garden safe D E

[yardbird88]

I've been reading about DE in the chicken runs and how safe it is. So I bought some at Tractor store. I picked up garden safe DE, it says it safe for pets, indoors, even your bed but nothing on chickens. So I went on the website and it said do not use on chickens and it is not food grade. I kept reading and all got out of this is that it is natural DE and might have some impurities in it. My question is has any on used this on their chicken run.

 

[ivan3]

Do you have the link to the manufacturer's site and product number (I'm assuming GARDEN SAFE)? I'd like to review the statements on the use on poultry (couldn't find them, myself). That the product lists approval for both indoors/outdoors means that it has to be AMORPHOUS diatomaceous earth (sell as an anticaking feed additive for cattle & FDA requires one kind of labeling/sell as an insecticide & the manufacturers are required to use labeling approved by the EPA - just an opportunity to jack the price). ADE used either as indoor insecticide/food additive must contain less than 0.5% Crystalline Silica (what cuts up lungs). Each DE product listed on Garden Safe site has a downloadable Material Safety form available. Q&A your product? http://answers.gardensafe.com/answe...ons-answers/questions.htm?page=3&sort=recentq Here's the deal: We buy 50lb. bags of Feed Grade amorphous diatomaceous earth for $25.00/50lb. On a back shelf, in the feed store, are 2lb. bags of ADE sold as insecticide/pesticide, for $8.95. If sold as a pesticide/insecticide (EPA Rules), EPA guidelines frown on use as ANYTHING else, anywhere else (maybe where chook restriction comes in). Anyway, using a few handfuls of ADE mixed into bedding/dust bathing areas has some utility when the humidity level is low. It is a slow acting `poison' (dust clings to insect and then slow ADSORPTION of cuticular lipoids begins - once the chitinous outer waterproof layer of insect is breached, the ABSORPTIVE mechanism of ADE can be useful (ADE is a desiccant & can ABSORB ~4 times its wt. in water). Some insects are more sensitive to ADE effects than others (has never killed a Wood Roach here - always damp fellas). Food Grade label (FDA regs/not EPA regs - but same stuff): Just put up a Q on the GARDEN SAFE site: Ask about the % of CRYSTALLINE SILICA in your specific "indoor" product. Seems they aren't "compelled" to place on label by any specific reg. (that always makes me suspicious).

 

[yardbird88]

I went back to there web site and got this about the % of crystalline silica

Question
What percent Crystalline silica is this product?
I see somewhere here where it says this is from saltwater if so doesn't it have more than "food grade" D.E.?
Ohio
Age: 45 to 54
Gender: Male
Level of expertise: Beginner
whitehall,
asked 9 months ago
By
dan
on Garden Safe

Brand Crawling Insect Killer Containing Diatomaceous Earth

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Answer this question​

1 answer
There is no crystalline silica in this product.
Missouri

• Number One Contributor

answered 9 months ago
By
GardenSafeTeamMember​

 

[ivan3]

I went back to there web site and got this about the % of crystalline silica

Question
What percent Crystalline silica is this product?
I see somewhere here where it says this is from saltwater if so doesn't it have more than "food grade" D.E.?
Ohio
Age: 45 to 54
Gender: Male
Level of expertise: Beginner
whitehall,
asked 9 months ago
By
dan
on Garden Safe

Brand Crawling Insect Killer Containing Diatomaceous Earth
[FLOAT=LEFT] [/FLOAT]
[COLOR=3DA649]Answer this question[/COLOR]​

1 answer
There is no crystalline silica in this product.
Missouri

• Number One Contributor

answered 9 months ago
By
GardenSafeTeamMember​

No crystalline silica? Probably should have stuck with pesticide (EPA rules). No problem for use in coop, as an additive to bedding/base as a preventative.

 

[yardbird88]

Thank you, so I'm pretty much paying xtra for a epa rule insecticide that wont admit its safe for chickens. 4lb bag for over $10 .

 

[ivan3]

Thank you, so I'm pretty much paying xtra for a epa rule insecticide that wont admit its safe for chickens. 4lb bag for over $10 .

The act the EPA is enforcing dates back to the days of DDT. Often, it is the manufacturers trying to squeeze the eagle. Below is a portion of a letter sent to an exec. of the Celite Corp (one of the biggest miners of DE), by the EPA. The company was promoting a 50lb.. bag of "Durafil 610" as an insecticide (nothing but food grade ADE), to farmers, primarily (and tack on the markup). EPA called them on it.

If you have any relatives coming in from an ag. area, for Thanksgiving, have them call their local feedstores for a 50lb. bag, and have them haul it over for you.

 

[yardbird88]

will do thanks for the info.

 

[aart]

Why are you wanting to put DE in your chicken runs?
Could be a waste of money as it doesn't work to kill bugs once it's wet.

 

[yardbird88]

Yes, after I read up on it I realized that. Even the high humidity in Texas probably would make it ineffective. I was just trying to find a more natural way to get rid of pests.