Pest and disease prevention

[wormy270]

We are getting our first chickens next week. We will have about a dozen. I would like to know what things can be done to PREVENT pest and diseases. Should you dust regularly for mites. And is there any de-wormer that should be given regularly to prevent worms. Or is simply keeping your coop clean enough to prevent infestations.

 

[Gonzo]

Hi! & Welcome!

We use food grade DE. I buy it from my local co-op. We put it in our chicken food, mix it in their bedding, and have a dust bath of it for ours. When the chickens eat it, it de-worms them, it kills fleas, flys, mites, lice.. it's non toxic to livestock, pets, & people! It can also improve a flocks mortality rate! Hope this helps! Any questions, just give me a hollar. If I can find the link for the DE I'll post it for you.

 

[wormy270]

What exactly is DE?

 

[Gonzo]

try this!http://www.earthworkshealth.com/

 

[Gonzo]

YourLinkGoesHere http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatomaceous_earth

 

[Gonzo]

I hope you can use these links! I'm aweful at the computer! It Diatomaceous earth. It's a fossil thats ground down into a powder. It's safe enough that you can't feed too much of it, and people even take it! Taken internally, it works as a dewormer, and in the coop, it keeps down pests, and the odor.

 

[Judy]

http://www.freshwaterorganics.com/what_is_de.htm

 

[Gonzo]

thanks for posting a good link! I could use a computer class or two!

Quote:

 

[trev1lov3]

Yeah really good for plants use too as as a growing medium or just sprinkle around a coop or plant you trying to protect. Bugs that try to cross are stabbed by tiny crystalline sprears.also used as a filter for ponds and pools. I installed a few de filters at a pool company job i had once. The are indeed fossils. Fossils of plankton and things like that