Wow....I've lost all faith in DE!

[blueberrychickens]

I have a feed bin(metal trash can) & I noticed last week that there was bugs in the feed & in the bin. Luckily there wasn't much feed in the bin & I had to go to the grain store for some more. So Yesterday I cleaned out the bin of any leftover bags/feed & noticed that there was an abundant number of bugs in the bottom of the can. So I figured I would try a little experiment to see how quick DE works. So I dumped in a cup full of DE, put the lid back on & figured I'd have dead bugs by morning. Nope, the bugs are just walking on top of the DE like there is nothing there!! The DE I have is the consistency of flour, the DE I have bought in the past was a different consistency. That wouldn't make a difference, would it?? I really thought that the DE would have killed the bugs, but I guess I was wrong. It is food grade & says CODEX on the bag. What can I use to kill the bugs in their feed bin?? I wouldn't want to use chemicals since their food is kept in it. Any suggestions???

 

[speckledhen]

That's really odd. It's always killed weevils and stuff that got into the cans for me. No, I sure wouldn't put poison in and around their food. You'd just have to dump out the can somewhere I guess and start fresh. What kind of bugs are they? DE won't kill hard bodied bugs, only soft bodied ones, but seems that anything in feed would be soft bodied. No idea, sorry. All food grade DE is like finely sifted bright white flour (except the kind that has red clay or something like that in it).

Keep in mind that it isn't poison so it takes a while for it to work-if new bugs were getting in overnight, those would not be dead in the morning as it takes awhile to dessicate them and kill them.

 

[watchdogps]

I dont see why bugs in the feed is such a problem, since chickens eat bugs..heck, why not dump the bugs into a can, freeze them and feed them out too!

 

[blueberrychickens]

I really don't know what these bugs are, they are very small, tan-ish color, sesame seed shaped. There was no way for more bugs to get in the bin, since it was secured shut & I've only seen these bugs in the bin & on the feed bags, so I don't think this was a case of more bugs joining the party.
The reason I don't want them is, I don't want them to infest the birds & the coop, esp since I don't know what they are. Mites wouldn't be in their feed, right??? I wish I could take a picture but they are so small, I doubt it would help...

 

[sherylreno]

DE actually takes weeks to work so you can't expect it to work overnight. You can run an experiment and keep the bugs in a can and see how long it does take to kill them.

 

[sumner28]

sounds like some type of weavil

 

[speckledhen]

Freezing them will kill them.


The reason bugs in feed is a problem is that they completely decimate the vitamin/mineral content of the feed and grind it to powder. I will take back all feed that I buy that has bugs in it at purchase because that means it is not fresh, not of the nutritional value it should be and not what I paid for.