Help with diatomacious earth

[Rick M]

The DE I used was extremely powdery like flour. It worked to God rid of fleas in my garage but didnt work worth anything when we had a cat die of old age inside with fleas.

 

[ChemicalchiCkns]

The picture shows feeding instructions, which I disagree with. Is that your intention, or to have them dust with it?

 

[2 many chickens]

DE helps with things like grain mites. Won't help much else.

 

[Peck peck]

The DE I have is a gray powder. I think it comes in a 5lb bag that we got at a local Ace Hardware.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

Don’t dust the chickens with it. It causes respiratory problems (maybe not the granular stuff you have). And feeding on it won’t eliminate internal pests. It’s a folk “remedy,” and research has shown it’s harmful to chickens who breathe it.

 

[GailT]

Well, looks like I wasted my $$. I've been raising chicken for 35 years but I always try to do the best for my hens so thought I'd give it a try since it is organic,etc. Never even had a problem with mites, but thought it better to prevent than cure. I've decided to just mark this off as dumb mistake. Thanks all for the replies . PS: didn't use it.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

You’ll get a lot of varied opinions on here about DE.

The one thing I think we can all agree on is that “diatomaceous earth” would be a great name for a funk band.

 

[CatWhisperer]

I don’t recommend using DE where your chickens can get in contact with it. It is dusty and easily aerosolized and is a respiratory irritant to you and your chickens. It is not useful for parasites inside or on the outside of your chickens. There are many experts on BYC that will tell you this. There are also a lot of non-experts that believe otherwise. Do your own research.

 

[Pennys Mama]

My chickens like wood ash for their dust baths, and leaves, and hay, and feed, and dirt.......

 

[toredano]

DE has been proven to not do anything but cost you an arm and a leg. DE is like silica or fine ground glass.. I would not breathe that or let my hens use it..a place with a some good dirt.. maybe some sevin dust mixed into it.. will do