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

[Ackchickens]

DE kills bees. I'm new to chickens and am researching like crazy about all the options for runs, coops, dust baths etc. We also keep bees on our property and I'm trying to find a solution to help with mites etc with the chickens, but I'm not going to have a dusty material flying all over our property that kills honey bees, and urge everyone out there keeps that in mind. I'm not trying to be nasty. But I just wanted to state on this thread that if a bee comes in contact with DE it will die. Everyone knows the problems with the honey bees and I'd hate to be adding to it. I understand that the bee has to come in contact with it, and honey bees are probably not going to be hanging out in the chicken coop, but even if some of it is blown around to say the flowers outside of your run, the bee is going to die. Again, I hope people take the honey bees into consideration. (I'm not a crazy lady I swear, we just spend a lot of time and money on our hives and want the best for all the creatures we care for!)

 

[amortonchick]

More very important information regarding DE, thank you! We have a lot of bumble bees in our yard and see honey bees as well. Its those pesky wasps we could do without. Just because something has been around and used for so long doesn't make it the best. I feel that we were terribly misinformed from the person at our feed store about DE. Educating newbys like me is a start to getting awareness out.

 

[JessMorris]

MacCana, how do you make a deep little floor for a coop? My coop has just been finished but my little chicks are 3 weeks so they wont be out for a while. I'm very interested in trying this method out. Any tips? Thank you

 

[yellowchicks]

I just put roughly 10% DE, 10% wood ash, and 80% construction sand mix them up as a dust bath, put it underneath the coop. My chickens seems to enjoy it, So far, no lice or mites.

 

[amortonchick]

MacCana, how do you make a deep little floor for a coop? My coop has just been finished but my little chicks are 3 weeks so they wont be out for a while. I'm very interested in trying this method out. Any tips? Thank you 

The deep bedding or deep litter method is what we have done from the start. I use pine shavings in the coop which absorbs nitrogen from the droppings. The chicken poo and dirty pine shavings get pushed out into the pen where the chickens scratch and work it all in together. It is odor free due to the process just as a compost pile. I would highly recommend it. My hens love cleaning day which keeps them busy scratching around. Sometimes I rake everything into one heaping pile and let them flatten it all out. I hope that helps or gives you an idea of how simple the deep bedding method is.

 

[amortonchick]

The deep bedding or deep litter method is what we have done from the start. I use pine shavings in the coop which absorbs nitrogen from the droppings. The chicken poo and dirty pine shavings get pushed out into the pen where the chickens scratch and work it all in together. It is odor free due to the process just as a compost pile. I would highly recommend it. My hens love cleaning day which keeps them busy scratching around. Sometimes I rake everything into one heaping pile and let them flatten it all out. I hope that helps or gives you an idea of how simple the deep bedding method is.

 

[JessMorris]

Thank you!

 

[shortgrass]

DE kills bees. I'm new to chickens and am researching like crazy about all the options for runs, coops, dust baths etc. We also keep bees on our property and I'm trying to find a solution to help with mites etc with the chickens, but I'm not going to have a dusty material flying all over our property that kills honey bees, and urge everyone out there keeps that in mind. I'm not trying to be nasty. But I just wanted to state on this thread that if a bee comes in contact with DE it will die. Everyone knows the problems with the honey bees and I'd hate to be adding to it. I understand that the bee has to come in contact with it, and honey bees are probably not going to be hanging out in the chicken coop, but even if some of it is blown around to say the flowers outside of your run, the bee is going to die. Again, I hope people take the honey bees into consideration. (I'm not a crazy lady I swear, we just spend a lot of time and money on our hives and want the best for all the creatures we care for!)

It won't kill bees if they don't contact it.... Don't put DE on flowers and you're fine. We have hives too, use it all the time. We put it on the ground, not many bees in the ground....

Here's a link for safe use around bees.
http://www.planetnatural.com/diatomaceous-earth-bees/

As far as it being useless when wet... Not entirely true.... But thats information for a different topic ha-ha.... It dries back out lol... You have to reapply after rain if you're controlling slugs, but for dust baths, if it gets wet, it eventually dries right back out to the original great DE...

I use it in feed too... In fact, almost ALL of your feed already has DE in it; its an anti caking agent used by graneries to keep out pests in the grain.

The deep litter method bring negatively affected is not really possible, actually...because the Deep litter method depends on microbes and bacteria, not insects...DE has no effect on microbes, si I'm not sure why I keep seeing g that information being passed along...
DE will not affect microbial life.
http://www.dirtdoctor.com/Diatomaceous-Earth_vq21.htm

Yes, food grade DE is absolutely safe, unless you are a soft bodied insect

 

[ChickEngineer]

I put a half cup of DE in a new bag of feed and mix it well, keeps the buggies out. I use DE in my hutch area and nest boxes, just a small amount on the bottom under the shavings. Spread some in the coop floor under the play sand. Have a small tub with clean sand and a small amount of DE that they use for a dust bath occasionally. They also have a dirt run where they usually take their dust bath. So far have never had a mite problem, at least that I am aware of.
I noticed this thread when I was looking for bathing chickens, never done it before. One of the girls needed her bum cleaned so decided to give it a go. Mandy is very docilel anyway, no problem, even the hair dryer did not bother her.

 

[JessMorris]

this is great advice ChickEngineer. Thank you! My girls are moving outside from the brooder in 2 weeks and I'm going to follow your advice.