I think that the DE, if you have a convenient & affordable source, is a great preventative. But if you get a severe infestation of something anyway, then use the Sevin Dust until your "company" has gone. Be sure to use the 5% Sevin Dust, or some other type of insecticidal dust that's recommended for use on dogs & their bedding. Bayer Advanced has a product, there are others sold at feed stores for use on livestock.
I take an old or cheap knee-high stocking and fill the toe with dust to make a ball a little bigger than a golf ball. Then I can use it as a pouf to dust my birds. I gently pounce the toe of the filled stocking under each wing, on the back of the neck under the feathers, and all around the vent. You can use the stocking to puff dust in places where the birds rest & roost, or fill a shaker jar (like a parmesean cheese jar) with the dust and shake it around.
You may want to cover your mouth & nose while doing this, wrap your hair in a scarf, wear long sleeves & pants. Especially if your birds get all flappy while you're dusting them, you can be sure all your own personal external parasites are being treated as well.
Try to dust your birds in a well-ventilated area and away from flowering plants. You don't want to kill any beneficial pollinators with this dust.
And I think your chicks should be fine in the grass, just keep checking them frequently for any "company". Only then should you dust them and/or the grass they play upon. A few mites won't hurt them, but it's rough on the environment to dust in places it's not needed. And you could also start by dusting the adult birds that are the most severely infested, you may not need to heavily dust everyone. If you dust the infested birds and in the places where they most frequently rest & roost, you may be able to get rid of them all.
On the same note, you may want to wait until you notice symptoms of worms, or take a stool sample for testing, before you dose your flock with wormer. It's a decision every flock owner must make for themselves. Some routinely give wormer once or twice a year, some never do, and others just dose when they see the evidence. It's your call.
I take an old or cheap knee-high stocking and fill the toe with dust to make a ball a little bigger than a golf ball. Then I can use it as a pouf to dust my birds. I gently pounce the toe of the filled stocking under each wing, on the back of the neck under the feathers, and all around the vent. You can use the stocking to puff dust in places where the birds rest & roost, or fill a shaker jar (like a parmesean cheese jar) with the dust and shake it around.
You may want to cover your mouth & nose while doing this, wrap your hair in a scarf, wear long sleeves & pants. Especially if your birds get all flappy while you're dusting them, you can be sure all your own personal external parasites are being treated as well.
Try to dust your birds in a well-ventilated area and away from flowering plants. You don't want to kill any beneficial pollinators with this dust.
And I think your chicks should be fine in the grass, just keep checking them frequently for any "company". Only then should you dust them and/or the grass they play upon. A few mites won't hurt them, but it's rough on the environment to dust in places it's not needed. And you could also start by dusting the adult birds that are the most severely infested, you may not need to heavily dust everyone. If you dust the infested birds and in the places where they most frequently rest & roost, you may be able to get rid of them all.
On the same note, you may want to wait until you notice symptoms of worms, or take a stool sample for testing, before you dose your flock with wormer. It's a decision every flock owner must make for themselves. Some routinely give wormer once or twice a year, some never do, and others just dose when they see the evidence. It's your call.
