Diatomaceous earth?

[2pekin]

I want to protect my ducks from worms and such and heard the diatomaceous earth was one way to do it. Is “Poultry diatomaceous earth” ok or should I try to find some that is waterfowl specific?

 

[Galeann]

Don't breathe it in. I don't use it. Do lots of research on it.

 

[sylviethecochin]

DE is DE. Food grade, white vs grey, etc. I wouldn't use it for worms, though.

For starters, it works by working its way into the carapace and dehydrating the bugs. Intestines are wet, and worms don't have carapaces. I don't understand how it could possibly work in a digestive tract as a wormer on chickens, let alone water-gorging ducks.

Also, ducks aren't usually affected by worms.

https://www.wormx.info/derole

 

[Isaac 0]

Sadly, DE is not an effective dewormer, it’ll do little to help prevent and treat internal parasites within your flock, there are many studies online if you care to take a look that suggest this too. By the time the powder is in the GI tract the DE is already diluted down, and wet down to do much of anything to help your flock.

There are many wormers out there on the market that can be used with poultry, two good ones being, Valbazen and SafeGaurd. Instead of worming regularly as a preventative measure, you can collect a few samples of each bird's poop, mix them up in a small bucket and set it to your veterinarian or state poultry lab for fecal flotation. I like this way better, so if they did have worms you can treat with a wormer that is most effective against that species instead of using an All-Round Wormer., and so your not worming birds that are generally healthy.

Waterfowl seldom come down with internal parasites unless there are poor management practices involved.

 

[Maddog_photog]

I was sold DE at a feed store in my city, then 6 weeks later I found out via BYC that it doesn’t work so ive been laying it over the straw in duckies’ brooder. Don’t know if that will do anything and if so what? It’ll get rid of my bag of DE quicker.

 

[2pekin]

DE is DE. Food grade, white vs grey, etc. I wouldn't use it for worms, though.

For starters, it works by working its way into the carapace and dehydrating the bugs. Intestines are wet, and worms don't have carapaces. I don't understand how it could possibly work in a digestive tract as a wormer on chickens, let alone water-gorging ducks.

Also, ducks aren't usually affected by worms.

https://www.wormx.info/derole

How do u tell if ducks do have worms?

 

[sylviethecochin]

How do u tell if ducks do have worms?

A faecal float, as Isaac 0 suggested. A vet can put poop samples under a microscope, and see if there are worm eggs in it.

Be sure you research the vet first—my father once gave goat poop to a vet, who told him that his goat did indeed have worms. "Yes, I can tell that by looking at her." said Dad. "Now, what kind of worms?" The man who'd just charged him twenty bucks had no answer.