What is the deal with FG diatomaceous earth? Studies/articles please? Safety?

[chickengeorgeto]

.... In this puff up manner... it also shade them... We shaved my Queensland Heeler once thinking it would help him cool off. What a nightmare... researching the breed more, turns out their fur helps keep them COOL when it hot. Who knew...

That is a good lesson for everyone with chickens. A chickens' needs and a humans needs or druthers are seldom alike, what's good for one, is often deadly for the other.

 

[roosterhavoc]

You are all wrong

 

[Chickadooo]

You are all wrong
View attachment 1540280

Oh my goodness. I do the same thing with my rabbits hair do!

 

[pdxsk8nfool]

Throw out the DE... I still consider it ALL to have possible toxic effects.

ETA: what is removed is Silica... that doesn't change the (alleged) micro cuts being made to every surface it touches.

Sighted, there is no science that supports that opinion and much that directly contradicts it. I wrote the Chicken Chick a few months back when she had a previous version of her DE page up. She was wrong then and she is still wrong now that she has changed that page, presumably as a result of what I wrote her. Those she quotes are continuing the spread of misinformation on the subject that appears to have originated decades ago in a publication or a few by people who conflated FG DE with calcined DE.

All of the negative effects she lists and says people told her about are only applicable to calcined DE. It occurs naturally in some DE deposits and is made by heat treatment out of FG or any other sort of DE. It's the DE material that is used for pool filters. FG DE is required to have a percentage of calcined that is below detectable levels. It's some <hundredths of a percent or so. Even with pure calcined DE it takes prolonged, significant exposure to be at risk of silicosis, the lung disease it can cause.

FG DE is completely safe to breath or ingest, as much as any other sort of dust is. The science on the subject is definitive.

 

[aart]

FG DE is completely safe to breath or ingest, as much as any other sort of dust is. The science on the subject is definitive.

That may be.....but it still isn't a good pest deterrent or eradicator.

 

[Al Capon]

That may be.....but it still isn't a good pest deterrent or eradicator.

FYI, still no Elephants in the yard...

 

[pdxsk8nfool]

That may be.....but it still isn't a good pest deterrent or eradicator.

What do you base that opinion on?

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22458590

 

[janiedoe]

Sorry it came off hateful... I love BYC and the friendly and CARING community experience, including the nonstop learning AND

Applause!

 

[aart]

What do you base that opinion on?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22458590

Reading dozens of stories here about massive lice and mite infestations despite prodigious use of DE as a preventative and/or treatment.

Your link also includes the use of sand, kaolin, and sulphur, as well as DE.
Abstract does not include enough detailed info to substantiate experiment.

Sure, that stuff might help as a preventative, along with hardwood ash, and maybe other herbs and spices, but check your birds regularly for infestation and keep the permethrin ready to go.

I'm curious at to your presence here and your first post being what it was.
Do you have and now long have you kept chickens in your backyard?
Do you sell DE?

 

[Geena]

Reading dozens of stories here about massive lice and mite infestations despite prodigious use of DE as a preventative and/or treatment.

Your link also includes the use of sand, kaolin, and sulphur, as well as DE.
Abstract does not include enough detailed info to substantiate experiment.

Sure, that stuff might help as a preventative, along with hardwood ash, and maybe other herbs and spices, but check your birds regularly for infestation and keep the permethrin ready to go.

I'm curious at to your presence here and your first post being what it was.
Do you have and now long have you kept chickens in your backyard?
Do you sell DE?

Yeah, my take away from that study is-
1) dustbathing helps to remove ectoparasites from a hen's body
2) dustbathing in sulphur eliminates ectoparasites
3) dustbathing in DE does not eliminate ectoparasites