Chicks 4 weeks old with feathers/diatomaceous earth

[sballam70]

We have 4 weeks old chicks off heat , just got them yesterday, have them in tote inside, but plan on getting them outside in secure area for time out of tote, once they have been outside for a bit, don’t want them to get mites, plan on adding dusting box in tote so they can learn, i’ve heard so many different things on whether to use or not use diatomaceous earth,
so confusing! shoukd i place some DE food grade in dusting box?

I want the best healthy happy healthy life for these girls !

 

[FrostRanger]

It's not necessary, just plain old dirt will do just fine. Depending on your temps, if they are off heat they can actually go in their coop

 

[nuthatched]

Plain old dirt is fine. DE is not safe ir healthy.

 

[500Chickens]

i use diatomaceous earth and it works great, never had any mites/lice

 

[500Chickens]

there is also a company that makes dust bath additives so they dont get mites. i had a white leghorn that would take dust baths all the time in just dirt and she got completly brown

 

[Perris]

i’ve heard so many different things on whether to use or not use diatomaceous earth,
so confusing! shoukd i place some DE food grade in dusting box?

and you have and will continue to get conflicting advice about it here too, see above.

Wild birds dustbathe with what's available (for free, obviously) wherever they live. Your chicks can do so too. But if you want to spend money on them, there are plenty of companies that will be happy to take your money off you in return for their products.
Here are some of mine dustbathing in a mix of garden soil, (cold) bonfire ashes, and sharp sand (leftover from a building project here)