Diatomaceous Earth--Soil problem when mixed with used bedding?

[ducks4you]

I bought some Diatomaceous Earth to put down below my chicken's bedding. (They just moved to a stall in the barn because of the extreme temps.) Now, I'm worried about killing off earthworms, when I move my manure piles next year to the garden areas. What do you all know about this?

 

[simple life]

DE works by cutting the exoskeleton in insects and they dry out and die.
Earthworms do not have an exoskeleton.
Even if they did I don't know if the DE would be effective after getting wet, there has been some debate on this.
Some say once DE gets wet it loses its ability to pierce the insect, some say it doesn't matter.
I have purposely wet DE and rubbed it in my hands and it is still pretty gritty but I don't know if its enough to do the job.
Either way your worms should be fine.

 

[PunkinPeep]

I have asked this question a couple times on byc - and read every thread i could find - and i have yet to see someone write that the d.e. had any effect on the earth worms in their compost.

So, my personal guess is that there isn't a problem. :/

I know, i'm a lot of help, right?

 

[wifezilla]

I use DE in the duck's pen. The compost pile where the bedding goes has a lot of worms in it. I am voting NO PROBLEM.

 

[GardeNerd]

I vote not to use it.

In my opinion, the kind of DE labeled for food consumption is a waste of money for integrated pest management, with or without chickens around. Like the Garden kind, food grade DE also has warnings against breathing the dust, and chickens do a lot of dust bathing and kick up dust. Therefore, I don't use it with my chickens.

The kind of DE marketed to kill insects in the garden, is labeled that it will also kill worms. Here is what the label of a really old box of DE on my gardening shelf said it is effective in killing: fleas, crickets, earwigs, spiders, ants, box elder bugs, scorpions, silverfish, roaches, snails, slugs, grubs, cinch bugs, cutworms and "other soil insects." It also say it is most effective in dry conditions. I rarely ever take it out to use it.

I like my compost red wiggler worms, Eisenia fetida, and I choose not to use DE on anything that might end up in my compost, just in case.

*Talk to a cooperative extension agency or a local Master Gardener and ask them about using DE. Intergrated Pest Management courses are part of the curriculum of most MG programs around the country.

 

[ducks4you]

I bought DE with the purpose of keeping down odors. I have had my 8 hens in a 12 x 16 foot stall all winter with about 5 bags of DE and about 3 inches of pine shavings. There is ventilation. Nobody's been coughing, including me. The birds are healthy and producing 3-7 eggs/daily. My biggest odor contributor?...my 4 yr old gelding in the stall next to it. I finally tried Equine-fresh, which is super dried out pine. BIG, BIG difference in odor, even without starting with 8 bags of it, like the manufacturer suggests. Pricewise, it's cheaper than DE at $3.99/30 pound package vs. $11.00/40 pounds of DE. I am SO CHEAP, that if some product works a little bit better and is only a little bit cheaper, I'll go with it. I have been putting out DE on my manure piles, so I guess we'll see what happens. I'm going with fly predators again in 2010, like last year. THEY worked great to reduce my housefly AND horsefly population. I guess that my "affair" with DE is over.

 

[DawnSuiter]

I'm satisfied with my own thinking which is...

If DE is a shell, made of sharp points & ridges then over time & usage/exposure those points wear down as does any rock, sand, shell or fossil that we are accustomed to.

Therefore my conclusion is that "used" DE is nothing to worry about.

I bought a 25lb bag and am currently testing it's efficacy "fresh".
I dunno if I believe it works honestly.

It DOES steer ants in the opposite direction in my house though... that is CERTAIN.