Re: RE: Chickens and horses
This message is from: spiek...@isu.edu - Original Message - From: Steve Sessoms Date: Thursday, March 26, 2009 9:01 am Subject: RE: Chickens and horses To: FjordHorse-L DE - please do not get too carried away with DE. It is the shells of algae but consists of glass- the reason it works against some insects and pests-(used extensively in organic gardening)- is that on a microscopic level, the glass is sharp and pierces delicate body parts allowing the mite or whatever to dry out from fluid loss and it tends to plug the breathing spiracles-on the mite. While totally non-toxic and inert, it can be irritating to some sensitive human lungs ( first hand-). . Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
RE: Chickens and horses
This message is from: "Steve Sessoms" From: REENA GIOLA Subject: Fwd: Chickens and horses >>> I miss having chickensbut can you tell me what the DE is? thanks! Reena <<< Hi Reena, I will post this to the whole list. I would miss having chickens too if I had to go without them. I think they are beautiful in a sweet, nursery rhyme way. And if you think of them as lovely little dinosaurs, it makes them even more interesting! Sorry, I forget some folks don't know about this stuff ... it is diatomaceous earth' which is the fossilized remains of plankton. I have never fed to anything yet, but I am going to the next batch I get. Some people eat it themselves to be sure their digestive system has no unwanted guests, and to dogs and all kinds of farm animals also. It sure would be cheaper than tapeworm meds for the barn cats! I can't imagine it would work against bots and other parasites with their way of travelling through muscles, so I would never feed only DE to rid my horses of worms. And you can dust yourself or your animals with it, or dust their bedding to check against fleas. You can spread it in certain places in your house to guard against incoming pests. I dust the floors of my closets since I have a terrible fear of certain fiddleback spiders. I have heard it isn't very affective against bird mites, so it isn't the 'be all, end all'; maybe they are too smooth bodied to catch the DE in their body parts. It also is something not to be abused or used excessively. Like any other dust, you don't want to breathe it, even when it says it is safe to do so. And it kills good bugs as well as bad bugs, so you should use it very sparingly outside. Here is a web page that tells all about it. I believe this is the company I bought mine from: http://www.safesolutionsinc.com/Diatomaceous_Earth.htm Meredith Sessoms Tooksend Art and Fjordhorses Moulton AL Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
Chickens and horses
This message is from: "Steve Sessoms" I adore my chickens and do not sorry about them carrying disease to me or the horses. Feed them food grade DE and put it in their dusting spots. That will take care of any mites or worms. There are also drugs to feed them or dust on them to take care of worms and mites. Keep them healthy and bright eyed and they will delight you with their sweet songs, cheerful nature and delicious, healthy eggs. DE might also work in itchy horse tails and in their feed to take care of worms. Hens also will break up horse poo piles around the barn to help keep flies down, and they eat spilt and dribbled feed to help keep rats and mice away. The only time having hens bothers me is when other creatures get to the eggs laid in the hay bales before I do. When that happens I have to break open the bales to get the flakes out that were ruined from broken eggs. Otherwise, I don't mind it when my hens make their nests in the hay. The bales only get ruined when I forget to check nests to collect the eggs. Meredith Sessoms Tooksend Art and Fjordhorses Moulton AL Important FjordHorse List Links: Subscription Management: http://tinyurl.com/5msa7e FH-L Archives: http://tinyurl.com/rcepw Classified Ads: http://tinyurl.com/5b5g2f
