fine after a couple of days, I'll try to remember to post about it.
 
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Okay...they've been eating the DE I got and put in their food now for a couple days and seem to be doing just fine. I dusted them all the other night and no side-effects (though the poor little polish I got as the rare throw in is still itching a lot on his ears and this evening I looked closer at him and see no mites whatsoever...I dusted them all just as a precaution the other night, I figured better safe than sorry).

I found out that the DE I got from the CO-OP is from St. Gabriel Laboratories, and *is* 100% pure, food grade DE. It seems some companies must do some kind of bleaching or something to make it bright white, whereas mine is a very, very light grey. I guess it doesn't matter so long as it's pure and food grade.
 
No, it's from the St. Gabriel Laboratories that the co-op had. From what I found earlier in the thread though, it seems the Red Lake stuff should be okay, but since it's not 100% DE, I'm not sure how good it would be for dusting and insect control. The Red Lake stuff seems to be more for the diet than anything else.
 
DE is not bleached to make it white.

The white DE is considered higher grade because it IS white....

Different colored DE means it came from different sources.

I've seen grey, reddish and white. THe reddish one was being sold as animal grade DE (good for animal feed but not certified for human consumption)

Sandra
 
I don't think there's any "higher" grades after one is certified as 'food grade' (at least not that I've been able to find yet). The MSDS thing for the St. Gabriel that I have (the light greyish) is exactly the same as the PermaGuard.

As for different sources of where the DE is retrieved from, I'm sure you're correct (I haven't looked that up yet either, but will soon now, just to see how many places there are, heh).
 
I posted a question about DE in this section and in the everything else chicken section and I got a good response in the previous section with a link to a website where I ordered the right stuff. You may want to check it out. I posted it yestereday 7/18... and titled it DE question. Good luck.
 

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