commercial feed molds outside : will home made rations do this also ?

[saildog]

I feed my hens a lot of vegetable matter, melons , mealworms, etc, and scratch, but also the commercial grower or layer ration When they spill that commercial stuff and it is rainy and wet it molds on the ground wherever it spills forming huge cotton ball like tufts of mold, I bleach it and rake it into the ground.
The scratch does not seem to mold it just grows sprouts which they eat.

QUESTION : If I feed fish meal, wheat oats, etc .....my own mix rather than the commercial stuff will those things mold if spilled if it is wet or rainy or humid ( as it always is in SC this year ) . ??

It seems that only the commercial feed molds when spilled of what I use, so I would go to the entire make your own feed plan if the ingredients would not do the same.

 

[BantamLover21]

Feed that you make on your own is probably just as likely to spoil as commercial feed. But if you want to try making your own feed and seeing if that makes a difference, go ahead.

 

[chfite]

It sounds as if your first problem is with the chickens spilling feed and wasting it. Try a feeder with a narrow trough so that the billing action, head bobbing, doesn't sweep the feed out onto the ground. My arrangement of 5 gallon bucket set into an oil tray allows about 1 inch width between the bucket and the rim of the oil pan. This prevents billing the feed out of the feeder, because they have to stand sideways to the trough to eat. Any feed they bill falls into the trough and not on the ground.

Chris

 

[Alaskan]

yep, I too would also start with figuring out how to reduce feed spillage.