Please be aware there are different types of DE, and even FOOD GRADE DE, as I have learned the hard way, I have been chatting about it on the local page for my state here on BYC
http://backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=461&p=10
Here is a little bit about what I came across...
No it doesnt have a smell, It is food grade and they told me the same thing about feeding it to there animals.
DE is safe to feed to ANY animals.
This however, would be safe to feed in the summer months but not winter months, this is why.
This is a mixture of 65% DE <1% Silica and 35% Montmirillonite.
Montmirillonite is clay, our birds do not drink as much in the winter as they do in the summer, being that it is clay and eating it in the winter, it will eventually compact in there crops and not pass, where in the summer when they are drinking more, it has a better chance of being flushed out.
This however is still good to dust the birds with place in there nest boxes dusting boxes sprinkle on the floor around the water to keep things dryer and kill the bugs.
I used a 4lb bag today, doing just this, all over my pens. Just using it up.
I would never buy this bag again and will look at it more closely next time. I want it to be 99% DE and <1% Silica. Or close to that with a LOW Silica content.
We are on the look out for another source that is what we want! Lol
Read your ingrediants as questions if it is low silica, it needs to be low in silica it needs to be food grade. It should be white. Not Brown/Buff/ Beige/ wth ever they want to call this Lol
Thank you!
