Expired chicken feed

[Pendragonz]

yeah, most of us dont have access to feed that fresh, so we make do. im also not a big fan of wasting stuff, so my standards of what can serve as chicken feed are clearly lower than some--i mean, around here, what is no longer fit for us to eat goes to the chickens, so that it gets upcycled into better food again, of course, they dont have to eat anything they dont want to, but i generally notice that they arent very picky.

if the feed is moldy or seriously degraded, id absolutely want a refund. but if its just a little old and stale, well, thats why it was on sale and you get what you pay for. few people hold feed to the same standards as human food, and, honestly, theres good ecological and economic reasons why...

the fact that so much feed is not very fresh is another good reason to supplement the "complete" ration with fresh greens, insects, and other things to make up for the loss of nutrition. "complete" feed is not really so, in my opinion--but its still useful.

I have to agree 100%!

 

[triplepurpose]

for that matter, the same things apply to flour for human baking. its s shame that so many people have never tasted fresh milled flour, and think nothing of buying flour months old, and then storing it for months. meanwhile you can buy a little electric flour mill for $200 that will pay for itself in a few months--and then you get better, and cheaper, bread for many years...

 

[Pendragonz]

Yes, I bought my wife a flour grinder and a bucket of wheat berries a few years ago. She loves to make home made bread. She has less problems with eating the fresh ground flour she uses, than the store bought bread. Also, there is no comparison when it comes to the taste and texture of the bread. She also has started using a sour dough culture, which I guess I'd have to compare to fermenting feed for the birds, but that makes a big difference as well.

 

[triplepurpose]

Yes, I bought my wife a flour grinder and a bucket of wheat berries a few years ago. She loves to make home made bread. She has less problems with eating the fresh ground flour she uses, than the store bought bread. Also, there is no comparison when it comes to the taste and texture of the bread. She also has started using a sour dough culture, which I guess I'd have to compare to fermenting feed for the birds, but that makes a big difference as well.

yep freshly ground is really the way to go. sourdough, even better. we got a nice mill recently with some of our wedding gift money! theres a whole body of traditional foodways and nutrition research supporting this, but unfortunately many people ignore it to their detriment. i dont wanna hijack brendas thread to rave about too much tho!

actually, @brendaolson : rereading your OP, i had a thought. are you certain that that expiration date was not actually a milling date instead? it just occurred to me, and that would make more sense than a store selling feed that had expired 8 months ago, before it got to them...

 

[Folly's place]

I would bet that the date on the bags is the milling date, still pretty old. Mary

 

[MorganC]

Some feeds will differentiate between dates, most times though it may be milling

 

[lazy gardener]

When I look at the date on the bag, I expect it's the mill date, but... have no facts to back that up. Will have to do some checking.