diatomaceous earth

[Seth140]

I made a box of diatomaceous earth in coop because the one i put outside gets wet from rain. is that ok?

 

[Seth140]

so girls can take a bath in it if they want..

 

[nuthatched]

Take it away and get some nice sand/loam for them to bathe in. Diatomaceous earth is not very effective against mites/lice and causes respiratory problems for you and your chickens, it's not safe to breathe.

 

[perkolator]

You don't want straight DE for their dust bath. I've added up to around 10% in our dust bath mix. DE is effective against pretty much any insect with an exoskeleton, as it basically dries out their shell to kill them; it has to stay dry though to work. All dry dust in general is a respiratory hazard if you breathe in enough of it.

 

[raingarden]

DE is prbably as bad as asbestos. It may be decades before the full effect is realized. Don't mess around with it.

 

[aart]

DE is effective against pretty much any insect with an exoskeleton, as it basically dries out their shell to kill them; it has to stay dry though to work.

So the fable goes....onandonandonandon.

All dry dust in general is a respiratory hazard if you breathe in enough of it.

True (so is breathing water) but DE is especially dangerous.

 

[Brooks_]

DE has its place, just not around chickens.

 

[perkolator]

I've seen claims DE is bad here on this forum, yet nobody seems to provide any specifics or experiences as to why it's so bad other than opinion. On the contrary I can find many posts, chicken guides, even scientific articles supporting the use and benefits of DE around chickens (for example: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119420300)

In terms of lung damage - DE only really does its thing when dry and the lungs are a moist/wet environment, so I don't see why it's going to be significantly worse than mineral dirt dust that a chicken flings around when dust bathing on the natural ground. However I can understand calcined DE causing lung issues (the non-food-grade type used in pool filters), due to it's significantly higher % of crystalline silica, but for animals you should be using food-grade/natural DE as it contains a very low % of crystalline silica. Perhaps some people are using the calcined version?

Heck, it's even an ingredient in commercially produced chicken feed (anticoagulant and pest control for stuff like weevils)

 

[ValarieF]

I made a box of diatomaceous earth in coop because the one i put outside gets wet from rain. is that ok?

Mix it with sand or dirt not straight.

 

[YourChickHasAPastyButt]

I've seen claims DE is bad here on this forum, yet nobody seems to provide any specifics or experiences as to why it's so bad other than opinion. On the contrary I can find many posts, chicken guides, even scientific articles supporting the use and benefits of DE around chickens (for example: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119420300)

In terms of lung damage - DE only really does its thing when dry and the lungs are a moist/wet environment, so I don't see why it's going to be significantly worse than mineral dirt dust that a chicken flings around when dust bathing on the natural ground. However I can understand calcined DE causing lung issues (the non-food-grade type used in pool filters), due to it's significantly higher % of crystalline silica, but for animals you should be using food-grade/natural DE as it contains a very low % of crystalline silica. Perhaps some people are using the calcined version?

Heck, it's even an ingredient in commercially produced chicken feed (anticoagulant and pest control for stuff like weevils)

I mixed this into the dirt under the coop on the top layer just recently, as I just hadn't run across any negative threads or articles on it before hand. All I saw was it was beneficial. Now I'm torn on removing it, but like you I've not seen any posts where it harmed any of their flock. The top layer was a big wheelbarrow full of probably somewhere of 6 to 8 parts dirt to 1 part DE powder.

What to do?

Edit... I just erred on the side of caution and removed all the dirt mixed with DE from under the coop and mixed some sand/dirt to replace it. It was twice as hard getting that back out as it was putting under there. I saw how it reacted on the shovel I left out last night I used to mix it. The dirt and DE dried hard to the point I had to scrape it. Couldn't just whack the shovel against a tree and get it to fall off. It can't be good in the lungs.