DE dust and chicken breathing it

[Tracyree]

i know the DE dust is bad for people to breathe, but why would it be any better for the chickens?

I thought my girls had started getting scaly leg mite and panicked a bit and threw down a bit too much DE in their coop. I plan on cleaning it out, but until then was curious what bothers think about chickens breathing the DE when they scratch around in it.

 

[Bleenie]

It's been a few years since I read about it online but I think DE is tiny little fossil stuff crushed into powder? If that is correct, the biggest problem with breathing it is probably it causing tiny abrasions while it travels through the respiratory system and that would make the bird(or person) more susceptible to infections.

I bought a HUGE bag when i first started using it so i read up online about other uses for the stuff and the family actually used it more than i used it on the chickens( i found it to ineffective on mites so quit using it).... I finally just recently gave away the last 3lbs of it to someone that got chicks from me.

Also, I adopted this Silkie roo years ago that had HORRIBLE scaly leg mites so i slathered his legs/feet in Vaseline and it got rid of them, suffocated them I assume. I use Sevin Dust for any other external mite treatment. It's rough on your throat if you breathe it in but i don't have a problem when I wear a mask/handkerchief over my face.

good luck with the mites.