How Much DE (Diatomaceous Earth) Should I Feed My Chickens

[TERRY4]

Nope ,no need to toss the eggs, it's 100%safe! I find it to be very efficient.

One thing I'd add if I already haven't. Wear a dust mask when sprinkling it around. I have breathing problems and even if you don't, why risk it. Just because it never hurt in the past, doesn't mean it won't. It even says so on the bag.

 

[Pilesgrovian]

I add 2 teaspoons per 1 pound of feed. More will not hurt but may be a waste. Organic non-GMO chickens need the DE for internal parasite control. I do not stir it in since the powder cannot be breathed in, add a pound of feed, add 2 tsp DE, until the feeder is full. It mixes in as the feed settles. I take 1 tsp daily myself. There are many health benefits.

 

[TERRY4]

I add 2 teaspoons per 1 pound of feed. More will not hurt but may be a waste. Organic non-GMO chickens need the DE for internal parasite control. I do not stir it in since the powder cannot be breathed in, add a pound of feed, add 2 tsp DE, until the feeder is full. It mixes in as the feed settles. I take 1 tsp daily myself. There are many health benefits.

I only use it on the floor of the coop and wherever they dig holes outside, to dust in. I never feed it to them.

 

[ConPollos]

I'm skeptical of the study that said DE showed no effect on the worm load in the test chickens because I've watched DE eliminate tape worms from the poop of a mother dog and nine puppies when I added it to their food. I feed Diamond Hi Energy kibble mixed with water, and added the DE to it. You can see tape worms in poop so it's obvious when they start dying and disappearing from the poop.

I had wormed the rescued mama dog with DE before the pups were born because I didn't want to use chemicals while she was pregnant, and I watched it clear up all the tape worms she'd picked up as a stray. She's medium sized aprox 50 lbs, so I followed wolf creeks instructions and added 1 Tablespoon of DE to her kibble mixed with water twice a day. It took a week or two until all the worms were gone.

Then when the pups were a few weeks old there was another erruption of tape worms so I mixed 1 teaspoon of DE per pup into their food twice a day, and gave mama 1 Tablespoon twice per day, and it got rid of all the worms. It took a week or two, I can't remember.

So now I keep all my dogs on it every day. I don't mix their food with water anymore, but the DE sticks to the high fat Diamond Hi Energy kibble.

I used to worm them with Safeguard liquid fenbedazole goat wormer, which kills whips, hooks, rounds, and tapes. It's a fraction of the cost of dog fenbedazole, and I know the dog dosage. I may use that again at some point if they need it, but with daily DE in their food I don't see any symptoms of worms. I ran out of DE for a few weeks and noticed my dogs were scooting their butts on the ground, so I bought more DE and added it to their kibble and they immediately stopped doing that.

I've read opinions by vets that if DE gets wet in the digestive system it's no longer effective, but that's not true since I mixed it with water into my dogs' kibble and it definitely got rid of the worms.

Also, I throw a couple of handfulls daily of DE on the ground in my kennel where they lay and they rarely have ticks or fleas. If they do I fill a sock with Sevin and pat them down with it, but have only needed to do that once this season when one dog got a bunch of ticks inside her ear. OUCH!

So, I am adding DE to my chickens' feed. So far I'm doing it by eye, but I plan to weigh it out. I've read 2% by weight, but if wolf creek says 5% they're probably right. The right amount makes a light coating on the feed and the excess won't stick to it so it falls away.

I had a great vet who was in his 70s and said that traditional medicine can't cure everything, and natural alternative medicine can't cure everything, so he was open to whatever worked best in each case. I'm turned off by vets that are too biased either way.

 

[mswillow]

Please take precautions when using DE in your coops. Wear a mask while spreading this and when cleaning your coop. It is extremely irritating to your lungs. The first time I used it in my coop I started coughing up blood within a few days. It was so scary. I went to a pulmonary specialist and they said my bronchial tubes were inflamed. BE CAREFUL!!

