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ollitos

ollitos

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I love diatomaceous earth. I think it's an incredible natural tool every person with animals can utilize and I shake my head that it took me so long to find it!

Yesterday I tossed it around in the chicken coop and managed to get some on the birds as well. Added it to their feed in the feed bin and in their feeder.

I added less than 1/2 tsp to each of the rabbit feeders and mixed it in with the food. Probably closer to 1/4 tsp. Then I sprinkled some on the poop in the yard that was attracting flies. Also gave the inside of Matilda's pen a good dusting to get rid of those nasty earwigs.

I added some to the food in the bowl for the barn cats.

I tossed it around in the brooder house although it didn't really need it.

I tossed a ton around the cattle trough and on the target deer that was covered in flies.

The only animals untouched by the DE were the cattle and that's because they were too far in the pasture for me to easily get to them!

I'll go through and do this once a month to control insects and other yuckies.
 
Do you have a garden? It's great to toss on a plant or tree if you see insects on it.

Just be sure to wear a breathing mask since it has a jagged crystalline structure similar to asbestos.
 
I have heard that if you hang a burlap bag of it where the cattle can get to it, they will "self medicate" by bumping against it to dust themselves as protection against flies. I would love to try it with my horses, but I know they will just shred the bag! It does an excellent job against the biting flies though. We have a grey mare that the cattle flies love to bite along the midline, both on her back and belly, and I use it on her all the time.

I add it to all of my animal feed. When I toss a scoop of scratch to the chickens, a cloud of DE floats over them, so they get "dusted" daily! :lol:
 
I started adding it to the horses feed before the end of winter too, and we noticed a HUGE decrease in biting flies this spring. Now, if I could just figure out a way to DE the little gnats! :evil: They are terrible right now!

I use it in our rabbit litter pans too, and I'm curious to see how it will work this summer with flies and such.

I just bought a big tub of it from the local pet food store last friday, and I looked on sunday, it's 3/4 gone. I think hubby sprinkled around the house for ants. Not sure how that will work, especially if we get rain.
 
When I bought mine, I ordered 200lbs, and a friend took 50lbs. I am down to my last bag- but fortunately my feed store carries it in 50lb bags at a good price, so I wont have to pay shipping again.

Tell your hubby to find the ant hills and put it on them directly- works great, and you don't need to use as much. If you see a trail by the house you can sprinkle it there too.

As I was feeding and petting the rabbits last night, ear mites were on my mind since there seems to be an epidemic of posts on RT about it. I had an idea- why not coat some cotton garden gloves with it, and pet the bunnies around their ears with the DE-loaded gloves once a week or so?
 

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