DE and composting

[chickensista]

Hi,
If I use DE in my coop and want to compost the poo/litter, will it affect the soil organisms in my compost? Does it break down any further, or will it start to add up in my garden and thus affect good bugs, etc?

Thanks!
Terry

 

[Josie]

I think you will be okay. We use it for our worm composting. DE just small fossils.

 

[patandchickens]

It may somewhat decrease the abundance of insects in the compost -- the whole point of DE is that it contains extremely sharp little particles that scratch the outer layer of arthropods' exoskeletons so they lose moisture and 'raisin to death'. BUT I do not have any reason to believe it would be a large effect, since the compost pile is fairly humid and moist to begin with, and since people do not seem to experience much problem that way. While it will, I guess, technically build up in your soil, it should not be a problem in the quantities you would actually use.

If it were me I wouldn't worry about it unless I was using really ginormous quantities of DE and had a rather dry compost pile.

Pat

 

[chickensista]

Thank you for the replies!
It seems to be a commonly used product, and I'm sure a lot of people with chickens compost. I thought I'd check and see if there was any info out there just in case.
Terry