What is your experience with feeding Diatomaceous Earth to your chickens?

[Judy]

Quote:
I would be interested to see a scientific source for that statement.

 

[clankeyes]

Codex is is what is called Food Grade. There actually two types of Diatomaceous Earth or D.E. One is for pool water and filtering which is poisonous and the other is Codex food Grade. This one is used to feed to chickens, horses, cats, dogs and people as well as sprinkle on the chicken house floors and gardens areas to kill soft body bugs. Couple things to mention. Always make sure you question that the D.E. you buy is in fact Food grade. And then when you use it for a bug killer, DO NOT get it in your eyes or lungs or any critters. As it burns and stings like crazy. It is made from tiny Diatoms which are just little stickly, pricky looking things and they thrash the soft body bugs and they dehydrate and die. And they do this to soft tissue as well. It is also similiar to a bentonite clay with its mineral content, so good for everyone there too. Question I have been wondering about is research I read which said D.E. will dissolve in water and no longer have the parasite killing properties it has dry. Sooooo, our mouths, tummies etc. are all wet. How do it work for antiparasitic?

What section of a feed store would it be stored in ? Or do you just ask for food grade ? Sorry to ask... ALSO... you think it might work on fleas on dogs/cats ?????? that oil crap I put on their back NEVER works and it cost so much $$$$$

 

[earthfriendlyfarm]

Evening Clankeyes, I purchase Codex Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth at our local feed store. I buy it in 40# bags for $30. I use it for so many things..deworming and remineralizing Chicken's in their feed, in their dirt bath area I mix it into the soil so it doesn't easily get into their eyes or nostrils. After I do my weekly chicken house cleaning, I rake the dirt floor and sprinkle down the D.E. then rake it into the soil so again it is not flying around. I deworm and remineralize our kitties in their Cat Feed, human dewormer (1 tbspn in juice in the morning) and even used it in my toothpowder for a while but found Bentonite Clay worked better. We use it in our garden around cabbages to get rid of the loopers. Lots of uses, so #40 lasts us just under a year.

I have put it in a ladies nylon stocking, tied a knot and "dusted" my chooks under the wings and around underbellies when I thought they might have had mites. If they did, they were gone quickly after the dusting. That's when I started putting wood ash and D.E. in their dust bath areas.

As far as use for cats and dogs for fleas, that I have not yet tried. I am thinking though as long as you keep it off their heads and away from mucous membranes (eyes, nose, mouth) it might be worth a try. I personally have 15 cats between home and Farm and I simply use a metal flea comb, comb each cat and when I find fleas, I put them into the cup of hot water with a few drops of liquid dish soap, and it kills them. My cats are used to this and helps keep their spare fur from causing fur balls or mats. Just takes a couple minutes and the kitties line up, purring and happy for the attention.
Good luck to you and lucky are your critter for a caring owner.

 

[clankeyes]

Evening Clankeyes, I purchase Codex Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth at our local feed store. I buy it in 40# bags for $30. I use it for so many things..deworming and remineralizing Chicken's in their feed, in their dirt bath area I mix it into the soil so it doesn't easily get into their eyes or nostrils. After I do my weekly chicken house cleaning, I rake the dirt floor and sprinkle down the D.E. then rake it into the soil so again it is not flying around. I deworm and remineralize our kitties in their Cat Feed, human dewormer (1 tbspn in juice in the morning) and even used it in my toothpowder for a while but found Bentonite Clay worked better. We use it in our garden around cabbages to get rid of the loopers. Lots of uses, so #40 lasts us just under a year.

I have put it in a ladies nylon stocking, tied a knot and "dusted" my chooks under the wings and around underbellies when I thought they might have had mites. If they did, they were gone quickly after the dusting. That's when I started putting wood ash and D.E. in their dust bath areas.

As far as use for cats and dogs for fleas, that I have not yet tried. I am thinking though as long as you keep it off their heads and away from mucous membranes (eyes, nose, mouth) it might be worth a try. I personally have 15 cats between home and Farm and I simply use a metal flea comb, comb each cat and when I find fleas, I put them into the cup of hot water with a few drops of liquid dish soap, and it kills them. My cats are used to this and helps keep their spare fur from causing fur balls or mats. Just takes a couple minutes and the kitties line up, purring and happy for the attention.
Good luck to you and lucky are your critter for a caring owner.

Thank you So much !!!! That is a good price ! I will look for that. I saw LITTLE bags for $22 with all the chick feed items. I thought ' dam this stuff is $$ ". Good to know . I look forward to trying all your neat ideas and tricks ! I was told at a chicken class to mix DE/wood ash/ sand together for their ' bath'. we have LOTS of wood ash .. love my wood stove. I am excited to see all the things i can do with the DE !!! Who knew it had so many uses !!!

 

[farlo4]

To those who asked how it destroys worms in the animals bodies:
You know, I don't know the answer to that. I'm going to have to research it now. But I know it works because when my horses eat it they have TONS less flies. This is because as soon as the flies lay eggs in their poop, it destroys most of them. I don't sprinkle it in the poop, it just works by feeding it to the horse.

Also, I buy mine from IFA. It can be expensive but I use so little of it that it lasts me months. The kind I buy is called Perma-Guard. It uses all natural ingredients.