DE or not to DE and Bio Char

[Ascholten]

About once a month I take a pound or so of their pellets, and put some Diatomaceous Earth in them to coat them, and feed the chickie poos for a few days with that to help with de worming. I have heard this is good, I have heard this is not so good. It seems to be working.

I have also seen some other products, OGS for example, that uses Bio Char as well as some other stuff, like DE and Clay and claims to be the second coming of Chicken Jesus when it comes to your birds salvation!! They go into this huge infomercial like spiel about charging ions and removing toxins yadda yadda. It almost reminded me of something I seen a bit ago with a huge push for alkaline water, it'll save your life etc etc, and if you act TODAY they will sell you their kit, for insane stupid amounts of money so you can make your OWN alkaline water at home and stay alive forEVER!! I guess someone forgot to tell someone that a quarter teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water would do the same thing, but anyways...

What are your opinions on DE for De-Worming and Bio Char for... whatever? Is it really THAT good or just, yah, it's helpful too, or really more of a fad?

Aaron

 

[sourland]

"If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is." Just common sense.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I don’t believe bio-char is for deworming, but it does have other potential advantages, both as a food additive and as a coop addition.

 

[Painted Calls]

Snake oil.

DE does not work on worms. It doesn't work dry, and it is inactive when wet.

I will put food grade DE into feed for grain mites, but that is the only thing it is ever good for.

 

[aart]

What are your opinions on DE for De-Worming and Bio Char for... whatever?

Balderdash! on the DE.
Bio-char, probably some use somewhere like soil amendment, but definitely a fad in the chicken world.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

I’ve used bio-char in the coop - it was impressive at reducing odor, likely linked to its ability to lock up excess nitrogen.

It THEN gets used as a soil amendment, after passing through the compost pile with the rest of the bedding.

I’ve read some interesting research on bio-char as a feed amendment to reduce odor and lock up nutrients, but have not tried that myself. Never seen reference to it for de-worming.