How long can feed be on the shelf at a Store before it goes bad?

[LadyVictorian]

So, I have two bags of feed. The first one I got as just chick starter and it's manufacture date is 6/10/16 so it hasn't been sitting on the store shelf for very long.

However I saw another chicken feed that has 20% protein and got that one instead because more protein for little baby chicks. However the manufacture date was 6/3/16 Since I started feeding that feed my chicks have started sneezing. Could this new feed be old and bad? I smelled it and it does smell 'less' potent than the other food I was feeding before but I don't know if it is the difference between the brands or the medicated vs unmeddicated. Should I throw the new bag out since it's been on the store shelf so long?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Unless it gets wet (mold) it doesn't go bad per se. It does however continually lose nutritional value starting the day it is made. June feed in January is pretty old. The sneezing may not be related.
Some stores mark down the price to move older feed, others don't care and keep it till it is sold.

 

[Folly's place]

I always check the date on each bag, and prefer feed that's no more than two or three weeks old. Some of the vitamins will be much less than ideal in your feed! Shop around, call feed manufacturers if you need to, or check online, but find fresher feed!!! I like Purina Flock Raiser for my birds, and can find fresh nearby at TSC. Right now I have a bag dated 6 or 8 December, not ideal, but as old as I'd ever buy, and it will be used up in a week! Mary

 

[LadyVictorian]

I got my feed at the TSC I work at but the way our store system works to deliver new feed is so jacked up. We don't get new feed until the feed we have is sold so if a certain type of feed doesn't sell we never get fresh feed to replace the old stuff on the shelf. I am guessing this is what happened with the older feed on the shelf. It's been there almost a whole year because no one is buying that type of feed. The other stuff, the medicated chick starter feed is probably more commonly purchased than the non medicated feed since that one had a newer date. Could also be it's because our store isn't currently selling chicks so no one is buying chick feed in general. I know I only ever sell layer feed right now since everyone just has their layer hens alive or on the farm where I am. All the meat chickens have been butchered since summer and no one has chicks on the farms.

 

[casportpony]

I got my feed at the TSC I work at but the way our store system works to deliver new feed is so jacked up. We don't get new feed until the feed we have is sold so if a certain type of feed doesn't sell we never get fresh feed to replace the old stuff on the shelf. I am guessing this is what happened with the older feed on the shelf. It's been there almost a whole year because no one is buying that type of feed. The other stuff, the medicated chick starter feed is probably more commonly purchased than the non medicated feed since that one had a newer date. Could also be it's because our store isn't currently selling chicks so no one is buying chick feed in general. I know I only ever sell layer feed right now since everyone just has their layer hens alive or on the farm where I am. All the meat chickens have been butchered since summer and no one has chicks on the farms.  

That's exactly what I have seen at our local TSC... many times the Flock Raiser and Game Bird Starter are over three months old.

-Kathy

 

[lazy gardener]

I can't tell you folks how often I've walked out of a store empty handed rather than pay good money for old feed.

 

[Folly's place]

x2! Recently a TSC employee told me that " chicken feed is good for six months!" That's not what I've learned elsewhere. Mary

 

[casportpony]

x2! Recently a TSC employee told me that " chicken feed is good for six months!" That's not what I've learned elsewhere. Mary

I think even the Purina guy here on BYC said something like 3 months? But 3 months is too old for me.

-Kathy

 

[LadyVictorian]

Welp...going to have to order feed online and get it shipped to me. T.T