Grain Mites in feed

[peepacheep]

Thank-you so much for posting this question! Bought a bag of Purina medicated chick crumbles last week and had a explosion of moving dust. They were on everything in a 6' radius of the bag. Gross, gross, gross. Had no idea what they were. All the chicken feed, dog food, and bird seed got double bagged and sealed in plastic buckets and cans. Glad to hear the feed is still usable, hoping the bugs do not find their way to the pantry.... Shudder.

 

[sfchixn]

Yes thanks for posting this!! I thought all this extra dust seemed a bit crazy but I could not figure out what was causing it.!! Turns out GRAIN MITES in our Nutrena feed.

 

[Jeremy Parker]

digitS' :

No, a bag of bugs that have been living on the feed will have no more protein than the bag of feed. The only source for "bug protein" is whatever is in the feed.

Some of the protein and other nutrients will be lost as they are used and contaminated by the bugs.

Freezing used to be a common way of dealing with bugs in valuable display objects in a museum. I worked there briefly while in college. However, the bulk of the feed will slow down cooling and may make it harder to kill the bugs.

I think using the freezer for storage may be a good idea with that bag.

Steve

Your to serious for me relax! I was just saying that it was ok for them to eat!

Chick crumble or any feed should not be frozen as it carries moisture when frozen and will promote mold which will kill your birds??

Before you are negative about someone elses comment please make sure yours is accurate and lighten up!!!

Blessings,
Jeremy​

 

[A.T. Hagan]

If you buy feed long enough you're eventually going to get a bag of buggy feed. It's usually some sort of weevil or moth infestation. If it's only mildly infested you can still safely feed it out (move it to the front of the line to use first) but if it has a serious infestation then either return it to the feed store or otherwise dispose of it. Mash, crumble, and pelleted type feeds make pretty good fertilizer.

If the feed is at all damp or moldy which is not uncommon with badly infested products definitely do not feed it as it can sometimes be dangerous to ingest.

Keeping your feed in sealed containers such as metal trash cans can help prevent infestations. If you do get one anyway - usually brought home from the feed store - then you have a cleaning job to do. Sweep the feed storage area well and clean your cans. If the infestation was bad then you may need to spray the floor around the cans, but don't spray pesticides IN the cans. My feed storage area is in my workshop where I keep the floor around the feed cans powdered with DE. It stays dry in there so it remains effective for long periods of time. The cans are kept on top of boards which are on top of bricks to keep them out of direct contact with the concrete. This prevents preferential condensation inside the cans which can also spoil the feed.

 

[digitS']

I see reasoned, "serious" responses to a question.

Casual, off-hand comments that may effect the health of someone's birds are a bit risky. People are coming here with the hope of learning something, not just to be entertained. A response may be too serious for you, Jeremy, but you were not the original poster. Feeding a ration that has been infested by pests carries some risks.

Chick crumble or any feed should not be frozen as it carries moisture when frozen and will promote mold which will kill your birds??

Jeremy, are you asking a question, commenting on what the 3 responders who suggested freezing the feed have said, agreeing with delawarechickmom who cautions about moisture and mold, or just "decorating" your sentence with question marks?

Your responses seem to me to be entirely too "light." Perhaps they are based on knowledge, it would be difficult to know. As an explanation for my "seriousness:" Personally, I have raised livestock for over 50 years, on and off farms, and have owned and fed chickens through much of that time.

Steve​

 

[Jeremy Parker]

digitS' :

I see reasoned, "serious" responses to a question.

Casual, off-hand comments that may effect the health of someone's birds are a bit risky. People are coming here with the hope of learning something, not just to be entertained. A response may be too serious for you, Jeremy, but you were not the original poster. Feeding a ration that has been infested by pests carries some risks.

Chick crumble or any feed should not be frozen as it carries moisture when frozen and will promote mold which will kill your birds??

Jeremy, are you asking a question, commenting on what the 3 responders who suggested freezing the feed have said, agreeing with delawarechickmom who cautions about moisture and mold, or just "decorating" your sentence with question marks?

Your responses seem to me to be entirely too "light." Perhaps they are based on knowledge, it would be difficult to know. As an explanation for my "seriousness:" Personally, I have raised livestock for over 50 years, on and off farms, and have owned and fed chickens through much of that time.

Steve​

 

[fishnet1971]

I just found the same thing in my bag of purina crumbles today. i am really TICKED OFF at them. How dare they infest my babies!~!!!!!!~ i was freaked out all day until i read this thread. I am so relieved to see its not serious to my birds. I am going to burn the stuff. I dont care if it will make good fertilizer, it made me worried sick all day. It needs to be disposed of. lololol

thanks guys and gals. you made me give a big sigh of relief.

Do i still need to use DE on my birds?

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Quote:
Especially if the mites are gut-loaded with chicken feed!

 

[TessK]

So I just discovered that the bag of feed that I (stupidly?) keep in the chicken coop is infested--badly--with mites. I can toss out the feed and get new, that's not an issue. My question is what do I need to do about the coop? Do I need to empty it and clean it thoroughly? And the chicks? They're just about 3 weeks old. Do I need to worry about them?

 

[RoostersCrow HensDeliver!]

I had that problem last year with the mites, just from one bad bag from TSC. I had to spray down the entire coop and I gave all my girls a huge tub of DE to dust bathe in.