I am well aware that DE I contentious, so I only speak from the experience I have had with it.
Like you, I am one for balance rather than complete extermination/eradication. My first battle with red mites DE did the job first time. It was an infestation (not routine prevention) and it killed them very effectively....I was finding piles of dead ones like cigarette ash under the places that I had dusted. I used a product called "Smite" specifically marketed here in the UK to target red mites and poultry lice. It contains no pesticides or chemicals and is obviously DE from the description. The powder can be mixed to a paste and painted into all the nooks and crannies or I just dusted it in with a soft dustpan brush. I very occasionally scatter a teaspoon or two on the floor of the coop after a do a full muck out but not routinely. I do however now always add a teaspoon of it to the sawdust (pelleted wood, rehydrated into sawdust) that I use for broody nests and a base for nest boxes in general. I like it because it will hold a certain amount of moisture which I think is important for brooding... chickens are predominantly ground nesting, so they would normally have a slightly damp base to the nest environment I think. I put a small handful of hay on top of the sawdust and I use the dust pan brush dipped into the DE powder to lightly dust over that, before I set the eggs. I will repeat the light dusting with the soft brush over the hay and eggs 2 or perhaps 3 times during the 3 week period after the hen gets off the nest for a broody break....My broodies usually get fastened into the nest area which is an old small cupboard with some holes drilled in the door. There is rom for her nest which I make in an old drawer and food and water and I let her out once a day to eat and drink with the flock and poop and dust bath and most importantly remain a part of the flock. When she is ready to go back, I open the door (I keep it closed whilst she is having her broody break so that other hens don't mess with it) and she jumps in and settles down and I close the door knowing that she is safe with her eggs until the following day.
I've never had any problems with chicks or broody having respiratory ailments so I can't see any drawback from using the DE in that situation, but you could make a paste and paint the nest box with it if you were concerned about the dust.
That said, I started buying food grade DE in bulk rather than the Smite, which worked out cheaper (I was using some in their feed to on occasion at that time) and that Food Grade DE was not effective against an outbreak of mites I had in a little coup I purchased last year..... I had to resort to chemicals(permethrin spray) in the end as I was losing battle after battle in that case. This year that same coop is having problems again but I am much more vigilant this time. Actually squashing as many as I see on a regular basis is keeping the numbers down and I also painted the worst areas with creosote which has definitely helped, so I haven't had to resort to the permethrin spray again. Another coop that I have the use of (it belongs to my neighbour who kindly allows me to use it for a supply of eggs, since he no longer has hens) was dusted with hydrated lime after he cleared his chickens out. I'm pretty sure the lime is doing a good job of keeping the mites out of that coop. My hens have been there for 6 months now and no problems from the lime, which was just a fine dusting into all the nooks and crannies and nest boxes and floor. Again, I use sawdust as my litter material and a riddle to remove the poop from it and sawdust with DE and straw or hay in those nest boxes depending what I have available.
I hope that helps you decide what course of action to take next against the little beasties. I will be going back to buying the Smite product as soon as my Food Grade DE runs out. The Smite is a grey powder rather than the white Food Grade stuff I bought, but the Smite says that it can be put in feed for digestive benefits as well as dusted or painted on the coop to kill mites, or dusted direct onto the chickens to kill lice, so I would be surprised if it is not food grade too. It definitely worked for me though and specifies it contains no chemicals or pesticides.
Good luck getting on top of the little red devils.
Regards
Barbara
Like you, I am one for balance rather than complete extermination/eradication. My first battle with red mites DE did the job first time. It was an infestation (not routine prevention) and it killed them very effectively....I was finding piles of dead ones like cigarette ash under the places that I had dusted. I used a product called "Smite" specifically marketed here in the UK to target red mites and poultry lice. It contains no pesticides or chemicals and is obviously DE from the description. The powder can be mixed to a paste and painted into all the nooks and crannies or I just dusted it in with a soft dustpan brush. I very occasionally scatter a teaspoon or two on the floor of the coop after a do a full muck out but not routinely. I do however now always add a teaspoon of it to the sawdust (pelleted wood, rehydrated into sawdust) that I use for broody nests and a base for nest boxes in general. I like it because it will hold a certain amount of moisture which I think is important for brooding... chickens are predominantly ground nesting, so they would normally have a slightly damp base to the nest environment I think. I put a small handful of hay on top of the sawdust and I use the dust pan brush dipped into the DE powder to lightly dust over that, before I set the eggs. I will repeat the light dusting with the soft brush over the hay and eggs 2 or perhaps 3 times during the 3 week period after the hen gets off the nest for a broody break....My broodies usually get fastened into the nest area which is an old small cupboard with some holes drilled in the door. There is rom for her nest which I make in an old drawer and food and water and I let her out once a day to eat and drink with the flock and poop and dust bath and most importantly remain a part of the flock. When she is ready to go back, I open the door (I keep it closed whilst she is having her broody break so that other hens don't mess with it) and she jumps in and settles down and I close the door knowing that she is safe with her eggs until the following day.
I've never had any problems with chicks or broody having respiratory ailments so I can't see any drawback from using the DE in that situation, but you could make a paste and paint the nest box with it if you were concerned about the dust.
That said, I started buying food grade DE in bulk rather than the Smite, which worked out cheaper (I was using some in their feed to on occasion at that time) and that Food Grade DE was not effective against an outbreak of mites I had in a little coup I purchased last year..... I had to resort to chemicals(permethrin spray) in the end as I was losing battle after battle in that case. This year that same coop is having problems again but I am much more vigilant this time. Actually squashing as many as I see on a regular basis is keeping the numbers down and I also painted the worst areas with creosote which has definitely helped, so I haven't had to resort to the permethrin spray again. Another coop that I have the use of (it belongs to my neighbour who kindly allows me to use it for a supply of eggs, since he no longer has hens) was dusted with hydrated lime after he cleared his chickens out. I'm pretty sure the lime is doing a good job of keeping the mites out of that coop. My hens have been there for 6 months now and no problems from the lime, which was just a fine dusting into all the nooks and crannies and nest boxes and floor. Again, I use sawdust as my litter material and a riddle to remove the poop from it and sawdust with DE and straw or hay in those nest boxes depending what I have available.
I hope that helps you decide what course of action to take next against the little beasties. I will be going back to buying the Smite product as soon as my Food Grade DE runs out. The Smite is a grey powder rather than the white Food Grade stuff I bought, but the Smite says that it can be put in feed for digestive benefits as well as dusted or painted on the coop to kill mites, or dusted direct onto the chickens to kill lice, so I would be surprised if it is not food grade too. It definitely worked for me though and specifies it contains no chemicals or pesticides.
Good luck getting on top of the little red devils.
Regards
Barbara