 

[HunterRanch]

Please do not use DE (even food grade). I use it for myself personally and breathing so much as a small amount in causes an awful cough and lingering irritation. Now imagine you're a chicken surrounded by it, walking on it, bathing in it, etc. It is microscopic fossilized sharp phytoplankton that irritates the lining of the respiratory tract and lungs. That is why it works for insects with exoskeletons..it scrapes them and dehydrates them to death (good for any infestations). As for using it as a dewormed, yes, it can be used as a parasite cleanse when ingested in water (despite previous comment it cannot work when wet). Please trust my personal experience on this. There are alternatives. If you're Loking for a better dewormed, apple cider vinegar is great.

 

[lizro]

yes I am new to keeping hens but having read all the information thought DE the right stuff to use - I very carefully treated 3 of my rescue hens and almost immediately felt tight in my chest and my breathing was not great - and I have never had asthma, wheezing or any chest problems before - so I am not going to use DE again - what must it do to the hens respiratory system. And altho the lice had gone after the dusting they were back the next day so the poor hen needed another treatment - so the DE nearly killed me it didn't kill the lice!! My symptoms lasted several days and were quite unpleasant.

 

[RutlandH2O]

My anecdotal evidence: I have NEVER had a case of scaly leg since I started using DE in my hens' coop and nest boxes three and a half years ago.

The birds I had in the past had me struggling with their scaly legs. When I built a new hen house and nest boxes (after the last of my old hens died), I was determined to sort out that problem before acquiring new birds. I followed the instructions of the late Katie Thear, author of many books on poultry-keeping. One of her suggestions to help conquer red spider mites was to line the walls, ceilings, floors, and doors of the hen house with a very shiny, slippery human home insulation product, siliconing every crack and crevice in the structure. Apparently, the mites find it difficult to climb about on the white, slippery surface. When all the work was done, I went to my chicken supplier, a long-time exhibitor, now retired, and asked him how all of the birds he had on his premises were scaly leg free. He just pointed up to several huge paper sacks on a shelf in one of his barns. When I looked at him blankly, he walked over to an open sack and showed me the DE. I bought a 15 litre plastic tub of it, for starters, mixed some into the shavings I'd placed in the hens' house and nest boxes, brought the hens home, and the rest is history. I give the birds a scant teaspoon of DE in their dampened coarse meal every single day. I mix some in their dust bath and around the ground where their feeder stands. DE is a desiccant and, as such, the chicken poo is quite dry when I scoop it out daily. The coop never smells yukky.

A couple of friends with hens commented on my girls' clean legs. So, I gave them a supply of DE and they, too, have had great success in eliminating scaly legs.

We over-winter our Shire horses in a vast pole barn. We use cardboard bedding (best bedding I've ever used) and mix some DE into it to help reduce the occurrence of mites. Many hairy-legged horses have on-going problems with feather mites and our experience is that the DE really helps to keep it in check.

And, no, I am not a DE salesperson. I have just had very positive experiences using the substance.

Just to add, I have asthma and have not had any negative responses using DE. I did wear a mask when I was applying DE to the floor and bedding in our pole barn.

 

[ConPollos]

Interesting, thank you!

On Clydesdale horses they use a mixture of mineral oil and sulphur powder applied to the skin under their leg feathers to prevent the itchy painful condition that they refer to as scratches. There are other horse problems referred to as scratches, but I'm only talking about the Clydesdale affliction.

 

[RutlandH2O]

Hi ConPollos,

Yes, I am well-aware of the oil/sulphur mixture. I keep a 25 litres drum of oil (acquired from a well-known Shire breeder who has a side-line in selling "Shire Oil" for feathered legs) to which I add sulphur as needed. There's also a product called "Pig Oil," which can be bought at most farm shops, to which the sulphur is added. However, I have a couple of Shires that are very sensitive to the sulphur, so I have to use it with care. I know the condition is called "scratches" in the States. It is referred to as "grease" over the pond. There's another condition called Chronic Progressive Lymphedema (CPL) in feather-legged horses, which should never be confused with scratches or grease.

Clydesdales, Shires, Belgians, Gypsy Cobs...all of those hairy-legged breeds are susceptible to scratches/grease and CPL.