Sweet coop

Are you going to wear a mask all day and night cause: American Lung Association

Common Outdoor Air Pollutants​

  • Ozone
    Ozone (also called smog) is currently one of the least-well-controlled pollutants in the United States. It is also one of the most dangerous—and it's invisible.
  • Particulate Matter
    Particulate matter, or particle pollution, refers to a mix of very tiny solid and liquid particles that are in the air we breathe. It is dangerous enough to shorten your life.
  • Nitrogen Dioxide
    Nitrogen dioxide is a gas that comes from burning fuels. Live near a busy highway? You may be breathing a lot of nitrogen dioxide.
  • Sulfur Dioxide
    Sulfur dioxide forms when sulfur-containing fuel such as coal, oil or diesel is burned. Live near a power plant or a port? You may have more sulfur dioxide in your air.
  • Carbon Monoxide
    Carbon monoxide is another gas that forms from burning fuels. High levels often show up near roadways.
  • Toxic Air Pollutants
    Nearly 200 other pollutants emitted into the air can cause diseases, including lung cancer, or cause other harmful effects.

Sources of Outdoor Air Pollution​

  • Electric Utilities
    Electric utilities burning coal, natural gas, oil and biomass produce air pollutants that harm lung health.
  • Transportation
    Vehicles and equipment used to move people, goods and fuel from one place to another can pollute the air and harm human health.
  • Residential Sources
    Heating, cooling and powering our homes all produce emissions that can harm health, including in our own neighborhoods.
  • Commercial and Industrial
    Harmful emissions come from heating, cooling and powering businesses and industrial operations, as well as from manufacturing processes.
  • Emergencies and Natural Disasters
    Wildfires, flooding, hurricanes and other natural events can create unhealthy air, especially for people with lung disease. And the cleanup often adds to the challenge.
  • Climate Change
    Climate change poses a grave health threat to everyone, with serious risks to lung health.
Page last updated: March 6, 2020


We have filters in our lungs and maskss for that I have asthma too and dont were a mask and never had an attack it is not dangerous. Wear a mask.
Chickens don't wear masks.
 
Inhaling anything is not safe!
So why would you use DE in the chicken coop where your birds will stir it up and inhale it? I used to use it but I would have asthma attacks when I cleaned the coop so I did a little research and stopped using it. I know a lot of people like it but in the coop itself is not a good idea since birds' respiratory systems are much more sensitive than ours. Hence the old canary in a mine trick-the bird will be dead before the miners.
 
Curious what evidence you found?

Perhaps your Google-Fu is better than mine but I’ve tried finding evidence of birds dying from use of DE and haven’t found anything other than opinions without any actual science or perhaps an autopsy etc. to back it up.

I’m guessing it’s respirable crystalline silica content that people are referring to as the hazard, but food grade DE has the lower concentration than industrial grades and is a regulated product to be able to use that labeling. There’s a good amount of repairable crystalline silica in dirt and sand, yet people fill up their coops and dust baths with them. Maybe because DE is abrasive when dry? It’s ineffective with moisture and animals lungs are a moist environment…

I don’t go crazy and use a little bit of DE here and there and when I searched the topic, I easily found a scientific article where they specifically researched the effects of using DE inside and outside of chickens bodies and it definitely didn’t end up being a hazardous material around chickens
I was just looking it up for human use actually and it said it was harmful if inhaled because it is a mild abrasive. I think the effects show up over time. I used it for a while and none of my chickens dropped dead from it (that I'm aware of). I did have a couple sudden deaths but never sent them for necropsy. That was ten years ago or more. I haven't had a sudden death since but that doesn't mean DE killed my chickens. I just prefer not to use it if it could harm them since I also saw no benefits from it.
 
DE is kind of a hot topic on here-like ACV. Some people swear by it. I am not one of them. If you are concerned you can either start a thread asking for peoples' experiences or put it in the search bar and find numerous threads about it to help you make your decision.
 
DE is perfectly safe as long as you buy the food grade and not the granulars. I use it and first saturday lime.
 
I did a little research and stopped using it
Curious what evidence you found?

Perhaps your Google-Fu is better than mine but I’ve tried finding evidence of birds dying from use of DE and haven’t found anything other than opinions without any actual science or perhaps an autopsy etc. to back it up.

I’m guessing it’s respirable crystalline silica content that people are referring to as the hazard, but food grade DE has the lower concentration than industrial grades and is a regulated product to be able to use that labeling. There’s a good amount of repairable crystalline silica in dirt and sand, yet people fill up their coops and dust baths with them. Maybe because DE is abrasive when dry? It’s ineffective with moisture and animals lungs are a moist environment…

I don’t go crazy and use a little bit of DE here and there and when I searched the topic, I easily found a scientific article where they specifically researched the effects of using DE inside and outside of chickens bodies and it definitely didn’t end up being a hazardous material around chickens

My opinion - all things are bad to breathe in. If using DE, also use it with common sense and don’t go crazy with it
 
I won't comment on the safety of DE. Like BlindLemon said, it's a highly debated topic. All I know for sure is that you're not supposed to use it in your coop if you're doing the deep litter method (it interferes with the composting process). You can use Zeolite (Sweet Coop or PDZ) by itself for drying and deodorizing purposes.
 

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