WOAH, companies put DE into flour to water it down. They put DE in flour to kill bugs. Really, they only put in a tiny ammount of DE. It is good for you. It kills bugs that eat flour. And 90%+ of flour in a bag of flour, is FLOUR.
That's an outrage. DE is basically DIRT, it comes out of the ground in specific places around the globe where it is mined, just dug up. I think I said that already.
Some people would say either keep the bugs out in the first place or just freeze the flour to kill them rather than pad out the weight of the flour by adding DIRT. WOW.Freezing the flour would take a lot of energy and work for nothing. Companies won't pay money to freeze something if freezing it does nothing. After the flour is thawed (so it cn be sold) new insects can continue to eat the flour and grains very happily. DE prevents this.
Either way, it's useless in chook food. Did you read my post at all? DE kills insects in grain-based products that would eat and otherwise ruin the feed.
You can use it as a substitute for a dustbath, but what's wrong with a dustbath ? if mites are a problem, look at the coop and the roosts. something is wrong if mites are getting the upper hand and you have to supplement the chickens own natural defenses. It is not a substitute for a dustbath. It can be an additive to a dust bath, and a treatment for lice. A regular dust bath will not control lice. It only helps prevent lice. DE takes care of the lice.
From the food it falls onto the ground and gets all over the yard, as I said from the beginning.There really is not that much DE in the food. If the food is all over the ground, it is wasted anyway, so the trace of DE in the feed can't do anything helpful for wet, wasted feed.
It cannot work if it is wet or stuck to the food, Is the food wet? If not, than the DE works.
What it WILL do is get all over the yard, all over the ground, all over all the insects in your yard including BEES and kill the lot. Bad, USELESS idea. But good for the shopkeeper if you sell the stuff.I think I already said that it would not kill the bees if it is in the garden. In the garden, it spreads out into the soil, where it is moist and useless. Sand does not kill bees either, and it is silica too. DE does not kill bees unless it is dry, and the bees are walking through it.