Just my opinion. I've never used DE for worming
but use it in there water for keep them worm free. It does work on worms and there's plenty of research to prove it. Don't take much stock in the researchers that make de-worming products. After all, the tobacco companies still say that cigarettes are safe and Monsanto's research says that Roundup is safe for bees when all other research points to it as the number one cause in the decline of bee populations.
I mix DE in the bedding in the coop, in their water and in their feed.
It's not a poison so don't expect those kind of results. It 'shreds' the worms because of it's structure. Imagine a worm crawling through tiny pieces of cut glass. Same principle. On hard shelled insects, it gets in their joints and causes them to dehydrate and die a slow death.
BTW....
Monsanto has purchased the largest bee research company in the U.S. Let's see how long it takes for them to come out tell us that all of the research was wrong and that Roundup is a safe product even though it's been shown to kill bees, cause cancer and birth defects.
How does it help in the water? Doesn't it sink to the bottom of the water container?
In the bedding and on roosts is also my use.
That's scary. I live in Monsanto's hometown and we have a lot of beekeepers (including myself) that feel very threatened. I can't imagine that research will surface with a negative view of Roundup.
DE isn't manufactured. It comes from the earth, being fossilized algae. It's long been used for treating of internal parasites and external bugs. It's also a great source of certain minerals and vitamins. Because it's not manufactured, I doubt the research into it's use is very biased. People resell it because it works, not because they manufacture it or say, "I want to become a DE merchant". I think they'd pretty much have to believe in it for that to happen. If you use it, be sure it's FOOD GRADE and not the one with the clay added to it like Stall Dry. The clay is added for it's extra absorbent properties and that's okay for bedding but I wouldn't use it for consumption. My birds have had no illness and are shiny and healthy looking and are virtual laying machines with nice, thick shells on their eggs.
Take it for what it is.
Lots of natural products are sold at a profit if a market can be created - from salt to pet rocks.
I happen to be a proponent of natural products but am also skeptical when a lot of hype around a particular one results in a myriad of companies marketing XYZ plant extract.
The DE one uses is unlikely to have any other minerals and most certainly not vitamins. DE is about 90% silica, some alumina, clay and iron oxide. If any other minerals are present, they would be from those present in the various deposits that are the source of the particular DE.
Good point on the Food Grade DE. I fear that if people can't find Food Grade, they may use the DE for pool filters. I know it happens. I teach classes on chickens and when I mention DE, someone will invariably say, "oh I have some of that, I use it for my swimming pool".
That last point is anecdotal. I have healthy birds penned and healthy birds free ranged. I can't draw any conclusions from that.
Same with mine and I don't use DE. That's no proof. That's why I'd like to see an actual proper study using sound scientific principles.
If you are comfortable with it and want to use it, fine, that is your business and none of mine. You use it and get good results. I don't use it and get good results. Whether DE has anything to do with your results is the great unknown question. Just the fact that you think it makes a difference makes you feel better. There is value in that too.
X2
I use when I clean out the coop to dust the corners, cracks, crevices and nests prior to putting new bedding down. That's what I feel comfortable with. Everyone has their own management techniques. Most work for them.
There won't be such studies because the unbiased people who would conduct them understand how diatomaceous earth works to kill arthropods. I think that if folks understood how it works and under what conditions, a lot of the confusion could be cleared. DE does not work by cutting the exoskeleton. Interestingly, this was not definitively known until 2008. DE works through adsorption of the cuticle; think of it as a sponge sucking up the waxy coating on the surface. However, this damage to the cuticle is not what directly kills the insect. The insect will die if it cannot maintain water balance-- if it loses more water than it can take in it will slowly desiccate. The rate at which DE kills is dependent on a variety of factors, but largely varies with the ambient relative humidity, the dose of DE and the particular target creature that you're trying to kill.
Because DE kills by desiccation, the amount of moisture in the air will have a large impact on the speed with which it kills. It is largely effective within days at 70% RH or lower, but may be ineffective at killing some species at higher humidity levels. This also underscores why DE takes time to work--it takes time to lose internal water and the drier it is outside, the faster it works. This is why you often find folks living in places like western WA or GA or SC (where humidity levels are often high) say DE doesn't work while here in the bone-dry desert where I live it is highly effective for most times of the year (not so much during monsoon season). This is also why DE is unlikely to be effective against internal parasites. It's too wet inside a chicken. However, DE would be effective against secondary hosts and any eggs exposed to the environment (outside the chicken) if it is dry.
The dose at which DE kills some common pests is surprisingly low. For example, one study showed that the LD50 for adult flour beetles (a common pest of stored grains) is 250-600 ppm or lower when held at 5% RH for 7 days (faster mortality rates with higher doses).
To complicate matters, different species of insect and even different stages of the same insect will have differing sensitivities to DE--largely because of differences in the lipid composition of the cuticle and its susceptibility to adsorption. For example, adult beetles of the common mealworms are far more susceptible to DE than are the larvae.
So, under certain environmental conditions, DE can be very effective against some common pests. There may be other benefits to ingesting DE, I don't know. As a worming agent, it's likely not very effective.
X2
You phrased it better than I could have but the wet environment inside the chicken is the primary reason I had a tough time believing it had any impact.
Another old timer around here had a good thought on it's efficacy for flies. He surmised that, if ingested by the chicken it would end up in the feces and may have an effect when the feces dries.
