Your advice, opinions and comments would be very much appreciated.

[Murox]

The fine powder is abrasive and is also hygroscopic. The Red Spider Mite only infest chickens at night while roosting on the perches. During the day they hide in cracks and crevices. A liberal dusting of DE along the perches, in cracks and on the surrounding woodwork prevents some mite from reaching the chickens and kills those that attempt to cross it.

I believe I saw that DE was sprinkled on the bottom tray of the hive to promptly kill any fallen varroa. It only attracted my attention because I already use DE.

Malcolm B.

I don't keep chickens now I'm back in the UK, however when I did I made sure they always had a dust/sand/DE mix bath available. DE alone probably is not sufficient to keep red mites under control in the warmer weather. I also used a proprietary "dust" specifically to control them which was dusted on the chickens and around the coop like you suggested.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Does this accelerate the drawing of foundation?

Yes.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I wonder if a thin layer of DE across the board would have an impact on the Varroa? What are your thoughts?

doubtful - the same as OMF have negligible impact on them