Help needed identifying bugs in feed....

[Brahmadarma]

I am feeding medicated chick starter, 25 lb. bag stored in galvanized trash can with lid, about half used and this morning I noticed a lot of small, rust-colored exo-skeletal (beetle-like) bugs in it. They are about 2 cm long and narrow with six legs and antennae.
Does anyone know what they are and if they are bad - should I throw out this bag, or is it just another source of protein for the chicks (10 wks. old)?
Any info. welcome.
Thanks.

 

[wren]

How does the feed look and smell? Any mold visible? Does it smell normal? Is it clumped together in spots? I have purchased bags of feed that were bad and had to take them back to the store. Normally when you first open a new bag you notice if it's bad.

Since yours is half gone you can't take it back.

Bugs are protein no doubt about that. Grasshoppers can give chickens worms-other than that IDK.

 

[digitS']

You've also got to think about toxins building up because of insect waste in the feed.

Another source of protein? No. There will be no more protein in that can than there would be without the beetles. The "beetle protein" is coming from the protein already in the feed.

If there's not much sign of them . . . maybe (maybe) okay. At least the chicks aren't babies. Can you get this feed into your freezer??

At a chicken feed loss of say $4 or $5 - I'd be very inclined to turn the feed into garden fertilizer.

Steve

 

[Brahmadarma]

Thanks for the responses. The feed is good, has never gotten damp and these guys are new.
Steve I only mentioned extra protein because insects and beetles form the most condensed source of protein for their size of anything living....good to know if you are stranded in a desert without food and water!
Anyone know what these little buggers actually are?

 

[Akane]

mealworm beetles? http://shef.ac.uk/aps/mbiolsci/l4-students-07/pollitt-laura/bigtenebrio.jpg

That's the most common feed pest. Feed with bugs will have less nutritional value than feed without bugs. The bugs damage more than they add. If the feed is badly infested it would be better to get some new feed even if you go ahead and feed the bugs to the chickens.

 

[Brahmadarma]

That's it !!!......assuming that picture is magnified about a hundredfold. Aren't you clever.
Thanks.

 

[Pine Grove]

These are the most coomon ones in my area.. http://www.ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/pdfs/weevilsgrain.pdf