Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth. Do you know the complete benefits?!?!

[Garden Gal]

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I'm sorry to say this is not the case.... EVEN FOOD GRADE DE IS A CARCINOGENIC IF INHALED!!!!

http://www.jtbaker.com/msds/englishhtml/d1288.htm

I'm not saying don't use it, but definitely, definitely be careful and consider using a msk.

 

[patandchickens]

The MSDS sheet link you gave is NOT for food-grade DE, as you can tell from the fact that it specifies "may contain up to 75% crystalline silica".

Food-grade is under, I forget, 5% or 3% crystalline silica.


Pat

 

[Chicken Fruit]

I buy the stuff off ebay. Its cheaper and its easier to find a good food grade. Anything that irritates your sinus and mucus membranes should not be inhaled- even dust from harvesting grains. Thats the biggest rule on the family farm where I grew up. if you're dusting or combining, cover your mouth or get a lung infection.

DE is absolutely awesome. I put it down in the fall, around the foundation of the house, and alllll winter long I live without spiders. Its fantastic! Seems to me that it irritates mice too, maybe thats just me, but even since I've been using it we've had lots less mice issues in the house.

Garden Gal, your fact sheet is specifically for Diatomite and Celite and other industrial forms of DE. They are completely different from food grade DE, its just not the same. The DE for your fact sheet is as it appears in deposits in the ground, and then treated and is used directly for industrial filtration use in chemical plants and the production of material goods. Crystalline is the big red flag here (quartz and crystal). That stuff is highly dangerous, much like asbestos. Certain forms of silica contain cancerous properties- others do not and are necessary for the existence of all life. Even humans require silica in their mineral and dietary needs- just not from industrial DE!

Food grade however is fully approved for consumption by animals, is certified FDA organic, and poses no health threats.

Food grade DE is listed as GRAS with the FDA, and has been used in our foods as a filter agent since before the 70's. (pulled that right off the FDA website)

 

[Garden Gal]

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Thank you! Someone sent me that link today off of another site and it freaked me out!

 

[vegaschick]

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Thanks Dawn419! Things like this can be tricky to find in Las Vegas, Nevada

 

[Garden Gal]

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Thanks Dawn419! Things like this can be tricky to find in Las Vegas, Nevada

I recently purchased from Countryside Naturals and paid $25 for 50 pounds and shipping was only $13!!!! I was thrilled!

 

[NYREDS]

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I found that DE had no effect on flies. The flies actually increased while I was using it. I was using the DE in the food at 2%, in their dust holes, nest boxes, intheir litter. After I found mites, I snowed the run with the stuff.

I also did my own experiment. I took a hen infested with northern fowl mite. With a dust pistol, I covered her at skin level with food grade DE only. She shook & a cloud of DE drifted through the air. While some mites might have been killed (as if she had taken a dust bath in regular dirt), the mites survived & thrived. Mixing the DE with sevin dust & rotenone of portions 1/3 each & dusting the hen, I found that the mites were significanntly reduced but not totally eliminated.

Treating the hen with Ivermectin drops on the skin of neck killed all the mites.

I do not have a problem with weevils but my chickens like eating them along with the beetles. I observed DE having no effect on large wood roaches whose body surface area is significant. I release ladybugs, green lacewings, praying mantis, the fly eating wasps & nematodes.

When I was speaking to the science of DE, I was primarily referring to the ridiculous claims made that it is an effective "wormer." Parasitic worms have evolved over a very long period of time to invade & inhabit their host. A little DE is not going to "shred" a parasitic worm in a chicken's gut (neither will sand). Normally, there is a balance of worms in any outdoor environment at any time. Healthy chickens keep these parasites at bay. When something else puts stress on your birds, the worms, being opportunistic, may override that natural balance (and that is when you see them).

Breathing silica particles by an animal with lungs may be harmful to that animal over a long period of time as silica is an irritant. If your chickens aren't living long lives anyway, this shouldn't be a concern for you.

Use DE if you want as I see it as rather benign to most creatures. I just believe you are wasting your money. There are many of us who haven't been using DE and we are not having any problems with parasitic worms, mites, lice or flies as well. I know poultry keepers/ breeders who have never used DE and no more problems than someone using it.

DE completely kills all flies in and around my henhouse. I have not seen a fly in months and I spend a lot of time in and around the henhouse with my cheekens. My cheeken's feed is dusted with DE also, and I have had no problems with mites, flies, or internal parasites. It's my experience and I would not be without this product!

Please wxplain to me how putting DE in chicken feed would affect an external parasite like Mites?

 

[katieash]

I have bought medical grade diatom from www.diatomx.co.uk The site looked quite nice, has tons of information and does different types of Diatom but I bought the white powdered version as I have read it is good for cutting cholesterol levels, has anyone else experienced this?

Kate

ps, from what i have read, it has 90+% silicone which is good for you and less than 3% of this is crystalline silicone so it relatively harmless when inhaled. It is the cheaper stuff that is over 5% crystalline silica that can cause lung silicosis

 

[katieash]

I have bought medical grade diatom from www.diatomx.co.uk The site looked quite nice, has tons of information and does different types of Diatom but I bought the white powdered version as I have read it is good for cutting cholesterol levels, has anyone else experienced this?

Kate

ps, from what i have read, it has 90+% silicone which is good for you and less than 3% of this is crystalline silicone so it relatively harmless when inhaled. It is the cheaper stuff that is over 5% crystalline silica that can cause lung silicosis

 

[katieash]

I have bought medical grade diatom from www.diatomx.co.uk The site looked quite nice, has tons of information and does different types of Diatom but I bought the white powdered version as I have read it is good for cutting cholesterol levels, has anyone else experienced this?

Kate

ps, from what i have read, it has 90+% silicone which is good for you and less than 3% of this is crystalline silicone so it relatively harmless when inhaled. It is the cheaper stuff that is over 5% crystalline silica that can cause lung silicosis