Why Are We Phasing DE (Diatomaceous Earth) Out Of Our Foods?

We believe in the use of DE for the aid in the prevention and elimination of internal parasites for both humans and animals.

However, educating the general public on this topic has proven to be an almost insurmountable task!

When we originally formulated BirD-elicious! species-specific foods we decided to include DE in each recipe as a way of the daily diet aiding to the prevention and elimination of internal parasites, such as giardia to name only one kind of parasite bird owners fight on a regular basis.

Unfortunately most people just do not understand the many benefits of DE, yet. We have continually attempted to provide education regarding the use of DE in our foods, at the loss of sales, which means less birds are receiving the proper whole-food nutrition. We thought we were taking the "high road" in maintaining that birds are better off with DE in their food, than DE not being in their food!

But we have come to realize that proper whole-food nutrition IS, after all, the BEST way to optimum health in the prevention of any syndrome, illness, disease, or parasite infestation. If a bird is not feed such a wonderfully wholesome diet such as BirD-elicious! simply because the "parront" doesn't understand the benefits of DE, and, actually believes DE is harmful for their bird, then it is the bird who is suffering the most. Our goal was, and still is, to feed companion birds REALLY, REALLY well! We cannot accomplish that goal on a larger scale if bird owners resist feeding BD! because it contains (harmless) DE.

Let us, just one more time, explain what DE is...

Diatomaceous earth can be found in almost any milled and stored grain or seed, or any products produced using grains or seeds. Processors of grains and seeds learned a very long time ago that in order to keep small pests out of their precious stock of grain and seed that the most natural and least harmful way to accomplish that was to mix in diatomaceous earth with those grains and seeds in the milling process. The result? No small pests such as insects or worms!
Simply stated, DE is minute particles of dried and crushed dead crustaceans. These minute particles literally slice the exo-skeleton of tiny pests. This process is only effective on very tiny pests up to the size of a flea, gnat or worms and larvae. There is absolutely no proof anywhere that DE can kill anything larger than these pests unless it is inhaled in very large quantities, thus potentially causing respiratory problems.

That being said, we have always used DE in such a way as to eliminate its airborne qualities so the respiratory tract of any bird has not been jeopardized in any way. Our birds, which have been feed BD! exclusively for over five years as of 2007, have absolutely no respiratory problems.

In addition, the DE we have used, and will continue to sell in a special non-airborne formulation, to add to your bird's diet, is chemical-free. While there is some DE on the market sold for use in pool filters to eliminate parasites in the pool's filtering system, we have NEVER used that grade of DE in our foods! The only grade of DE we have ever used is food-grade DE.

So what direction does our food go from here?

We are committed to producing the BEST bird food on the commercial market. We have always endeavored to provide the best in whole-food nutrition, species-specific, to your for your flock! And we are STILL committed to that! We will continue to research, research, research each species' diet in their natural habitat, weigh the differences between how they would live in the wild compared to how living as "kept" birds changes their dietary needs, and then re-formulate whenever we find it necessary to do so in order to insure optimum nutrition for each species we produce food for.

You will see that we are not afraid to change our formulas to reflect current research findings. We are confident that we are on the right track in feeding companion birds. We are even more confident that we have started something in the overall area of companion bird nutrition. That, yes, we set out to revolutionize how companion birds were being fed, and today, we can say that we are beginning to see even the largest bird food companies look into their formulations, quite possibly because our company has helped, in some small way, enlighten the pet food industry in regards to feeding foods that are chemical-free of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, synthetic vitamins and cheap fillers that do nothing more than "fill" the wallets of corporate heads. Are we controversial? Probably. But we are here to make a difference in the way animals are treated by all us. If not a difference, if only a continuum of the same old, same old way of formulating pet foods, then why even bother at all?

We have sheer determination.

That's what it takes every day.

As mentioned in the above text, we will be offering a "DE Additive" you can purchase to safely add to your bird's diet if you wish to continue to use DE, like we will, as an aid in parasite prevention and elimination. For those of you who are happy to see DE gone from our foods, all we ask is that you continue to do your own research on this wonderful, natural item Nature supplies for our benefit. And, be sure to consider the fact that you are, as well as your pets, without even realizing it, most likely consuming DE because food manufacturers are not required to list it on the label because it is added before the food manufacturer purchase their grains and seeds from the mill. Also, food manufacturers are not required to list it as an ingredient because the FDA considers DE and "inert" ingredient.

Be sure to read each food's ingredient listing. While we are totally phasing out DE from our general foods, we are not phasing it out of all of our foods. Also, it will take time to phase out DE from all of our general foods. So, read the ingredient listing for each food. If DE is still listed, we have not yet produced that food without the use of DE. If DE in not listed, you can be sure the food is not any longer produced using DE as an ingredient.