Lime or DE?

[apostoliclady]

I'm VERY new to the chicken world. I've brought home 12 chicks last week. I'm getting the hen house ready for them. I keep reading on here about DE. I went to the feed store where I bought the chicks, but they don't carry it. She suggested lime. Any feedback on that?

 

[xtremevermonter]

What are you using the DE/ lime for?

 

[apostoliclady]

LOL. I'm not sure. According to this web site, it suggests using it for mites and oder control, I think

 

[xtremevermonter]

Do you really need it then?

 

[apostoliclady]

LOL. Maybe not. I'm trying so hard to be prepared. I'd like to be successful at this. So far, I have 6 day experience with chickens...so far, so good

 

[xtremevermonter]

I use lime sometimes in my alpaca barn to keep the animals from doing their business in the same spot. It masks the odor and encourages them to go outside. I'm not sure if it works like this with chicksens.

Is odor going to be a problem for you? Is the coop near your home or something like that?

Also, if mites become a problem, there are mite-specific powders you can dust on your chickens.

 

[jamieneenah]

I've been mixing in food grade DE in with the bedding for odors, since I am brooding a large number of birds indoors. I wondered how lime would work, as it is about 1/4 of the cost, but I strongly suspect it is not as safe as the DE.

I know the barn lime is likely different than the lime I used when plastering, but I got lime from plastering on my finger where there was a small cut 2 months ago, it ate through my skin and is still not fully healed. So I would be really careful with any kind of lime.

Jamie

 

[Tala]

Feedstore Lime is just ground up limestone. If granulated limestone was dangerous, me, my sister and my grandpa's dog wouldn't be here anymore because we played in trailer loads of it!!! I'm serious, we played in it, mixed it in mud pies, used it to "draw" on the yard, rubbed it in the dog's hair because it was supposed to "make anything grow"

It's fed to animals for a calcium supplement, used to neutralize odors, and it's a fertilizer. Both my dad and grandpa used to put it on the yard or garden, between the two of them we did it least once a year (or so it seemed) had something to do with balancing the soil pH from all the pine trees in our yard? I think?


Edit: technically lime is CaO, and limestone is CaCO.
CaO is an oxidizer - like acid, that would be what burned the pp's skin
CaCO is chemically similar to baking soda and reduces pH

 

[rw1647]

my understanding from reading about organic/natural chicken care is that food-grade DE is used in bedding/nests/yards to help prevent lice and other insects and can be fed in small quantities to help prevent worms. it basically damages the mites/worms' exoskeletons so they can't shed their shells properly and then die. I don't know about the lime but I'd be hesitant to use it in feed.

 

[Tala]

Quote:
the granulated limestone you buy from the feed store has pictures of animals on it, it's FOR feeding as a calcium supplement, however for chickens most people use it to control odor in the bedding.