I'm SUCH a bad chicken momma!!!!!

[patandchickens]

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Well you could do the same thing with DE, right? Just use it in a dusting pit, outdoors (somewhere under roof so it isn't usually mud), maybe mixed with some sand or whatever

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Hm, that's an interesting question... can one get that from chickens specifically?


Pat, who inhaled WAY to much dust and paint fumes during grad school and now has to be fairly careful about Things Breathed In.

 

[wegotchickens]

An organic care book I have suggests using 3/4 ashes and 1/4 DE in a box or dusting area to keep the peeps free of mites. 'Clean' sifted ashes, as said before.

DH and I have been putting some DE in the nesting area, and then putting the shavings on top of that. We prefer the DE to Sevin because then we don't have to worry when we dump the old litter into the compost area in the woods.

We're mite free, so far. But a guy I work with who raises 100's of chickens says mites prefer older mature birds.

It's a Catch-22 about fighting pests without hurting the peeps. But after seeing a big nasty cockroach in the nesting area early on, DH is adamant about the DE in there! Haven't seen a bug in there since...