Blue Laced Red Wyandotte THREAD!

[7acres]

I need your opinions on this. I have some DE that I have had for a long time. I was thinking about using it to dust and include in my chickens feed. I understand that there are food grade and not food grade. Neither says food grade on it. Bag 1 is Safer Brand DE Plus. It says ant and crawling bug insect killer and is in a yellow bag. Bag 2 is in a blue bag. It is Earth Safe Organic for organic gardens. It is make by Carl Pool Products. This bags says it can be added to horse, dog and cat feed. Would you say either is safe to use? What would be the consequences if a non food grade DE was used?

 

[ki4got]

I need your opinions on this. I have some DE that I have had for a long time. I was thinking about using it to dust and include in my chickens feed. I understand that there are food grade and not food grade. Neither says food grade on it. Bag 1 is Safer Brand DE Plus. It says ant and crawling bug insect killer and is in a yellow bag. Bag 2 is in a blue bag. It is Earth Safe Organic for organic gardens. It is make by Carl Pool Products. This bags says it can be added to horse, dog and cat feed. Would you say either is safe to use? What would be the consequences if a non food grade DE was used?

non-food grade (because of the plus) would likely have something else included. possibly boric acid or some sort of pesticide... if the other says can be used in horse dog and cat, then chicken would fit on that list. but honestly, I have yet to find any verifiable proof that it actually works, other than 'so and so says' or similar hearsay... show me a formal study or test with reproducible results and i'll believe it.

personally, I tried it and found nothing. still had internal and external parasites. now I use ivermectin almost exclusively on and in the chickens (injectable version fed orally and the pour-on version topically - both are marketed for cattle). I also use sevin dust in the nest boxes when I clean them, before putting fresh bedding in.

 

[7acres]

Thanks ki4got. That helps sort it out. Need to read a little more in the ivermectin. I have used the sevin dust.

 

[delisha]

Quote: Yes,

That looks like a girl

Thanks ki4got. That helps sort it out. Need to read a little more in the ivermectin. I have used the sevin dust.

I have never used it. I deep litter and if it did work it would kill all of the good microbes and bugs I want going on in my coop. However I use plain wood ash for dusting my birds. They just take care of it and do maintence all on there own. I use neem oil on the wood parts in my coop to keep lice and mites out. I also use citrus peelings to discourage the pesky buggers. It makes the coop smell nice too. For worm control I give my chickens apple cores and pumpkin seeds and garlic maintence. I breed for resistance and give my birds things they can eat to keep the worm load to a low level. I eat my birds so they have to be healthy.

 

[ki4got]

I have never used it. I deep litter and if it did work it would kill all of the good microbes and bugs I want going on in my coop. However I use plain wood ash for dusting my birds. They just take care of it and do maintence all on there own. I use neem oil on the wood parts in my coop to keep lice and mites out. I also use citrus peelings to discourage the pesky buggers. It makes the coop smell nice too. For worm control I give my chickens apple cores and pumpkin seeds and garlic maintence. I breed for resistance and give my birds things they can eat to keep the worm load to a low level. I eat my birds so they have to be healthy.

being 'natural' is all well and good, but if the problem is already present, the birds need help NOW, and some of those more natural remedies may take too long to be effective, so meanwhile the bird is still declining.

I treat ALL new birds coming in the day they get here, because I have no way of knowing what the previous owners did or did not do for maintenance... and 7 days later to catch whatever the first round didn't get. Then I treat everyone twice a year.

some methods work better for some people than others, you just have to pick and choose your methods that work best for you and your situation I think. deep litter method is great in some areas, but on top of our clay-based soil, my 'deep litter' became 'deep muck' whenever it rained more than a couple inches (which happens frequently from may thru july around here).

Gapeworm is one that we have in this area, carried by earthworms. so unless I were to never let my birds on the ground, they're likely to eat the earthworms. and while eating earthworms does not automatically mean they'll get it, I have had a case or 2 in the last few years, so instead of treating AFTER I see a problem, I'll just treat twice a year and prevent any severe problems.

I HAVE tried a number of different methods for keeping chickens/coops clean/healthy, and find for me, raised coops with wire floors, free ranging as much as possible, a good varied diet and using ivermectin keep my birds the healthiest I can.

 

[jk9chicks]

poo, I thought mine might be a girl, but she looks a lot like yours...HOw old are yours? Mine is 7 weeks in these pictures.

 

[kimkim]

Are you talking about mine? If so, it's about the same age as your pics. I don't have an exact hatch date for that one...

 

[newtwinmom]

poo, I thought mine might be a girl, but she looks a lot like yours...HOw old are yours? Mine is 7 weeks in these pictures.

Look like a pullet to me.

 

[7acres]

Thanks ki4got and delisha. I can't seem to find how long it takes for the eggs at the base of the feathers to disappear for lice. I had a pullet with them. I isolated her, cleaned all the shavings out of my raised solid floor coop, washed it out, sprayed with neem oil and put new shavings in. I dusted the pullet and all the others. I redusted her with sevin yesterday (been about 2 weeks) and will do the rest today. I did not see any bugs on her, but the eggs are still around the vent area and I noticed what appear to be eggs around the tip of a couple of feathers on her breast area. Any thoughts.

 

[delisha]

poo, I thought mine might be a girl, but she looks a lot like yours...HOw old are yours? Mine is 7 weeks in these pictures.

Pullet

Thanks ki4got and delisha. I can't seem to find how long it takes for the eggs at the base of the feathers to disappear for lice. I had a pullet with them. I isolated her, cleaned all the shavings out of my raised solid floor coop, washed it out, sprayed with neem oil and put new shavings in. I dusted the pullet and all the others. I redusted her with sevin yesterday (been about 2 weeks) and will do the rest today. I did not see any bugs on her, but the eggs are still around the vent area and I noticed what appear to be eggs around the tip of a couple of feathers on her breast area. Any thoughts.

You should cut the eggs out by removing the feather with a scissors as close to the skin as you can. Or pluck the feathers out. You do not want them to hatch. Burn the feathers after removal. Make sure you double check all the birds. Those critter can live in the shaft of the feathers.