Dransfield Poultry

Archive for August, 2006

Wednesday, August 23rd, 2006

Diatomaceous Earth

As a natural pest control method / feed additive, Diatomaceous Earth gives environmentally friendly solutions to everyday pest control problems include (pest control) for Red Mite control in poultry,ants, bedbugs, fleas, beetles, bugs, ticks, cockroaches, earwigs, millipedes, centipedes, silverfish, clothes moth, woodlice, greenfly, blackfly, aphids, etc,

Probably the most effective naturally occurring protective powder, diatomaceous earth is a geological deposit made up of the fossilized skeletons and tests of siliceous marine and fresh water organisms, particularly diatoms and other algae.

The diatoms have a hard shell made of non-crystalline silica, which does not decompose in the lakes, or sea where diatoms live. Thus over long periods of time large volumes of diatoms are exposed on the surface from dried out lakes. Thousands of tons of this natural product are available worldwide in many countries

These skeletons are made of hydrated amorphous silica or opal. When crushed, they break up into tiny pieces of glass” (so tiny that the material feels like talcum powder). The hairy bodies of most Insects easily pick this up, whereupon it scratches through their protective wax layers; and they also absorb some of this material. The results being that the insects lose water rapidly, dry up and die Further protection is provided by the powder’s property of repelling many insects. A similar principle probably accounts for the fact that birds frequently take dust baths, presumably to rid themselves of parasites.

In houses it can be used effectively to prevent the entry of certain insects such as earwigs, ants, and cockroaches, and to control these and others that are present in cupboards containing food, carpets, basements, attics, window ledges, pet areas (for fleas), etc. In all of these examples it is important to place a small amount of the powder in corners, cracks, crevices and other areas where insects might hide.

With a contact pesticide the insect dies quite quickly, with DE control may take several days. The more important difference is that the effect of the protection provided by the chemical is short-lived. Whereas DE will control the pests as long as the powder remains. In this respect DE is an ideal pest control; it is residual but non-toxic. The only health precautions that need to be taken are that if large areas are being treated with a power duster, the applicator should wear a mask to prevent inhalation. Because DE is made of silica, people sometimes mistakenly think that DE causes silicosis. As indicated above, however, pest control quality DE is usually over 97 per cent amorphous silica, which does not cause silicosis, which is associated only with crystalline silica. Indeed, inhalation of road dust and grain dust IS likely to be more harmful than DE.

Another use is in animal production units for the control of external parasites and flies. Dusting the animals and the litter or bedding area achieves this.

It has also been approved for including in the diet (two per cent in the feed ration) to control certain internal parasites, and this practice is also said to result in lower fly populations in the resulting manure,dryer droppings, cleaner eggs and better feed conversion.

You are looking at a picture of the basic raw material from which our product is made. These are the skeletal remains of the diatoms in our product. A Scanning Electronic Microscope (SEM) made the picture. The SEM is a truly remarkable instrument that enables us to visually evaluate the quality of the many types of diatomaceous earth (DE) being mined today. Diatomaceous earth is a mineral product mined from the fossilized silica shell remains of unicellular or colonial algae from the class Bacillariaphyccae, better known as diatoms “

There are many species of diatoms each with its own unique physical makeup and shape; ranging from barrel-like forms to flat discs.:

We can now offer this product complete with puffer at 7.50 GBP per kilo plus P&P

No Comments » - Posted in Products, GENERAL COMMENTS by Stuart

Monday, August 14th, 2006

Red Mite

Well the red mite season has been quite a bad one this year. Since the loss to the poultry keepers armoury of creosote to help combat these little blood sucking nuisances , we have tried various brands of red mite preparations over the years.Of these Duramitex has been a good one , having a good knockdown and a good residual effect. The only thing with it is the smell.

This year we thought we would trial two of the ‘organic’ types of preparation these are ;

POULTRY SHIELD Liquid, and BARRIER Liquid and Powder.

Poultry Shield,

After first spraying the bedding in the houses( this makes cleaning a more plesent job with less mites arround) we then cleaned the houses thoroughly and removed all bedding, the houses were sprayed until run off occured.We paid particular attention to joints,cracks and crevises, hinge joints and nesting areas. We used a knapsack sprayer with a motorised pump, diluting the poultry shield to the suggested solution. Eight houses were sprayed with this solution , each house having a total surface area [ including inside and outside ]of 200 square feet we used 3ltr of the concentrated liquid at a 10%solution ie 30ltr of mix.

Results,

We found the knockdown (immediate kill ) to be excellent , the liquid turning orange or yellow when it came in contact with colonies of mite . The manufacturers claim it also killes eggs by dehydration  and this would indeed appear to happen, however the residual effect appears to be poor .We would therefore recommend a repeate treatment after 5/7 days to catch any mites that were in the egg stage and were missed on the first application.

Conclusions.

Poultry Shield seems to be a good product reasonably priced that works well on contact and if used on a regular basis to break the cycle will prove effective. Recommended

No Comments » - Posted in Poultry Breeding Tips, GENERAL COMMENTS by Stuart