Chick food has little moths.

[quinnmusic]

Hi all,

I am very new to the chicken world and my family is looking forward to our chicks arriving some time this week from BYC. We have been setting up our brooder in anticipation of their arrival and when I opened the bag of chick feed it was full of little moths. My husband and I picked out a lot of the little moths and caterpillars but I am wondering if it is safe for the chicks to eat it or do I need to get a new bag of chick feed? We are located in Palm Harbor, FL and so I am sure this is the first of many bug issues. I am going to seal everything inside of containers but I thought an unopened bag of grain would be ok for a week or so before the chicks came.

Thank you for any advice,
Elise.

 

[Imp]

quinnmusic,
A few bugs are probably OK. But if the food is heavily infested I would return it. Chicks don't need to eat the bug waste. You can freeze for a couple days to prevent bugs from hatching.
Congrats on getting chicks.

Imp

 

[Guinea Goonie]

These may be corn moths. If so, they can get very prolific in your house. I would get rid of the food and take it OUT OF YOUR HOME.

They will lay eggs in just about anything and they are a real nuisance and hard to get rid of.

The other name for them is "miller" mothes as they attack the mills.

 

[Imp]

Quote:
Ditto.
I had little moths from parrot food get into my house. I thought no big deal just a few little moths, until they started breeding in every crack in the house. Took a couple years to get rid of them. At least they didn't damage anything.

Imp- And free cat toys

 

[CMV]

Return the food to the store, but like everyone said- Get it out of your house immediately! I had moths come in my house from a bag of bird seed. It started as a pesky problem that rapidly turned into a major infestation. I had to gut my closets, cabinets and my entire pantry to finally be rid of them. It took weeks to deal with the problem and was a lot of unnecessary work.

Good luck.

 

[Uppity Peon]

If you store your feed using the dry ice method it will kill any bugs that came in shipping and last longer. The CO2 and the bugs will not harm the chickens in any way.

http://www.thefoodguys.com/dryice.html

 

[quinnmusic]

Thanks for all of the great advice! The mothy food is out of the house. I hope that we will not be overrun with these little moths. I am so happy that I have found such an easy access to great information.

 

[redstars]

Quote:
Same thing happend to me with bird seed. Get it outside as soon as you can.