I just got off the phone with my local Feed Store and they carry FEED grade diatomacious earth, not food grade for human consumption). I asked if she had any information on the brand or how much silica is in it, but she said all she knows off hand is that it's in a large (50#) brown paper bag. I wonder if it's labeled Feed grade instead of Food grade due to try to avoid dealing with the FDA if it's for human consumption? The feed store is a bit out of my way, but I'm planning to stop tomorrow if I have time and would like to know what I should look for when I look at the bag. I'd prefer to buy this stuff if it's chicken-safe since it costs $21.99 for the 50 pound bag and would save me a lot of money compared to ordering online (I'm in Washington State and it looks like it will cost me about that price to get a 10# bag of food grade online!).
I'll be using this with the deep litter method and put some in the dust bath to help keep the coop dry and prevent pests. It will probably get kicked around a lot and become airborne so I want to make sure it's okay for the chickens (I'll have to get myself a mask for the coop cleaning, just to be safe).
I'm assuming this will be chicken safe since it's feed grade DE (not for pool equipment) and at the feed store, but you know what happens when you assume...
Any advice would be great since I've never heard of feed grade DE.
I'll be using this with the deep litter method and put some in the dust bath to help keep the coop dry and prevent pests. It will probably get kicked around a lot and become airborne so I want to make sure it's okay for the chickens (I'll have to get myself a mask for the coop cleaning, just to be safe).
I'm assuming this will be chicken safe since it's feed grade DE (not for pool equipment) and at the feed store, but you know what happens when you assume...
Any advice would be great since I've never heard of feed grade DE.
