DE special grade? Is the right one?

Hi all lovely people, im back with more questions. I bought some diatom earth powder last year, just checked on it now says special grade, gives the percentage n how to mix with food. And also the label says kills all the mites that come in contact with it within 48 hours.

Today i checked one of the coops it had red mite sitting on top of the DE. Are they not supposed to move away from the DE?

Then how does hilfooters slurry work for people if it doesnt kill the mites?

What grade do it need to get for mites then

I hope so too ;-) sprayed yesterday will spray again today. And tomorrow the slurry

The points about cutting and drying are both true and actually the same. The dust rubs the surface of the insect just like sandpaper and the insect dehydrates. A lot of food safe insecticides work this way. Some add pyrethrins which make the insects more active and so hasten their downfall. How this could be effective against internal parasites I cannot guess although people do mix it with food in the belief that it will be so. Food grade refers to the specification, mostly for inclusion of other materials and makes no difference in fighting mites, indeed I've never bought anything other than food grade as it was what was on offer. HF's slurry is a way of holding the layer of DE to a surface. Because this can be a problem in cold wet conditions as it doesn't dry and the birds practice skating, I've used vegetable oil brushed onto the surfaces and then thrown DE over it. This stops any problem of airborne dust as they flap to the perches. DE does work well, but is not instant (although you can add pyrethrins as above to help without any danger to the birds).
Many coop construction articles advise making joints tight to prevent mites hiding therein, however I would suggest that this is not a good strategy as the best of joints will move and open with time and environment. Making everything loose, easy to dismantle and with room between surfaces for the DE to remain is much better.

I would dust the hen with DE powder, unsure about frontline.

Whenever I clean out the coop and change the bedding i always dust it with DE powder, even in the bedding. Try and do it well before the hen will be going back in so the dust can settle. Otherwise she may be coughing and spluttering.

Shes sitting on them nicely :-)