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Thought DE was overpriced hype until my hens quit laying in the July heat
I keep 8 hens in the backyard here in Fresno and every summer they just shut down when it hits 105. Last year I got maybe 2 eggs a day for six weeks straight. A guy at the feed store kept telling me to try diatomaceous earth, and I figured it was just dust people sprinkle to feel better. But he said to mix a cup into their dust bath spot, not all over the coop, so I tried it in one corner. Within about 10 days the mites were gone off the roosts and the girls were back to 5 or 6 eggs. Has anyone else noticed it actually helps with the heat stress part or was that just timing?
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harris.emma17d ago
A cup of DE in a dust bath corner is not going to fix heat stress, it kills mites. Those are two different problems that happen to show up in July. If your hens had mites on the roosts, that alone can tank egg count, and getting rid of them would bump production back up no matter the temp. The timing just made it look like a heat cure. Fresno in July is brutal and no dust is changing that. What you probably saw was a mite problem you did not know you had, and the DE handled that part fine.
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