Diatomaceous Earth and baby chics....PLEASE HELP

[77horses]

I don't think anyone asked this yet...But are you absolutely sure that the DE is food grade and NOT the pool kind (that is used to clean pools)? The pool kind has silica in it, which is very harmful and/or fatal if eaten by chickens. The DE you have should have something about food grade on it.
We've used DE (food grade) on our chickens pretty often...I've even read that it's good for humans to eat if you have worms or whatever, but we've used it for preventing lice, mites, and other bugs. One time there was an infestation of flies in our coop and we used DE to get rid of them. Of all the times we've used it, we've had no problems that I know of.

Good luck!

 

[chickencrazymamahen]

The DE that I have is Permaguard Fossil Shell Flour Food Grade, so I believe I am on the right track with the type.....had read on a thread on here somewhere while browsing about it being harmful to baby chicks and other small critters due to the drying out effects it causes on the system and the lack of them sometimes to compensate with adequate water to conteract it. But for the life of me, I spent hours on here last night....I cannot find that thread again...grrr......!!!!!!So with all of the positives that everyone has posted about their personal experiences I am feeling good about being ok with it since I have never used it extensively inside my chicken houses or dusted the nest boxes or anything. It has only been used in their food. I am just going to keep it out of that side of the chicken house and we cleaned it up pretty good yesterday. Thank you for asking though because I see a lot of people confused about which type to use and when I started looking for it myself the lady at my feedstore tried to sell me the pesticide type in the smaller bag and assured me that it was what people were using with their chickens.......scary!! Thanks again for your concern...

mamahen

 

[Jujubird]

Thank you, thank you!! TXmom I hope all goes well for you and the little ones..they are wonderful!! Just got my coop cleaned out and getting ready to set it up for the chicks. The thread about using DE with newly hatched chicks and the dangers was on one of the "managing your flock" threads on here about DE...I will try and find it so you can look it over. Gonna let my coop air out for a couple days before we put our newbies down there. It turned chilly here again in the Ozarks, so they will be basement babies for a little longer. Thanks again!

Shay 20- thank you for the support also, I am still totally undecided about the DE, but for now am going to stop....I need to do a little more research and read more about those using it...so I do appreciate your taking the time to comment. I loved not having the odor and flies and the increased egg production...will keep you all updated on what happens. Appreciate all of you so much!!

Don't know how to put up the smiley faces yet....but here are lots

DE keeps lice, and also keeps worms away, so to me is very important. I always use the food grade one. Pertaining to the previous comment, I didn't know it kept flies away too.