So....Diatomaceous Earth is good or bad?

[Vanilla Gorilla]

So I posted on here recently about a Blue Andalusian hen I have that has having some minor behavioral issues. I did mis-diagnose a molt, thinking she had already molted - turns out she was just getting started. That aside, she started having respiratory issues - constant wheezing, sneezing...just weird noises. I finally got a hold of her (she's extremely quick and agile) and saw there was a small amount of blood around her nostrils.

I couldn't think what could be the problem, so I started to backtrack a little. I didn't think it was a disease, or the other birds would have it as well. What had I changed? I had recently cleaned out the coop and run. Could it have been the shavings? I didn't think so since I've always used the same thing. I had read that diatomaceous earth can help with mites, lice, as well as de-worming properties. I checked on here and there are just glowing reviews of the stuff. So I added some to the coop and run after I'd cleaned it out. That was about it. So I started reading about D.E. again, and it turns out a lot of people also think it can be harmful, and it is an old wives tale type of thing.

I will say that I re-cleaned it out, and removed all of the D.E. - and the respiratory problems went away almost immediately. I think I'm coming down on the side of the stuff actually being detrimental to the health of the chickens. Has anyone else had experiences like this?

 

[Mylied]

DE only has anecdotal stories, no scientific proof behind it being useful. In fact, I'm pretty sure science has proved it does nothing. DE is not good to inhale for anyone. I used poultry and garden dust when I need to treat mites and it works well. I use dewormer when they have a bad worm load. Which is rare.

 

[Vanilla Gorilla]

No, what brand did you get? Some is made for compost or something like that... Some is made for chickens.

I'd be hard pressed to tell you what brand...I did make sure it was food grade though.

 

[NoFlyBackFarm]

No, what brand did you get? Some is made for compost or something like that... Some is made for chickens.

 

[SniperGoose]

I've personally never used D.E. in my coop. I use food grade D.E. in their feed sometimes - I mix in a small amount, no more than 2% of the actual feed. All my chickens are just fine, and have never had issues with it. I know that people are not supposed to be inhaling the dust from DE because that can cause problems. Having it in your coop, and them being chickens, they probably scratched around some and stirred up dust perhaps? That's the only thing I can figure. I imagine animals inhaling the dust probably isn't the best for them either. Food grade DE can be good, in small amounts. There are probably other better/healthier alternatives for helping fight mites and whatnot in the coop. I'd steer clear of adding it in your coop after that, and just add a little bit of food grade DE to their feed every now and then.

 

[ChickenLeg]

I haven't had an experience like this before but I have used DE for mites. After I bathed chickens in a warm bath, they were dried off and once completely dried DE was rubbed over them very well deep into their feathers (I wore a face mask). I put pyrethrin in a weed sprayer designated for pyrethrin only and sprayed down the inside and outside of the coop and all wood on the run. I would return the chickens to their coop the following day. This always got rid of the mites. I eventually began spraying once in the spring, mid summer, and fall. No more need for DE and no more mites

 

[FeatherstoneFrm]

I use food grade in their food and mixed in the dust bath. I can say that it helps but it is not harming anyone. No respiratory problems. As long as it is dry, it will help with the bugs and mites.

 

[aart]

I'd be hard pressed to tell you what brand...I did make sure it was food grade though.

Some DE 'products' have little DE in it. One of the RedEarth products is mostly clay, read labels carefully.

Had an interesting discussion about DE, with a pretty good study cited, earlier this morning...starting with this post:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...sues-help-please.1277694/page-3#post-20569517

In answer to the Thread Title question......the only thing it's good for, IME, in the chicken world is killing grain mites in feed.

 

[Fishkeeper]

"food grade" just means "not toxic if you eat it". It doesn't mean "not dangerous if inhaled".
Birds have delicate lungs. DE is sharp and cuts when inhaled. It kills invertebrates by clogging their breathing holes and scratching up the delicate insides. It is very bad for the lungs of all living things, regardless of its grade, and should not be used around birds because of that. Just use regular dust, it suffocates mites about as well and isn't sharp. If they have a dustbath they'll self-dust. If there are actual mite issues, use an actual mite treatment, not DE.

 

[Phaefner]

I’m new to this chicken raising but I have been mixing it with a mixture of clean top soil (from the farm store) and clean sand (from the farm store). I put my “concoction” in a hog feeder pan (from the farm store). The kind I use isn’t the really fine powdery stuff that I use on my garden, it’s courser and not very dusty at all. I set the pan in the corner of their coop and they use it at their leisure. I haven’t experienced any problems. I will say that they usually prefer to dig their own dust bath outside and sqwable over who gets to use it. I only notice them using the one in the coop for the 1st day or two. Probably because they are just curious about it and don’t like the way I piled the “concoction” in the pan