DE (food grade?) good or bad

[enola]

I am reading all the arguments and the passion that I am seeing, makes me wonder if all the involved members are really amateurs backyards chicken growers or others that maybe have some commercial interest in the all thing.....I wonder...

What kind of commercial intrest?? Pray tell.

 

[PulletNewbie]

Anyone for filling balloons with DE and throwing them at each other? Otherwise, maybe a deep breath and a big glass of brewed ice tea.
It's too hot to have a fire fight.

 

[Briza]

People will make up their own minds about things. I don't bother arguing. I just provide links to valid sources of information. What people make of the information is their own business. I don't see why people have to push their way so hard and resort to mocking others simply because they don't come to the same conclusions. I was addressing the OP's concern about the health hazards in my last post. If someone honestly thinks that snorting the stuff is a good idea as the poster that replied to me seems to, that's not my business.

 

[casportpony]

I am reading all the arguments and the passion that I am seeing, makes me wonder if all the involved members are really amateurs backyards chicken growers or others that maybe have some commercial interest in the all thing.....I wonder...

What kind of commercial intrest?? Pray tell.

If he's referring to me, I can assure everyone here that I am nothing but a novice backyard hobbyist and that I have no commercial interest in anything, PERIOD! If there is one thing that really bothers me, it's this passive aggressive beating around the bush stuff. If anyone here thinks I am anything but a novice backyard hobbyist, please just come out and say it. Getting tired of stuff like this. Just because I use Safeguard, Baytril, metronidazole, Corid, and have over 30k posts in two years, it doesn't mean that I have interest in anything other than keeping my flock healthy, but it does suggest that i spend way too much time on the computer, lol.

-Kathy

Edited to add: of course I mean the above in the nicest way possible, so if anyone here still thinks I have any affiliation with any company, just ask and I'll be happy to answer.

 

[casportpony]

People will make up their own minds about things. I don't bother arguing. I just provide links to valid sources of information. What people make of the information is their own business. I don't see why people have to push their way so hard and resort to mocking others simply because they don't come to the same conclusions. I was addressing the OP's concern about the health hazards in my last post. If someone honestly thinks that snorting the stuff is a good idea as the poster that replied to me seems to, that's not my business. 

Some vets have written that DE is not safe... For me, that's all all I need to know. Then add to it that I actually tried it and it had zero effect on poultry lice kind of makes it a no brainer for me.

-Kathy

 

[casportpony]

Since this is a thread about DE, I should also say that the dusts i use are livestock/poultry dusts sold at feed stores and 5% Sevin. For lice I have also used Vectra 3d, but that's way too expensive, though it does work really well. For flies around the house I use Tempo Ultra.

-Kathy

 

[Briza]

That's fine really. You're free to make your own choices based on the weight you assign to information you receive. My sole issue with this thread is that it has degenerated into essentially bashing other people. You assign more weight to avian vets you have been in contact with and I assign more weight to research institutions. That's okay. Everyone makes the best choice for themselves based on the information they have. We don't have to get personal about it.

I'm not keeping track of who said what but as to anyone that thinks I am suggesting using DE to deworm, please put that thought out of your head.

My experience with DE has been as a last resort measure to deal with pesticide-resistant mites and fleas in an urban neighborhood. It has been the only thing able to kill these fleas and I have tried every commercial product on the market. Now that I have some on hand to deal with those two problems, I have also found it can kill many problem insects such as fly larvae(I forgot to take out the trash for pickup one week) if applied directly on the insect. Sadly, like everything else I've ever purchased, it is not very effective on the giant roaches around here. They've been a real problem since the recent flooding. I've been trying to get my chicks to eat them because I figured, free food, but they run away from any roach I toss at them. I also found out that the things can play dead so stomping them is not very effective either. Any roach I stomp will be promptly flushed down the toilet instead of going in the trash now.

 

[casportpony]

A friend of mine placed a bunch of lice in a jar of it... Guess what? They didn't die. Take that, the info from vets and the fact I tried using it? It doesn't work and there are health risks. Sorry if you think I'm bashing anyone, 'cause that is not my intent.

-Kathy

 

[collie1470]

Man, I wish I could trust my vet's knowledge like that. I lost that trust when she recommended a leptospirosis vaccine for my dog (who is a breed that VERY commonly has severe reactions to the lepto vaccine).....and she specializes in dogs! Oh well, she learned something new that day, so at least she knows now.....though it took a significant amount of proof for her to believe it.

 

[casportpony]

Man, I wish I could trust my vet's knowledge like that. I lost that trust when she recommended a leptospirosis vaccine for my dog (who is a breed that VERY commonly has severe reactions to the lepto vaccine).....and she specializes in dogs! Oh well, she learned something new that day, so at least she knows now.....though it took a significant amount of proof for her to believe it.

My first trip to an avian vet cost me a bunch of $$$. In that trip the vet prescribed metronidazole at 5mg/kg instead of 30-50 mg/kg and pyrantel pamoate instead of fenbendazole. That mistake could very well have been the reason that both of my poults died. Had I known then what I know now I could have addressed the issue. What's my point? Not all vets are created equal, so it's up to us to research the diseases that our birds, dogs, cats, horses, etc are susceptible to. In my case with the poults, it's very clear, based on lots of published info that she made a *major* error in treating them.

-Kathy