How much feed do you buy at a time?

[Ratchnick]

Nutrients degrade over time. Feed should be used within 6 months of the mill date to avoid malnutrition.

That said, I have 7 ducks and 19 chickens all eating the same feed. I go through around 3-4 of the 50# bags a month.
My ducks DEFINITELY eat a lot more than my laying hens.

The date on the bag says your wrong. Dont know what to say.

 

[21hens-incharge]

The date on the bag says your wrong. Dont know what to say.

The only dates I see on feed is the mill date. Does your bag have more than one date?

 

[Ratchnick]

The only dates I see on feed is the mill date. Does your bag have more than one date?

It literally says "best before" and gives a date. I wouldn't throw out a bag of flour or cornmeal because its a year old. I dont see why properly stored feed is different. I store my feed in my house. Most people seem to store it outside unheated, in the humidity ect. In that case maybe it will spoil in 6 months but i have never had an issue.

 

[janiedoe]

Ahhhhhh, finally someone who deals with my very problem! ANTS!!!!! I HATE them and they are my nemesis! And more specifically, FIRE ANTS! Everyone talks about PESTS, but no one ever lists ants as one of them.

I have a brand new, large Grandpas Feeder (the expensive treadle feeder) sitting in its box. It took all of FIVE minutes for the ants to find the feed. All my chicken feeders are hanging, just because of the ants. Of course they gather on the ground under the feeders, but I dust underneath them once a week with Garden and Poultry Dust which kills the ants in minutes...and keeps working.

Now to the containers you mentioned. I have never seen nor heard of them. They look like very sturdy, hard plastic. Ants can chew through most anything, but these look like it’d be dang near impossible for them to chew through. And the plastic looks opaque which would keep light out. Awesome! Thanks for posting about these little storage solutions.

Fire ants are horrible. My chickens try and stay out of their way. I use the poultry garden dust too. Chewy and tractor supply both carry the vaults. Amazon does also.

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

Oh boy I am so grateful there are no fire ants in Connecticut! My hens have never met a bug they didn't like.

I find myself saying this about many things... however the rest of the country doesn't have ticks like the northeast..especially Connecticut, my wife's family has a farm in Melrose, you literally can't get near the place without being loaded with ticks, we get our beef off that farm and they always run small, I think the ticks stunt their growth.

 

[Stoney Meadow Maple]

I usually buy a bag a month and keep it in a plastic pet food container. Worked good over this past summer keeping pests out

How many do you feed?

 

[Mimi13]

FYI, I also use Kalmbach and order it via chewy.com. It gets delivered and I don't worry about running out.

I cannot afford the Chewy price, even at the auto ship price.

The cost has gone up just a bit since I started buying it, but I now pay $16.99 for a 50# bag. The Purina Flock Raiser I used prior was and still is $18.99/50# bag.

 

[melleo]

Chewy sure is convenient, but yikes! I have never seen or heard of Kalmbach, maybe it is a regional thing? Or is that the Chewy brand? I suppose you are paying shipping with them one way or another. The batch I just picked up of Nutrina Country Feeds Flock Raiser was 15.25/50 lb bag. Their flock maintainer is 25.64 if you auto ship, 6 bags at a time that is over 60 bucks difference or almost 4 more bags of feed. Tough math there fir a little convenience.

 

[RJKnott]

How many do you feed?

6