diatomatious earth

[RobRoo]

Has anyone out there had any experience using diatomatious earth as a natural lice control dust bath???? I have read a little about it but have not heard from folks that have used it.

 

[sonew123]

I use it BUT it does NOT take care of lice-many others have the same experience. It keeps my DLM nice and dry--good for dustbathing mixed with other things-thats its

 

[Duramaxgirl]

I use it as fly deterrent in the summer. If I ever have lice or mites I'm going straight for sevin dust.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I used it on a case of mites on a broody. Usually my chickens dust bathe to control external parasites. You have to watch broodies and roosters more closely for parasites, because they aren't as good about dust bathing as a non-broody hen.

I've never had lice on my chickens. Someone on the forum posted on the forum about having success treating a chicken that had lice with DE. I think a couple of people may have posted.

When you use something like Sevin dust, the dust is just a carrier for the poison, to distribute it. When you use DE, the DE is not a poison. It works by smothering the insects and drying them out. For that to work on an active case, you need to use more of it than you would if you were using Sevin dust. You want to really coat the feathers and get down to the skin.

I always make sure my chickens have at least one dust bath that's covered to keep out rain, so it's dry. We have heavy clay here and get a lot of rain. Chickens can't dust bathe in mud or a clump of damp clay. Since I did that, they haven't had a problem with mites.

 

[cmom]

I use it mainly to control the flies.