Diatamacous Earth

[SurferchickinSB]

What are your thoughts on food grade diatamacous earth? I have so many wild birds in my yard and the surrounding neighbor yards and have been having a problem with what I think are bird mites on my property and inside my house. I am using everything possible! Kleen Green, Elector PSP, Permethian!! I think my baby chicks are getting these mites!! I have diatamacous earth, but from everything I have been reading about it not being good for the respiratory systems of the chickens or being destructive to the bee population and also saying it plain does not work!! Can some of you that are out there using this product tell me if this actually works? I know some of the sprays I am using are not good for the bees either, but I either use them in the very early morning or when the sun goes down because supposedly once the product dries it doesn't affect them, hopefully. I just spray the walls and floors and fences, not the plants.

 

[RWise]

I see little to no benefit from it, it certainly does not stop ants!
Breathing the dust will be harmful to anything that breaths, as in any dust of any kind is bad for the lung function.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Personally I would not use DE for control of external parasites.

Use Permethrin based poultry spray or dust for your chicks or the Elector PSP. I believe @azygous uses the Elector with good results.

If you have some photos of what you are finding in the house, we may be able to help you i.d. them. Bird mites cannot survive on humans, but they can bite and leave an itchy red rash.http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/poultry-lice-and-mites-identification/

 

[lazy gardener]

Without IDing what you think may be mites, you are shooting blanks at an invisible target. Do a google search for photos of mites and lice.

How old are your chicks? Where did you get them? Where are they being housed?

Agreed, DE is absolutely useless for mite control, especially if you have an infestation.

Do you have a coop? Is it set up? Where did you get your coop?

If you do find that your chicks have mites, you must act immediately to treat all chicks and their housing. This treatment must be repeated at 7 - 10 day intervals, and all bedding must be removed and destroyed. Mites can suck a chick until she quickly dies.

Mites can be brought to your flock by birds, mice, rats, other rodents. One must be aware and diligent. Since I've switched to DLM in coop and run, I've not seen a single mite. I did have an infestation during my "shaving" days.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Without IDing what you think may be mites, you are shooting blanks at an invisible target. Do a google search for photos of mites and lice.

How old are your chicks? Where did you get them? Where are they being housed?

Agreed, DE is absolutely useless for mite control, especially if you have an infestation.

Do you have a coop? Is it set up? Where did you get your coop?

If you do find that your chicks have mites, you must act immediately to treat all chicks and their housing. This treatment must be repeated at 7 - 10 day intervals, and all bedding must be removed and destroyed. Mites can suck a chick until she quickly dies.

Mites can be brought to your flock by birds, mice, rats, other rodents. One must be aware and diligent. Since I've switched to DLM in coop and run, I've not seen a single mite. I did have an infestation during my "shaving" days.

Thanks for all your replies. My chicks are between 4 days to 11 days and 1 is 16 days old, all of them hatchery chicks, so too young to be out for any length of time. I am pretty sure from the wild life in my area. I had my house tented before I got my chicks. I am positive they are mites, but they are so tiny they just look like specks. I am pretty sure the mites have entered my house, find the specks on my bed, YUCK! I have been using the elector psp, just don't know what is safe to use on the chicks. I will look under their wings today and see if I can see any specks. I was not sure if their feathers were coming in and that was contributing to their itchiness. I just have paper towels in the brooder, change them 3 times a day and then sand in their coop and run. I sprayed all those things before the arrival of the chicks because I was observing the birds in my area and they all look like they have mites because they are constantly scratching, preening and shaking their bodies! Poor things!

 

[azygous]

I have the itchies just reading this thread. You can safely use the Elector directly on the chicks. It's a biological enzyme and non-toxic. The only concern will be to make sure the little ones dry off and do not chill from the treatment.

The good thing about the Elector, once you treat, that's pretty much it, and it will keep working for months.

 

[llombardo]

I see little to no benefit from it, it certainly does not stop ants!
Breathing the dust will be harmful to anything that breaths, as in any dust of any kind is bad for the lung function.

I used it on ants and it worked within a couple hours.

 

[JaeG]

I can tell you first hand it doesn't kill mites. I found thousands living quite happily in the deep bed of DE that I had under the straw in my nestboxes.

Neem may be a better option for battling them on your property. Spray it in the evening to avoid bees but I even add it to my mop bucket when I mop our floors as it kills fleas too.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

... My chicks are between 4 days to 11 days and 1 is 16 days old, all of them hatchery chicks, so too young to be out for any length of time. ... I am positive they are mites, but they are so tiny they just look like specks. I am pretty sure the mites have entered my house, find the specks on my bed... I will look under their wings today and see if I can see any specks....

Cheer up! Bed bugs are much larger than mites so you at least have that in your favor. The worst mites don't even live on chickens so looking for red chicken or roost mites on chickens is pretty much useless unless you are dealing with Northern Fowl Mites.

 

[RWise]

I used it on ants and it worked within a couple hours.

For me it did not, they just made trails trough it, and kept on coming!

I do mix it wit peanut butter and give it to the dogs,,,