Diamaticeous Earth

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Janovich

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Anyone use DE (food grade) either in their feed (alternative to help with keeping the worm burden down, or as a 'mite' repellent in feathered horses?

I've been wondering whether I may just go ahead and buy a bag and use is in it's dry form as a repellent for mites in the feathers.

Must admit I've been reading up on it and I could also use it on his bedding too (we are on Nedz bed) as a deterrent as well.

I'm not too bothered about using it in feed as he's on a bespoke diet supplement wise, so don't want to upset the apple cart here and overload him with what he already gets.

Any experiences as all with DE?
 
I've not heard of it bring used on horses but I used it on my chickens and in their coop and never had a dreaded red mite infestation.
One of my birds came from a breeder laden with lice eggs and after the initial shampoo and a good coating of de she was all clear by the time her quarantine was up. I think you'd have to rub it right down to the skin , and I think you'd use a lot too. Be curious to know how you get on. Good luck.
 
I certainly wouldn't use it in feed. It works on external parasites because it is so sharp it shreds the skin/exoskeleton of mites etc. It's not something I would want to go through my horses GI system.
 
Iv used it for any months for feather mites but no luck, a couple of sprays of frontline however cleared them stright away.
Personally I wouldn't buy it again
 
Thanks for everyone's views on DE. It's just something I was musing over the other day after the yard owner mentioned it as a possible deterrent for a heavily feathered cob on the yard that seems to be struggling to keep the mites at bay (even after the dectomax injections and also a vet med prescription wash).

It's also known as 'Fossil Shell Flour' so it's obviously ground down and milled into pretty fine granules/powder I guess.

I'll keep musing I think...

I've started to use 50/50 neem oil and pig oil at the moment to rid of what little mite problems we get at the moment, although my boy seems not to suffer much at this time of year. We seem to suffer more through the colder months, although the wet and mud on his feathers, when drying off, are the culprit alot of the time as he get so warm down there...so develops the 'itchy warm' scenario!! LOL.

So,...that is why I was wondering if anyone had used the DE for mites!

Thanks again folks for your input.
 
For anyone wanting to search on this, it's "diatomaceous earth" (composed of diatoms, tiny algae with cell walls made of silica) - although Google is clever enough to correct the spelling.
 
Yes I have also read you can feed it but never have because it seems a bit odd - if it kills parasites then what does it do to the gut?

However, I have used it with massive success on feather mites, great stuff! Also tempted to sprinkle a bit into the coats of the cats and dogs this time of year.
 
Funny you should post this. a lady at work asked me this morning if I wanted some as she has just bought a sack for her chickens. I was going to post about this, logged on and saw this! I defintely wouldnt want to feed it, but if it can be rubbed onto legs and help with bot eggs I'd be grateful to know :)
 
HaffiesRock said:
Funny you should post this. a lady at work asked me this morning if I wanted some as she has just bought a sack for her chickens. I was going to post about this, logged on and saw this! I defintely wouldnt want to feed it, but if it can be rubbed onto legs and help with bot eggs I'd be grateful to know :)
Click to expand...

Bot eggs can easily be killed by wipeing legs with Kerosine.
 
Hi, my mare started with feather mites 2 years ago and we tried all the usual stuff but nothing worked. I bought some DE, washed and dried her legs and rubbed in the DE every 2 days for a week and she has never been bothered with them since. I actually couldnt believe it worked!x
 
Casey76 said:
Why would you want to put a flammable liquid on your horses legs?

It's easy to scrape them off with a pumice stone or blunt disposable razor.
Click to expand...

Because it kills the eggs completely and I don't want cut lines on my horses feather. They then fall off over a few days.

Just don't smoke around your horse until it's dried!
 
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