DE Question

[MaggieMae]

Hi, all!... new to the forum and chicken rearing. Does anyone know if the DE sold in 25lb bags for swimming pool filters is the same as I have seen for dustbathing? Is a certain amt of preening normal and how can I tell if they have something bad?

TIA!

 

[janramsey]

Hello, No any de you use around chickens and any thing else you want to stay alive needs to be food grade.........a good rule of thumb is if you cant eat it dont feed it to your babies.......I just bought a 50# bag of food grade de.......I am so not missing the ants in my house or in the coop either!!
Nancy

 

[MaggieMae]

Nancy,

Thanks for the quick reply and sorry for the repeat question. After I jumped on and asked I started nosing around and found other similar questions. Is it normal activity for baby birds (about a month old) to pick at themselves? is this preening or do they have bugs? And where did you get 50 lbs of food grade DE if I may ask? I googled it and it seems living in California would be a good thing! As if I needed another reason to want to live in CA!

 

[countrygirl4513]

Yes they do pick at themselves but if you notice they are picking at each other consider your light source. A red bulb heat lamp helps cut down on picking white bulbs in my opinion are very bright anyway that's why I use red. I researched the comparison and found that red helps reduce picking issues.
I found a great place to get DE foodgrade at Countryside Natural Products. Google them and check it out.

 

[hinkjc]

MaggieMae, we get ours in Lancaster PA from McGeary Farms. They ship it to you for about $50 (50 lb bag). We go through about a bag a year, so I don't think the price is that bad if you consider how long it can last. Just give them a call and say you want food grade DE..ask for Laura Witmyer. That is who we work with and she is great. Some of the other workers are not as familiar with the product.

http://www.mcgearyorganics.com/

I wanted to mention that it is quite normal for your birds to preen a lot, which is probably what you are seeing. They are going through continuous molts until their adult plumage comes in - sooo lots of fluff and feathers to clean up. But the food grade de is a nice option if you're concerned about pests.

Jody

 

[Smoky73]

Go here and order you some...I just ordered a new bag for myself!

http://www.perma-guard.com/

 

[yearofthedog]

Hi,
Another question from a newbie...is the DE for dustbathing and getting rid of mites? And, when can you start letting your chicks dust bathe? My three are about 2-3 months old(I'm not sure, but I've had them for 5 weeks).

Thanks for any help!

Cindy

 

[cookinmom]

Quote:
Go ahead and let 'em. They will love you for it. Mine were doin it at 3 wks old. They looked funny, little fuzzy wuzzes all dirty, but then it just kind of fell off. They were happy!

 

[MaggieMae]

Thanks for all the info on DE. I found it locally and mixed some in with the pineshaving this evening. Questions are how much to use in their feed and in the dust bath?

Now here's another Question...I can see in the winter having their food in the coop but why now if they don't go back in the coop until dusk and they don't see well in the dark?

I found the insulators I was searching for (the kind you nail to the fence post and it holds the wire about 5 inches away) so my broilers are about to go outside and if all goes well the hens will follow. Once I moved them out of the kitchen they have been locked up in a pole building locked in coops and brooders. I am scared to death to put them outside!