Twigg, we put it IN their feed, so it must be food grade. I also use it IN the nests to keep out bugs and in the dust wallows and ON the birds, so I don't want them breathing it in. The silica in pool grade DE is 85%, but in Food Grade, it is about 1%.
When I have DE, the first thing I do when I open a bag of feed is put a cup or two in the bag and stir it around to kill any possible bugs that may be in there or that may crawl in there later.
I put the DE page together because when I first joined here, I decided to look for food grade DE myself. I'd asked around at the local feed stores, Co-op, TSC...they all looked at me like I'd lost my mind!
I broke down and ordered from Freshwater Organics. A #50 bag was $64.00/shipping included, and that sounded like a great deal, at the time.
Speckled hen posted the Custom Milling link a short time later and I was able to find a fantastic deal through them. It just so happened that we have a dealer about 40 minutes south of us...a #50 bag now only costs us $20.00...can't beat that price with a stick! LOL
If you are looking for local DE you should call all of your local feed stores and see if anyone will special order it for you ("Food Grade Chemical Codex Diatomaceous Earth")..... I found one store who was willing to do so. Cost me about $30 or so for a 50# bag, a whole lot less than ordering on line.
I am trying to find some Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth here in san antonio, tx. Anyone form here and if so did you find any here or did you have to buy online?
Dawn, would you mind sharing your source. I live in west Tennessee and it might be worth the drive even with today's gas prices. I haven't been able to find it around here. Thanks, Carolyn
Charlie is a sweetheart of a man. He raises goats and sells feed and the DE from a booth at the Woodbury Flea Market (or atleast did the last time we saw him, back in the fall). If you don't want to drive this far, send me a PM or e-mail and I'll send you some of what I have stock-piled here.
I'm not a Perma-Guard dealer (yet
), but still have a good bit of my first 50# bag left and a unopened 50# bag from our last visit with Charlie.