Should I feed my hens scratch or layer feed?

[lovemy6hens]

Layer feed & offer scratch as a treat. I compare scratch to candy. It would be great to eat only candy & it would keep a person alive, but it would be very bad for health.

 

[Chris09]

Thank you for sharing your experience. In reference to dust particles irritating the flock, so far I have not had that problem. You are CORRECT as per NOT Breathing in plumbs of DE floating in the air. Yes, it will irritate your lungs a bit and make you cough ( it happened to me) and I now use a mask when scooping up the DE Powder. I use gloves to keep the particles from collecting to my skin when making an application to the birds. Food grade is available on the internet and safe. It has been used by researchers in a liquid suspension (like milk or water) and digested by humans. In poor countries like Haiti for example; I read where DE food grade was consumed by their residents who had infestation of parasites from bad drinking water and food. The DE eventually worked its way through the bowel and killed off the living tape worms, intestinal parasites, and allowed the normal FLORA necessary for digestion to thrive. A cloth cap dusted with DE was placed on the heads of children with head lice and days after removed. The Ultra-violet light that detected live mites found them all dead with out any physical distress to the host children.

I well understand your concerns and I respect your choice and method of treatment. I too had concerns, however; after reviewing many chemical treatments, I read the FINE Print whereby some properties (toxic in nature) were absorbed into the skin, bones, and organs of the host. That was a concern of DDT used years ago and now banned. Seven Dust is supposed to be safe, but like everything else these days, we seem to find out decades later what is good and what is bad? You never know?

90% of what you read about DE is just hype and a selling point.
There are studies out there that states that DE does nothing for internal parasites.

 

[chicksurreal]

Thank you for sharing your experience. In reference to dust particles irritating the flock, so far I have not had that problem. You are CORRECT as per NOT Breathing in plumbs of DE floating in the air. Yes, it will irritate your lungs a bit and make you cough ( it happened to me) and I now use a mask when scooping up the DE Powder. I use gloves to keep the particles from collecting to my skin when making an application to the birds. Food grade is available on the internet and safe. It has been used by researchers in a liquid suspension (like milk or water) and digested by humans. In poor countries like Haiti for example; I read where DE food grade was consumed by their residents who had infestation of parasites from bad drinking water and food. The DE eventually worked its way through the bowel and killed off the living tape worms, intestinal parasites, and allowed the normal FLORA necessary for digestion to thrive. A cloth cap dusted with DE was placed on the heads of children with head lice and days after removed. The Ultra-violet light that detected live mites found them all dead with out any physical distress to the host children.

I well understand your concerns and I respect your choice and method of treatment. I too had concerns, however; after reviewing many chemical treatments, I read the FINE Print whereby some properties (toxic in nature) were absorbed into the skin, bones, and organs of the host. That was a concern of DDT used years ago and now banned. Seven Dust is supposed to be safe, but like everything else these days, we seem to find out decades later what is good and what is bad? You never know?

True, I agree with you about the unknown possible issues with chemicals. we do have food grade DE here and it cured one of my dogs of the worst case of tapeworm I've ever seen. We got it from a website that is for horses, but they sell it for other animals too. I just couldn't see putting our rooster in a cloud of it repeatedly to get rid of the lice. He was in a very poor condition and needed help, I hope the cure wasn't worse than the disease (so to speak).

 

[chicksurreal]

90% of what you read about DE is just hype and a selling point.
There are studies out there that states that DE does nothing for internal parasites.

I do know that the product we bought for my dogs tapeworm problem took care of it, it also had other herbs and things in it, so maybe that had something to do with it working. But even the vet gave up on trying to get her clear of them before we tried this product.

 

[chicksurreal]

Just for reference, the product we gave my dog for tapeworm is called Wormguard Plus SC for Dogs from the Holistic Horse website. It's mainly food grade DE, but it has other natural stuff in it too.

 

[Heme]

http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2013/02/foodless-friday-health-benefits-of-diatomaceous-earth.html
There are 100's sites with scientific studies and positive results.

No matter, some folks find it great and perhaps others have an opposite opinion; that is what is good about our freedom of speech in the USA.

 

[Chris09]

I do know that the product we bought for my dogs tapeworm problem took care of it, it also had other herbs and things in it, so maybe that had something to do with it working. But even the vet gave up on trying to get her clear of them before we tried this product.

It may have been the other ingredients.
I know one of the sales pitches that DE sellers use is, "The sharp edges of DE cut into insects’ bodies, causing them to die of dehydration". Well if the DE is that sharp then think about what it is doing to the inside of the animal that you are treating.

 

[Heme]

http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2013/02/foodless-friday-health-benefits-of-diatomaceous-earth.html has much to say on this product.

I am not an expert, thus I rely on the informed to help me understand the pros and cons of various topics. Folks on this web site are knowledgeable and I truly appreciate some of the information they share. Unfortunately, I have also run into some individual who fail to understand a topic and become angry during a discussion?

 

[chicksurreal]

It may have been the other ingredients.
I know one of the sales pitches that DE sellers use is, "The sharp edges of DE cut into insects’ bodies, causing them to die of dehydration". Well if the DE is that sharp then think about what it is doing to the inside of the animal that you are treating.

Right. That's why I don't automatically attribute the results to the DE. It could have been the other ingredients, or a combination thereof.

When it comes to treating the outside of animals with DE, I am very cautious for the same reason. If it can tear up the bodies of small insects, it can probably do the same to lung tissue. Not a good thing. I don't mind using it in limited applications, but I'm not going to subject an animal to a cloud of it that might cause them more problems than what I'm treating.

 

[chicksurreal]

http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2013/02/foodless-friday-health-benefits-of-diatomaceous-earth.html
There are 100's sites with scientific studies and positive results.

No matter, some folks find it great and perhaps others have an opposite opinion; that is what is good about our freedom of speech in the USA.

Thanks for the link!