Food storage and grain mites

[Mother of Chicks]

Background to why I have different types of food (in case you are curious):

I have 14 week old silkies who are on growers pellets and doing just fine - they are in a separate coop to the pullets at the moment.
I have new silkie and polish pullets who when they came to me were on layers pellets so I am weaning them off layers to get them back to growers with added oyster shell. Currently they are on a 50:50 ratio of layer/grower so I can finally get all chooks onto the same thing without too much squitty poop in the proccess....

Anyway, my problem is...
Today I found grain mites (urgh) in the layers pellets bucket and I just can't stand it. There wasn't much left and so I am going to chuck it and grab some more to replace it. It was in a sealed, transparent, plastic bucket in my conservatory which does tend to get a bit warm. It has been hot recently, but we are talking about UK temperatures here. I am going to disinfect and make sure new feed isn't contaminated, but I want to avoid this again next time. Can you give me some advice?

My other feed is in an opaque plastic container (not airtight but well covered) in the same location.

Should I move the feed somewhere cooler? Would a metal bin be better?

*sob* grain mites are grim and I feel itchy.

 

[Folly's place]

I feel itchy for you! Yuck!
If your birds are on a 50/50 mix, don't get more layer, just make their feed all grower now.
Consider treating the area around that contaminated feed bin too, in case they are also outside of the container, invading your space.
Here we store the chicken feed in the original bags, in metal garbage cans , right out in the coop. It's been fine there for decades, warm or cold.
I pay close attention to the mill date on each bag of feed before buying it, so it's been milled within one month of purchase, and we use it within another month. And I'd decline to buy any feed if mites were seen on the bags at that store!
Probably we've been lucky, or blind, but grain mites haven't been as issue here, ever.
If the feed is in it's original bag, return it to the feed store!!! If it isn't, at least show up and complain! And look closely at any feed you get from that source.
Mary

 

[Mother of Chicks]

Advice taken on the grower feed only from now on. It will save me time in the mornings which is a bonus.

I'm not buying that type of food ever again (for obvious reasons) but it was not my first choice anyway. It was a lockdown crisis Amazon purchase when everything had pretty much sold out. I have left a review and will see if they get back to me. I'll get a big metal bin on order too.

The itching has almost stopped now after scrubbing/disinfecting everything.

Thank you so much for your advice - it is much appreciated.

 

[RebelChief]

I got bugs in mine..a bucket of scratch..I'm feeding it anyway. The chickens are eating the bugs and the feed.