Where do i buy DE in southern Italy?

[southernstar]

hi everyone. i am an american from South Carolina who moved to Italy with my italian husband. we inherited a little farm here and i stumbled upon this website in search of answers to problems ive been having with the chickens. some seem to have growths on them on thier neck (two of them do) and the rest have these teeny little spiders all over them and the eggs do too. some chickens lost some of their feathers. these are laying hens that were here when we took over and they dont lay very many eggs either. i am glad i came across this site.
i was reading about DE and how wonderful it is. does it work on ticks too. we have guard dogs and the ticks are beyond horrible here. i mean really bad. they are covered. the vet gives them a shot and the ticks fall off but they are right back in a few weeks. and the ticks are strange looking not like the ones in the US. where on earth do i get my hands on it here in southern italy south of naples? any help will be appreciated!!! thanks a bunch!!

 

[SpottedCrow]

Your best bet would be to talk to some of the older folks, because I'm sure that they would have an idea where to get it.
Or Ebay has some.
The other thing you could do would be to call any Healthfood stores...I don't know Italy at all, but I'm sure the big cities have a healthfood store.
Buono Fortuna.( I think I said that right )

 

[WoodlandWoman]

How is your Italian? Either you or your husband could try a search on www.google.com for it. If you can't find a local source, you could look for a place that will ship to you. Here, people also ask at feed mills when they are looking for information. Basically, I would check with any place that sells poultry supplies like feeders, waterers and brooders, also. Sometimes there are also breeders or poultry clubs you can ask.

I hate parasites! I hope you can find some DE soon. Do your chickens have a dust bath? That helps a lot, although at this point you are going to need to treat their coop, also.

Have you ever thought about getting guineas to fight the ticks? They are supposed to be much better at tick control than chickens.

 

[Tuffoldhen]

...It's nice to have someone on here from Italy...I've been to Naples myself!..Daughter use to live there...Let me talk to her and see what she suggests where to find DE or something to help with bugs...She also lived in Greece and her ex-husbands family raises chickens to I know they would know of something to use....

Her suggestion was that a vet might know...so thats out...Lots of other good ideas on here where you should look for the DE...

Hope you return to this BYC site...always like to talk to someone from Italy and with chickens!!

 

[Poison Ivy]

http://www.perma-guard.com/

Email wally@ perma-guard.com and he should be able to help you find some.
You might also have to just mail order small amounts because shipping is high for 50# bags.

 

[bayouchica]

Hi & welcome to BYC

I was thinking in the meantime while you're waiting to find some DE,you can use cold,dry wood ashes. Just put it in their dusting spot.Oh yeah make sure it's a place that will stay dry.
Please post some pics when ya can, I bet it is beautiful where ya live.

 

[silkiechicken]

Welcome. In addition to the pests making your chickens sick, it could also be that your birds are going through molt and they are old. In either or both cases, they will be laying less eggs and you would want to cull them if you want them for something other than pets. In addition, if you did do that, you could throughly disinfect the chicken quarters and fix everything up with a new flock if that is what you want. As for ticks, if possible, I've heard of getting a few guineas is immensely useful in reducing their numbers.

 

[southernstar]

thanks for all of your suggestions!!! i will consider getting guiness for tick control. i remember when i was little my father had these and whenever a stranger came up the road the guiness would make an awful racket!! makes them good guard pets too! and as for DE here i will check in Salerno and/or naples they are sure to have something like that. hey tougholdhen, i noticed you are in WV... where abouts?? i was born in huntington....

 

[MayberrySaint]

Find me a nice Italian girl and I will personally deliver you a big bag of DE!!!!

 

[NewGuineaChooks]

For the dogs:

When living in a place without a vet or pet stores, we washed the dogs every week, using Kerosene (ack!) as a kind of flea/bug shampoo. It works, but it smells! Also works for fleas in the house if you have wood/tile/linoleum floors.