do I have bad feed?

[Centralflafred]

I had a bag of cracked corn in the feed shed for a few weeks. I finally opened it up today and the top of it was kind of mated together like spider webs or something. Is there something wrong with this corn?

 

[Mahonri]

Got a little mold happening there. Did the bag get wet at some point?

 

[wombat]

Sounds like it was infested with insects. I'd discard at least the top portion, maybe the whole bag, depending on how it looks.

Despite the fact that chickens eat insects, feeding insect-damaged feed is not a good idea.

Edit: Or it's mold, like M. says. Either way, not good. If it's mold, safer to get rid of all of it. When things get moldy, the mold you can actually see is a small portion of what's there.

 

[farrier!]

Sounds like bugs to me... How safe it is depends on what you are feeding.

 

[Big C]

Sounds like mold.
I would discard the portion that is affected or that smells off.

 

[detali]

If it was water damage that caused the mold and the chickens eat it, you may end up with drunk chickens. I have seen that.

 

[silkiechicken]

If it is bugs, it is your judgement call on feeding, if it is mold, and they eat too much, you might not only have "drunk" chickens, but dead ones too.

 

[Akane]

They are acting drunk because they are being poisoned and their brains are swelling. It's not the same thing as drinking some alcohol. It's very serious and you could definitely end up with dead chickens. Moldy corn poisoning kills many livestock every year. The symptoms mimic rabies because it causes the brain to swell the same as rabies. Herbivorous animals don't suffer the same symptoms as many carnivores though and instead of becoming agressive just lose coordination and thinking ability. I saw a horse with moldy corn poisoning at the vet clinic crash through the 2x4's on the front of it's stall and go running about the indoor arena smashing into walls and bouncing off them. They finally threw him on the ground with ropes and just put him down because he'd done so much damage to himself and with the severity of brain damage from the toxins he wasn't going to live anyway.

If there were any mold in a bag of feed I would not feed any of it. However spider web like things sticking stuff together sounds more like pantry moths to me. Mold on corn usually shows up as discolored areas that will glow under black light or pieces seeming glued together into clumps. Pantry moth larvae (caterpillars) will just spread webs everywhere. If you look hard enough you should find the caterpillars. You could feed corn with pantry moths but it will have less nutrition so don't rely on it as much and those buggers are a pain to get rid of. Personally I'd dispose of it either way because it's not worth the risks and hassle.

 

[Centralflafred]

Thanks,

The pantry moths sound like the most logical problem as I've had other feed in the past with larvae in it.

 

[KnitswithChickens]

I had a bag of black oil sunflower seed that did this and the wild birds wouldn't go near it, neither would the squirrels. Must be nasty so toss it out.