Please help with DE dose amounts

[countrygirl4513]

Ok I got my Food Grade DE yesterday... can someone tell me how to administer it? It said for chickens 5%. But I was wondering can you put it in their water? Any advice would be great. I've already spread it around in their dust bowl and house but I'm not sure about the amount for putting it in the food. They also said on the DE website they give it to their flock by "free choice". Anybody got any idea what that means? Thanks in advance.

 

[countrygirl4513]

someone please reply i need to know this asap!!

 

[cookinmom]

Well, I haven't gotten any yet, so I can't help you with a dose, but free choice means just putting it out in something where they can get as much as they want when they want it. Like with grit, oyster shell, etc.

 

[countrygirl4513]

i thought so... but i don't know why they would even bother with it. i assume it doesn't have any taste. thanks for your imput.

 

[AccidentalFarm]

If you give treats, such as yogurt or a slice of watermelon, you can just dust the treat with some DE. Free choice is by far the easiest method, though, imo. I don't know about specific 'dosage' amounts.

 

[countrygirl4513]

i've been doing some surfing and found that you can make a slurry and spray trees,etc. seems to me that would work great in the hen house too. i'm still trying to find out how to mix it though.

 

[keljonma]

countrygirl4513,

We add Food Grade DE to our flock's layer mash/crumbles. The 5% is the total portion added to the feed. You can mix the two together before storing it for distribution or mix as you go, which ever is easiest for you. (2.5 pounds of Food Grade DE to 50 pounds of feed.)

We also add Food Grade DE to our flock's dust bathing pool and in the nest boxes. Our birds dust bathe in a child's wading pool in the hen house. We put sand, wood shavings and the DE in the pool and mix it together. When I clean out the nest bedding, I sprinkle fresh DE in the bedding.

I don't mix it in any wet feed or treats or in the waterers. Since our birds dust bathe in it, I don't worry about dusting them (like for bugs), but the Food Grade DE can also be used as a bug dust instead of using a chemical dust.

We purchase Food Grade DE at our local farm co-op, and it costs $15 for 50 pounds.

I hope this helps..

regards,
keljonma

if edited, probably for typos....

 

[BeckyLa]

Just like keljonma, we put it in our chickens feed. Really, the way she does it with the feed, dust bath, nest boxes, bedding, etc, I think is the best way.

 

[Oaknim]

We put one cup of our wormer into 50 pounds of feed, then also sprinkle the coop and nest boxes with DE and also allow them to have a little DE dust bowl outside (it's a hole under a tree they dug themselves, I just colored it white). For treats, I add about a tablespoon to a coffee can of whatever it is I'm giving them and it's not everyday. Just use your best judgement in addition to any advice you decide to follow - if your chickens are walking around looking like mimes, you're probably using too much.

~ Oaknim

 

[scubacoz]

What are the advantages to using the DE? Kathy