Grrrr, moths in the scratch and worms in the BOSS!

[Bellasmom]

I guess I'll toss it. There are moths in the scratch but worms in the BOSS could I still feed it? I mean they love worms but I want to be sure.

Thanks!

 

[onedozenphyllises]

I think I would. They may or may not even eat the moths/worms anyway. They may just pick out the bits they want. I got a bag of feed with weevils in it recently and was very annoyed, but have had no ill effects from it.

Now, if it were roach infested - different story!

 

[Akane]

The moths and worms could be the same thing. They go by lots of names but commonly here they are called pantry moths. Real pains to get rid of and they will spread to your house quick if you don't wipe them out right away. We got some in through a cheap container of hamster food which they then spread to a bag of boss and they were set. They went nuts from there and lived for months. Even after we threw the bag away they still stuck around in the house until we stripped every room clean and put all food items in the whole house into air tight containers. Then they were around the barn for another 2 years before they finally died out. If these are the little buggers you have (they can be different shades so don't go by color alone) then toss the food now. They aren't harmful to chickens but you really don't want to leave them to multiply.
http://www.kingfrog.com.au/images/pestmanagement/6.jpg

 

[Bellasmom]

I moved it all outside and sprayed in the area. All of my pantry items are vac sealed so I'm not too concerned about the house. I've had them before! Ick!

I just wanted to be sure with the chickens! I figured if they ate mealworm - whatever they could probably eat this stuff til I can get to the store. Guess I'll have to find something to put the scratch in and freeze the seeds!

 

[Akane]

It's not that the bugs in the feed are bad for the chickens. The problem is the bugs use up the feed to grow. Not all they eat completely goes into the bug either. They'll often eat the best parts and then waste some converting it into energy (that would be bug poop). Now instead of eating balanced feed your chickens are eating bug poop and leftover bits along with the bugs which are not nutritionally balanced. It's not such a big deal in scratch which is just a treat anyway but it can cause nutrition problems if they get into your layer or other feed and it will make your boss not worth the price you paid for it.

 

[tampitt]

Pantry meal (Indian Meal moths) are a major pain to get rid of. We've had them in the house for about 2 years. We think they came in on parrot food, but I'm not sure since I've seen them flying all around Kroger. Every time we seem to have gotten rid of them, they come back. We use special traps from Lowe's to catch the buggers, since we can't use bug spray near our food.

Good luck on getting rid of them.

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

If you have a large freezer, you can put the bags in for a couple of days and kill all the bugs

 

[lovetocook]

Yes freezing them at zero degrees F for at least three days usually kills them. That goes for seeds, flour and grains.

 

[Bellasmom]

I freeze my corn meal and stuff then vacuum seal them in jars, for whatever reason I totally forgot that sunflower seeds need the same treatment! However, I draw the line at putting 50 pounds of scratch in the freezer!