DE (food grade?) good or bad

[Beer can]

Here's your answers from someone you might know, including an avian vet:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/05/diatomaceous-earth-de-benefitrisk.html

I was going to post the same link. I was going to use DE before reading it, now I'm not going to waste my money. I use the deep litter method, easier for me, better for our subzero winters and healthier for the chickens. And DE is not good for it, kills the good microbes and dries it out so it doesn't work. Chickenchick has a good article on deep litter even though she doesn't use it. It makes for healthier chicks also.
Worming chickens, I don't, my father never did his whole lifetime of having chickens and never had sick chickens. Lice and mites, I keep a pile of wood ashes in the corner of their coop for dustbaths, I can't say it works but I've never noticed any creepy crawlies on them.

 

[Beer can]

DE might be good in the garden to prevent slugs I hear. All I know is they make a ton of $ off it claiming it does this or that, and if it is only effective when dry how could it treat worms, as soon as it enters a chickens system it is wet.
Want a natural wormer, garlic, don't know if it will affect the flavor of the eggs though lol.

 

[dawg53]

When to worm depends on soil conditions. Warm moist or wet soil may require frequent wormings. Cool or cold soil, rocky/mountainous or hot dry soil may not require frequent wormings, maybe once a year or more. Here where I live, our soil is warm and moist most of the year and I worm my birds every 3 months, usually sooner.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

I'm unable to find the relevant files. Is there any chance you could save me the trouble of a more thorough search by providing the links to online publications or the titles of in-print publications?

My point is that the EPA and FDA both condemn DE as a carcinogen and nowhere is there any attempts to prove the claims made by the pro DE side. There however are many studies that condemn Diatomaceous Earth as a health risk for humans. You should download the Material Data Sheet for the aforementioned Diatomaceous Earth.

Before stating the obvious, that being that humans and chickens are separate species. Remember that canaries were once used to detect "bad air" in coal mines. So birds' lungs are more sensitive to things like Methane gas and dust in the environment.

 

[dawg53]

Salt works well against slugs, but can kill grass. Slugs can carry infective gapeworm eggs and flukes, probably other nasties as well. Fortunately I've never had a slug problem.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

When to worm depends on soil conditions. Warm moist or wet soil may require frequent wormings. Cool or cold soil, rocky/mountainous or hot dry soil may not require frequent wormings, maybe once a year or more. Here where I live, our soil is warm and moist most of the year and I worm my birds every 3 months, usually sooner.

The parasite load is another factor that must be taken into consideration. Ground that has had chickens running on it for years will have a higher load of worm eggs than fresh ground. Then the more that chickens free range the more they are exposed to the different stages of internal parasites. Things like crickets, grasshoppers, earthworms, meal worms, (Darkling beetles) snails, slugs, etc. are all avenues to transmit internal parasites to your fowl.

This is not a reason to lockup your chickens in a sterile coop but it is a good reason to worm your poultry on a regular basis.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Salt works well against slugs, but can kill grass. Slugs can carry infective gapeworm eggs and flukes, probably other nasties as well. Fortunately I've never had a slug problem.

Slugs is one species that I found DE effective at controlling (killing).

 

[dawg53]

Quote:
Absolutely correct. And those worm eggs can last in soil for years. That's another reason to worm birds regularly.

 

[Briza]

My point is that the EPA and FDA both condemn DE as a carcinogen and nowhere is there any attempts to prove the claims made by the pro DE side. There however are many studies that condemn Diatomaceous Earth as a health risk for humans. You should download the Material Data Sheet for the aforementioned Diatomaceous Earth.

Before stating the obvious, that being that humans and chickens are separate species. Remember that canaries were once used to detect "bad air" in coal mines. So birds' lungs are more sensitive to things like Methane gas and dust in the environment.

Now I think you're just making that up or talking about the pool grade DE. As for the MSDS sheet, read this one. It says it right on it that it is NOT classified as carcinogenic by the National Toxicology Program or by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. The only issue with it is chronic exposure to the airborne particles above established limits as with any dust particles of that size.

You may not like DE but you shouldn't lie about it. Neither the FDA nor the EPA have anything to say about DE and cancer after intensive searches of their respective websites. DE is actually a GRAS and used in processing of food. It's also under the livestock feed additives as an anti-caking agent so odds are, your animals are already eating it if you give them commercial feed.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Now I think you're just making that up or talking about the pool grade DE. As for the MSDS sheet, read this one. It says it right on it that it is NOT classified as carcinogenic by the National Toxicology Program or by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. The only issue with it is chronic exposure to the airborne particles above established limits as with any dust particles of that size.

You may not like DE but you shouldn't lie about it. Neither the FDA nor the EPA have anything to say about DE and cancer after intensive searches of their respective websites. DE is actually a GRAS and used in processing of food. It's also under the livestock feed additives as an anti-caking agent so odds are, your animals are already eating it if you give them commercial feed.

Perhaps you should open and read this link before you start calling people who you've never met a liar.

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC35078#Toxicity

This references Pesticide grade DE. You may be able to dice up the difference in your mind about DE (which is a desiccant or drying agent) used in cat litter, oil dry, and to filter industrial fluids, and so called food grade DE. That still isn't proof that any type of DE will do squat to kill internal parasites or insect pest, like Fire Ants.

I gave you evidence from a disinterested scientific source that DE is far from being as safe as mothers' milk, please reciprocate by providing scientific (as opposed to antidotal) evidence that DE will kill internal parasites found living in the bowels of chickens.