Will hoey

[Raina]

Hi all,

 

 

Another question

 

 

On another chicken forum alot of the people on there use ant powder to kill red mite!

 

 

So the question is.......Can you use Ant Powder in coops?

 

 

the only reason i'm asking is i thought you need to keep it away from animals

[Egluntyne]

Not heard of that before Raina.

Edited December 30, 2008 by Guest

[Tiggy]

I'd worry about using ant powder, you can mite powder from Omlet and diatom

[Couperman]

Diamataceous Earth (DE) (there is a good chance I spelt that wrong!) is the stuff to use, it is inert and relatively harmless to anything not insecty, although breathing it in big gulps is not recommended.

 

It is basically a very fine sharp powder derived from fossilised sea creatures (Diatoms). It is very abrasive to those who depend on a waxy exoskeleton, namely ants, mites, fleas, cockroaches, etc, etc. It gets into their joints and wears away the shell and then the critters die from dehydration. It works very quickly too, as our now flea free pussycat will confirm!

 

Ant powder (if it is the one I suspect it maybe) is toxic and not only to ants.

 

DE will kill ants and similar insects, whereas certain forms of 'Ant powder' can kill anything, including pets and small children (Ok maybe a slight exageration) but if it contains a chemical pesticide then avoid it.

 

I guess what I am saying here is use DE.

 

Kev.

[helenmb]

Never heard of that one? As red mite powder is easy to get hold of and not massively expensive I'd stick with the proper stuff if I was you. Plus is smells nice (well the one I have does).