bugs in food?!

[1hitu2lumb]

so I have a bag of chick starter I have had for probably 2 months, and I just got some more baby chicks so I brought the bag out and started feeding them it.

well I went to scoop some food for them and looked at the scoop and saw big piles of white powder looking stuff sort of growing bigger, I pinched a bit and it felt kinda moist like that fake snow people sell at mall kiosks.

I kept looking at it wondering what it was, watching it grow and move the feed around.

then I noticed it was making my hands itch a bit and finally saw tiny tiny white bugs about the size of skin flakes crawling all over my black shirt. there must be BILLIONS in my bag of chicken food!

does anyone know what these might be and if they have the possibility of hurting my chicks? should I throw everything out or might it just be extra protein for them?

 

[Debob]

Just throw it out, don't chance your young chicks to problems.

 

[annie3001]

hello.
yes throw it out!
doesnt sound like the good bugs?

see if you can get a new bag and a refund.

 

[sgtmom52]

Sounds like you have grain mites. They feed on stored grains. They are one of the reasons you should store feed in a sealed container and empty the container completely before adding new feed. The eggs are already present in most grains they just need to right conditions to develop.

Grain Mites ~ Canada Grain Commission

PSU Entomology

 

[1hitu2lumb]

nice, thank you.

it sounds like they aren't harmful and are killed by just shaking the bag of food around.
I wont waste the food.



in my cockatiels food, there are always moth eggs, and after a while worms start cocooning in the bags. Im pretty used to it. The stupid moths are always landing on my projector screen and die and stick to it when I roll it up after watching a movie.