- Nov 11, 2014
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A: Diatomaceous earth (DE) is a hot topic in the backyard chicken world! DE can be a useful tool for backyard chickens – if it’s used properly.
DE works best outside of the animal. DE works by scratching the shell of parasites. Those scratches cause the parasites (lice, mites) to dehydrate and die. Research doesn’t show that DE in feed is effective at controlling internal parasites. The biggest reason is going to be a lack of friction. DE works great outside of an animal because it is dry and there is lots of friction. The inside of an animal is a much more fluid environment, so it is more difficult for the DE to scratch the internal parasites. There may be a small benefit when the DE passes through the animal into the manure and the ground, but it would be much easier to just sprinkle the DE on the ground than to feed it to the animal.
There is no negative impact to feeding DE to birds as long as you are using food-grade DE (never use pool-grade DE). Since there are very few ingredients that can be added to organic feed to help with the health of the birds, we choose to add it to Purina Organic feeds. The conventional line of feed does not contain DE because we are able to use ingredients that help support the health of the birds. Whichever feed you choose, we recommend including DE in your chicken’s dust bath to help control external parasites.
Learn more tips for keeping your flock comfortable and peaceful.
DE works best outside of the animal. DE works by scratching the shell of parasites. Those scratches cause the parasites (lice, mites) to dehydrate and die. Research doesn’t show that DE in feed is effective at controlling internal parasites. The biggest reason is going to be a lack of friction. DE works great outside of an animal because it is dry and there is lots of friction. The inside of an animal is a much more fluid environment, so it is more difficult for the DE to scratch the internal parasites. There may be a small benefit when the DE passes through the animal into the manure and the ground, but it would be much easier to just sprinkle the DE on the ground than to feed it to the animal.
There is no negative impact to feeding DE to birds as long as you are using food-grade DE (never use pool-grade DE). Since there are very few ingredients that can be added to organic feed to help with the health of the birds, we choose to add it to Purina Organic feeds. The conventional line of feed does not contain DE because we are able to use ingredients that help support the health of the birds. Whichever feed you choose, we recommend including DE in your chicken’s dust bath to help control external parasites.
Learn more tips for keeping your flock comfortable and peaceful.
