Does anyone know where I can buy a small bag of the special earth for the dust bath please

[Andy E 123]

Does anyone know where I can buy a small bag of the special earth for the dust bath please

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Tractor Supply or any feed store. You may even find it in pet stores, depending on where you live. It's Diatomaceous Earth (DE), looks like a bag of cement but surprisingly light and fluffy when you get it out of the bag. It's a wonder-fluff, helps with mites, ants, flies, gnats, and way more.

 

[BDs]

I was just looking into this too. I found DE, and wood ash for sale on amazon which I plan to use. What other types of sand, dirt, are people using when constructing these?

 

[Andy E 123]

Great
Thanks
Shall I mix with normal sand, ash etc

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

Play sand, top soil, or just sand from the yard. They aren't picky, but the sand needs to be dry enough to get inside their feathers and to their skin. Keep it dry, as the DE doesn't work well once wet.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

If you're not adverse to them getting into dirt under certain plants, they will just do their thing in your yard. I have a few citronella plants that they bathe under, I add a few cups of DE to that once a week or so, and it rubs the citronella scent around. It's a two-fer.

 

[aart]

Should probably spend your money elsewhere, but if you insist:
Look very closely at the fine print of ingredients on any bag of DE before you buy,
many have mostly clay in them.

 

[KoopOnTruckin]

The stuff I get from TSC has 5% Calcium Bentonite, which is clay. It doesn't seem to have any negative effect on the chickens - what is the issue with using DE that contains clay? I imagine it's what keeps the DE from being complete dust when opening the bag, but just a guess as to why it's added.

 

[aart]

The stuff I get from TSC has 5% Calcium Bentonite, which is clay. It doesn't seem to have any negative effect on the chickens - what is the issue with using DE that contains clay? I imagine it's what keeps the DE from being complete dust when opening the bag, but just a guess as to why it's added.

5% or 95% benotonite clay? That's what I remember Red Earth DE being.
Why? Because BC is not DE.
Oh, never mind, use what ever you want.

 

[ChickenMammX4]

We just use peat moss or topsoil (or a mix) and wood ash. The wood ash helps keep the chickens mite/lice free so we don't use DE.