Australorps Breeding for SOP and Exhibition Thread

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LynneP said:
Never thought of that! Of course chickens would try to eat them, just because they are SOP doesn't mean they won't stoop for a free meal. I'm hoping that in north America the mite predators will be available soon.
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Can you post a link to them?
 
LynneP said:
About mites I know this is off-track regarding SOP but it's so important). We use white, food-grade, diatomaceous earth (DE) to prevent mites and it's worked since 2008. The 'diatom' is a mineral dessicant which makes the environment unsuitable for mites. It is safe to use in dust-bathing, and should be applied where mites make nests- overhead, on beams, in lofts, in cracks and any hole that goes behind a wall panel, under the ends of roosts. It's so effective that many new hotels use it behind wall and ceiling panels which can be unscrewed to check for bed bugs. We buy it in 50 lb bags for three coops in our barn and that bag lasts us a year. Not only that but when you dispose of bedding or droppings, flies avoid it in your dump pits. You will see few flies in your coops too. We dust above the birds in the loft, on every platform/roost, in bedding and add it to any dust bathing hole they dig. Be caeful to avoid the gray food-grade DE, though, it's contaminated with bentonite clay and the bids hate it- they can't groom and it must taste awful. The white stuff, though, is precious, and does not affect eggs or meat the way insecticides can. In Canada a 50 lb bag may be $35 to $72, cheaper in the west, the difference is in shipping costs.
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Linda, is this (picture) the exact brand of DE that you use ?
 
Anthony, yes that is the exact brand, bought at Co-Op, I had to order it on the truck the following week though, some don't have it in stock all the time. A bag lasts me a year. if you bring some DE to a show and place a tiny bit in the cage bedding, you will not get anything in the building, such as mites, surviving on your birds.
 
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The DE is great in a box for dust baths, spriknkled over chicken waste that just sits, sprinkled on roost areas and used as a preventive maintenance on the birds. It is an organic razorblade to all pests with an exoskeleton, it gets into the joints of the bugs/insects and destroys them ......being totally harmless to humans and animals.


Read the book or see the movie "Hellstrom Chronicals" We have created super bugs by constanty bombarding them with chemicals that they become immune to and adapt to.
 
LynneP said:
Anthony, yes that is the exact brand, bought at Co-Op, I had to order it on the truck the following week though, some don't have it in stock all the time. A bag lasts me a year. if you bring some DE to a show and place a tiny bit in the cage bedding, you will not get anything in the building, such as mites, surviving on your birds.
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Hi Lynn!
noticed you mentioned the difference between grey and white DE. Down here in the states I have never seen anything but the grey. Do you know where the white comes from? That is possibly the key to the confusion over the effectiveness.
 

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