Wondering if I need to worry (for myself as well as the chickens) about breathing in the DE dust as I'm raking it into the pine shavings inside the coop? I noticed the other day when I happened to look up at the light that it sort of hangs in the air. The whole Diatamaceous Earth thing is freaking me out a little bit. I'm confident I got the right kind because it says "food grade". It's like flour with how dusty it is. BUT...how they heck do you figure out how much 2% is to put in their feed? I'm also about to switch them from "starter" food to "grower/developer" and am going to use Blue Seal Organics. I noticed on the label that there's diatamceous earth IN there already. Should I just figure that's enough? Can you give them too much of the stuff? Also...I built a box inside the coop for my girls to dust bathe in. At first I was going to put just the DE in there, but it's SO dusty....AND, they've gotten in the habit of bathing in their bedding, so I thought I'd be clever and mix some clean pine shavings in there with the DE. They WILL walk through the box from time to time, but nobody is getting down there and really having a bath. Any suggestions?
Wow, I was going to post this exact question today. When I was stirring up litter today, it really billowed up and I thought, that *can't* be good to breathe. I couldn't find "food grade" but I didn't get the pool-supply kind either -- I got mine from the organic gardening section -- I've only sprinkled it around the coop. I wonder how harmless it is?
Only use FOOD GRADE around any mammals, chicken or otherwise. You can use a dust mask if you are concerned. I've never had a problem with it bothering me. But it does say to use caution not to inhale. Hard to do when you are doing this.
I heard you don't want to breath it because it is an irritant. Defiantly mix it with something in your dust bathers. I also heard you shouldn't use the non food grade anywhere around your animals. Also I heard that you can't feed them too much so a little bit more than 2% is okay. I just though a couple scoops in there and mix it around. just enough to notice it you know.
I can't figure out the 2% crap out either, so I do what Speckledhen does, (I think it was ) I put the stuff in a closed cup sifter and sprinkle it like powdered suger all over the run and in the bedding. I don't feed it tho. It seems to do the trick, especially for flies, since that's the only problem I have.
If you haven't read this thread yet you might find it interesting. Jonathan is answering questions if you leave them in the thread. https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=13419
Thanks everybody I got my DE online at gardenharvestsupply.com and it's definitely food grade. It was nice they had a 5lb bag so I could see what I was getting into without having to deal with mass quantities. (I only have 7 pullets) I've also heard that dirtworks.com is a good source for DE. Lunachick - I LOVE the idea of the closed cup sifter!!!! Perfect for sprinkling on the bedding and the run...