Is DE worth it?

[Folly's place]

As a person with asthma, DE won't ever come onto our farm. It's bad to inhale, by anyone, 'food grade' or otherwise. I want a product that's effective against mite and lice, and 'safer', and DE isn't it.
I also looked up how it's mined, and was not impressed.
Mary

 

[centrarchid]

It's bad to inhale, by anyone, 'food grade' or otherwise. I want a product that's effective against mite and lice, and 'safer', and DE isn't it.

I can have asthma issues as well, or at least used to. In some situations asthma can be allergy related. DE has not caused such problems for me. The dust my birds have associated with them, with DE or not, has a particulate nature that can cause breathing problems for some. I remember while in college working in a large commercial egg operation where the material coming off the birds made so I could not breath easily for days. There was no DE there.

Lets look for studies testing DE as mite / lice control agent.

 

[Folly's place]

That's why the N95 or better dust mask is so essential when using any dust or spray out there, or during coop cleaning.
Mary

 

[cmom]

I have been either spraying or dusting with permethrin under their shade/rain tables where they do most of their dusting and putting dust in their nest boxes. I haven't seen any pests in quite a while.