Thoughts on food grade Diatomaceous Earth?

[Sunshine Coop]

Hey so I have my very first flock of backyard chickens and I was thinking about using DE to worm and for mites. Is it worth using? How old should my chicks be when I give it to them? And how much do I give them? Thanks!

 

[Trimurtisan]

Hi Abigail, and welcome to BYC. In short, I'd suggest looking for different solutions to mites and worms. The answer to will it work is all over the place. Hardcore believers on both sides of the fence.

Myself, I do use DE for a few things, and think it's a great addition to most "arsenals" but by itself, DE is extremely lack luster. For starters, it WILL NOT KILL worms. I've also ran many worm farms and constantly used DE to maintain the exoskeleton bug populations. It has absolutely no effect on worms. Before someone says "that's an earthworm" do some research on worm biology. Parasitical worms and earthworms are susceptible to the same weaknesses.

It might work on mites, but I'd be skeptical. It didn't work for lice on my girls. If anything it won't hurt your bird. It's super absorbent, so it can dry their skin out if you go bonkers with applying it. Oh well, don't throw a cloud of it in their face, that actually can hurt them. DE should be used in a well ventilated area if you didn't know already.

 

[Friendly_Lurker]

It might work on mites

My Buff Leeli, I think she has leg mites. I put petroleum gel on her legs to smother them, do I need to use DE too?

 

[Trimurtisan]

My Buff Leeli, I think she has leg mites. I put petroleum gel on her legs to smother them, do I need to use DE too?

Not sure bud, I've not had leg mites before. The main treatment I've heard of was using a petroleum gel or oil to coat the legs. The mites I was referring to above would be skin/feather mites.

DE works on exoskeletons, but I don't think I'd try it on the legs. If you mix DE and petro gel, you'll be essentially removing the only "working" part of the DE. It's much more effective when dry. The petro gel is used ti smother the mites if I'm recalling right, and that should be much more effective for that area.

 

[SueT]

Many BYC threads have said DE isn't effective against an infestation of mites. Just get some permethrin powder, and the mites are gone. I've used it on 2-day old chicks, and it didn't harm them. This is the kind I use.

 

[Trimurtisan]

Many BYC threads have said DE isn't effective against an infestation of mites. Just get some permethrin powder, and the mites are gone. I've used it on 2-day old chicks, and it didn't harm them. This is the kind I use.
View attachment 2072579

That's not the brand I use, but I do agree it's the way to go. I've also used it on chicks with no issues.

 

[Folly's place]

DE is harmful for anyone, chicken or human, to inhale, and has limited usefulness for some lice and mites, Not leg mites, or anything wet, so it does nothing for internal parasites.
It does kill mites in feed, so is used for that at times by the mills.
Otherwise, in the USA, use permethrin dust or spray for mites or lice, and leave out the DE.
Wear a N95 dust mask when using any such product, and cleaning the coop. Hard to find now, but inhaling coop dust is a very bad thing...
Mary

 

[aart]

My Buff Leeli, I think she has leg mites. I put petroleum gel on her legs to smother them, do I need to use DE too?

No.
Do you have a thread with pics about this birds leg mites?

 

[aart]

Just say no to DE.
The only thing it's effective on is grain mites in the feed storage.

 

[Painted Calls]

Just say no to DE.

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