Help-- !! Urgent!!! Diatomaceous Earth Dust issues....

[freerange freaks]

As far as I know DE, food grade or otherwise, is made up of silica. Different concentrations in food grade and non-food grade.

It is not O.K. to breathe that in. Especially over a long period of time. Just like a previous member posted, no dust is O.K. to breathe in.

 

[ravenfeathers]

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i'm always functioning under the assumption that life is terminal and absolutely nothing has a guarantee of safety, including breathing. that's just my bias, though, and, as always, YMMV.

 

[speckledhen]

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I thought that's what I said, LOL. Yes, agreed, you do not want to breathe any type of dust like that, not specifically DE.

 

[spatcher]

It is said that breathing Food Grade DE dust is likened to breathing road dust. Wouldnt want to snort either of them but you are not going to die from it either!

 

[suebee]

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Yes it will. Don't breath food grade DE!

I wouldn't waste my money on DE. I have a 100 lbs. of it. Had it for years. It's useless if it gets wet, and my chickens sneezed and wheezed when I put it in the coop. Your better off using eprinex for internal and external parasites.

 

[ravenfeathers]

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Yes it will. Don't breath food grade DE!

I wouldn't waste my money on DE. I have a 100 lbs. of it. Had it for years. It's useless if it gets wet, and my chickens sneezed and wheezed when I put it in the coop. Your better off using eprinex for internal and external parasites.

sorry, i didn't mean you should go around inhaling deeply while it was airborne. most manufacturers and info sites do carry the caveat that you should wear a dust mask. but considering that the free silica content of food grade DE is 3% or less (as opposed to other grades, which can go as high as 70 or 80%), the risk is extremely minimized.

eprinex is not an option for those with organic certification or concerns about chemicals in their coop.

 

[spatcher]

To be food grade DE it has to be (as imposed by the FDA) less than 3% as stated. However, I have seen manufacturers putting additives in it, such as red clay, that renders it NON-Food Grade. The hazard in DE is crystalline silica - Pool grade runs between 65 and 70%. It is not the same as "Black Lung" that coal miners get. Crystalline Silica will cut your lungs to ribbons. Literally! PermaGuard, who by the way held the patent on Food Grade DE until it expired, has a crystalline silica content of less than one half of one percent. It is the safest on the market if you can get it. And again I will ask the poster who says DE is worthless where she lives in NC so I can come and get it?

 

[Momma_Cluck]

Thank You All!

We immediately removed the DE... then dusted, vaccumed and added an air purifier to her room-- made a huge difference..still a bit of dust, but only noticable after more than a week of not dusting!

They are now outside in a temporary coop....
but we now have 10 more babies we were4 gifted yesterday (Barred and Partrige Rocks)
they took their place in Daughters room-- but will only be staying a couple weeks until they are used to being handled, and can be safely introduced to the flock.

Thanks!

 

[ravenfeathers]

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just to be super clear here (because the waters get murky in this thread), i didn't say that silica would give you black lung, but miner's lung (pneumoconiosis), which is a catch-all for respiratory diseases caused by inhaled particulates. what you'll get from honking on pool grade DE is silicosis, one of the various types of miner's lung. and, yes, it's really horrible!

Momma_Cluck, i'm glad that removing the DE helped a bit. i know my kids are going to want that brooder in their room, but i personally wouldn't feel comfortable with that kind of dust and debris in a sleeping space. i won't even allow chickens near where my horses sleep, let alone my two-legged family! the air purifier has got to help, though.

 

[spatcher]

Thank you for the clarification. I think when most people think of miners they assume "Black Lung"! There is a HUGE difference between food grade and non-food grade.