After the DE is mixed with a whole lot of sand, the DE attaches to the courser sand. The dust level decreases and doesn’t hurt the lungs if mixed. Mixed it’s still effective against lice and mites.
Its true you have to be very careful if you apply it pure. The advice is not to inhale dust clouds of DE.
I make a yoghurt thick kind of paint from the DE too and apply it on the roosts and the walls the chickens can touch with their feathers. It helps at lot against the red mite. Red mites are often a plague for many chicken keepers where I live.
Even the industrial farmers use it. Many farmers spray all the walls and objects in the chicken stables after cleaning and before the new pullets are brought in.
Here (in the past, not so much now) spray lime was used, I would mix the lime (yee gads don’t get that stuff in your eyes!!), with water to make a thick sloppy mixture and paint it on the stall walls, some people would use a sprayer to apply it. It makes everything bright white and helps control odours.
Gosh I had forgotten all about this! Maybe I’ll do the Hen Houses in the summer
