Is DE safe to mix with our chicken's dust bath?

[MacCana]

I never use exact amounts for mixtures. for the litter or bathes. I mostly just add as needed. We have all types of weather here and you can never tell if it's going to be horribly wet humid air, stormy or breezy dry weather for a week. I just try to keep things dry, but not *too* dry. You sound like you have the perfect ingredients lined up though. You get the amounts down that work for you rather quickly. They will love it!

 

[Nupe]

Some people won't use it because they say it can cause respiratory issues if kicked up and inhaled too much. That's true with any fine dust. As far as eating it, never had a problem (food grade of course). It passes right through but is ineffective when wet so not a good dewormer. Some say it works as a preventative. I dust the coop with it and add it to their feed in the warm months to keep flies from breeding in their poop.

 

[MacCana]

How does it help though if its ineffective when wet? Wouldn't that negate the reason for it's use? I'm seriously asking for the sake of not knowing

And I have always seen what you had mentioned about it being jagged little pieces (though I hadn't known the bug part) wouldn't that mean it'd be kinda bad to ingest? Since it scratches and cuts things? I'd imagine that's hard on the innards? Or does it dissolve to a soft paste?

 

[Honey B]

@MacCana

Keep us up to date on your finding about DE and bacteria if you find time to do a little "digging." Both arguments seem to make valid points, would be interested to see what you find out.

 

[Nupe]

How does it help though if its ineffective when wet? Wouldn't that negate the reason for it's use? I'm seriously asking for the sake of not knowing

And I have always seen what you had mentioned about it being jagged little pieces (though I hadn't known the bug part) wouldn't that mean it'd be kinda bad to ingest? Since it scratches and cuts things? I'd imagine that's hard on the innards? Or does it dissolve to a soft paste?

You have to understand exactly how tiny the particles are. You can only see shape under a microscope. To our eye it just looks like powder. But it doesn't dissolve so it ends up in the poop. I haven't done any research on it but I'm guessing it kills flies in the larval form as the poo dries. Either way, even when the flies were at their worst last summer, I never had a problem in the coop.

 

[MacCana]

Well I did have problems with flies myself, so I am interested enough now to look into it. I resorted to sprinkling a bit under the roosts which helped somewhat but I also had to hang vanilla car fresheners to really keep them away. FYI I would recommend those as well, they worked like they possessed some kind of invisible magic. Though it didn't last as long on my coop bc my coop is mainly an altered dog kennel. They would become exposed to the weather and rather quickly lose smell if the weather was anything but fair. They would work better in a more enclosed area. So finding out if the DE would be good for eating would really help in my situation or I'll be spending a ton on air fresheners lol

 

[Nupe]

Given how my coop is built, I don't think there's a place I could put one of those air fresheners without it getting eaten. But like I said, never had a problem in the coop. When I change out the litter, I sweep everything out and sprinkle the DE on the bare floor and empty nesting boxes and put pine shavings on top. I turn it over and fluff it a little but not much. The chickens will get in there and scratch around and eventually incorporate it without kicking it all up at once. After that, when I add new shavings on top, they'll turn it over again.

 

[triplepurpose]

I've never heard anything about de killing bacteria (or any other microbes), and I don't really see how that would work anyway as it just doesn't make sense biologically... However, it does have a drying effect on litter to some degree (it absorbs moisture), which perhaps WOULD tend to limit or suppress microbial activity in the litter--so maybe that's where this idea got started (just a guess though).

You do want to avoid inhaling it or getting it in your eyes etc. but only because it's micro-abrasive and therefore irritating, not because it's toxic--it's just silica, like sand.

DE is used in livestock feeds (generally not to exceed 2%, if I recall). It's used as an anti caking agent. The feed I buy also has de in it, on the ingredients list. I don't believe it has any value as a dewormer (again, just doesn't make any sense) but it is very effective for ectoparasites, either applied to the litter, or directly to the chickens skin in extreme cases (just remember it tends to have a drying effect on the litter, which can be good or bad depending).

Also, the de used in feed and litter, and the kind you use around the garden are the same thing--food grade de, diatomaceous earth, sometimes called fossil shell flour. Very handy multipurpose thing to keep around, kind of like baking soda. As far as I know the only other kind is something used in pool filters...

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I'm just wondering if DE ( Diatomaceous Earth) is safe to mix with my chicken's dirt in their dust bath? I've read it's both "extremely safe" and "extremely harmful" for chickens, which is odd because the research I've been reading about DE is you actually put it in their food, but others are saying you mix it with their dust bath, so I'm a little confused! Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

I use food-grade DE in the summer when we don't have woodstove ashes available for their dust bath. I keep it under cover outside so it stays dry. They love it.

The only reason it may be useful in the feed is to help keep it from clumping I think - it won't work as a wormer since when it is wet apparently it is not effective I have read. I used to feed it until I read that.

 

[amortonchick]

...

One thing to remember about DE and deep litter - what makes deep litter work so well are all the microbes breaking down the litter.  So if DE is put down in the litter for whatever reason those microbes are being killed.  

The opinions on the effectiveness of DE in chickens' environments are so varied that if you put 10 people in a room and asked them, "How do I use DE and what is it for?" you'll get at least 8 different answers.  Feeding it to chickens makes little sense....it's made up of sharp edged remains of tiny little critters and those sharp edges are how it works against soft-bodies creepies.  So if the chicken ingests it and it hits the gizzard, the vast majority of those sharp little edges are negated by having them ground off.  They are also not as effective when they are wet.

I do put a little bit in their dust bath....just a little bit.  But speaking just for myself (note that phrase) I just wquote
put any into the litter.  Dust is a problem in most coops anyway - that baby fine talc that's a combination of dander, down, and dust from the litter.  Inhaling the dust from DE is generally accepted as unhealthy for us so I'm not willing to have it mixing in with the rest of the dust in the coop.  I need the natural decomposition in my coop to be effective and as natural a process as possible, so I want to reduce the bad stuff in there and encourage the microbial and insect activity that breaks litter down.
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Great read. I wished we would have done more research on DE before adding it to our flocks food. Apparently it has no benefits for worming. One of our hens died today, I sure hope the DE did not play a part in her death.