How should i store my layer feed?

[ReillyJ]

Talking specifically (although it would probably apply to any feed?) in the bag it was bought in as i don't have a huge container and it is crumbles (Scratch and Peck) and i just take out what i need daily and roll the bag back up, should i be doing it differently? It's stored in a garage.

 

[iwiw60]

I use a 25-gallon galvanized bucket w/lid. It keeps my crumbles nice and dry, and I have no worries about pests getting in...they are cheap, too!

 

[RJSorensen]

If it is kept in the garage, and is in a cool, dry place, out of sunlight you can be ok. Most folks get a garbage can or two, but is nice to have, but not required. I try to keep the feed in the sack, in the can. If the can 'sweats' it can cause mold in the feed. Moldy feed should not be fed to birds (or anything else) and if you see or find bugs you should discard the feed as well.

Best to you and your birds,

RJ

 

[KuroKitsune]

i use a 30 gallon trash can that i bought just to keep feed in and it didn't cost very much and i just set bags inside. though like said above if you can keep it cool and dry and bugs and such out of it some other way that'd work too

 

[CrazyTalk]

Not feeding mold to birds is a good idea.

But not feeding feed to chickens because it has bugs in it? Chickens love bugs.

 

[puss58]

I keep mine in a galvanized trash can. It keeps mice and moisture out.

 

[RJSorensen]

Not feeding mold to birds is a good idea.

But not feeding feed to chickens because it has bugs in it? Chickens love bugs.

I take it that you have never seen a sack of feed infested with grain mites and or other 'very small' bugs. By your logic there would be no lice nor mites in the coop either. They are too small to be picked out and or eaten, except by accident. Grain bugs are small, they eat grain, leaving behind dust and poo, depending on how long you wish to leave the infected bag around, they can and will consume the entire continents of the sack, and then move to any other feed they can get to. So feeding it to your chickens turns mites loose into your coop, where they will find grain/feed to eat and happily live there forever after. Does a sack of hollow grain hulls and mite poo sound like something you would wish to feed your livestock? Does your flock thrive on mite poo?

Yes, the birds will eat it, that is not the point. It is the ignorance of turning loose a bunch of grain/feed eating mites on your own coop.

RJ

 

[MeepBeep]

Galvanized trash cans for all my feeds...

 

[topdycke]

Galvanized trash cans for all my feeds...

x 2

 

[CrazyTalk]

I take it that you have never seen a sack of feed infested with grain mites and or other 'very small' bugs. By your logic there would be no lice nor mites in the coop either. They are too small to be picked out and or eaten, except by accident. Grain bugs are small, they eat grain, leaving behind dust and poo, depending on how long you wish to leave the infected bag around, they can and will consume the entire continents of the sack, and then move to any other feed they can get to. So feeding it to your chickens turns mites loose into your coop, where they will find grain/feed to eat and happily live there forever after. Does a sack of hollow grain hulls and mite poo sound like something you would wish to feed your livestock? Does your flock thrive on mite poo?

Yes, the birds will eat it, that is not the point. It is the ignorance of turning loose a bunch of grain/feed eating mites on your own coop.

RJ

If you mean "Don't feed a bag full of grain mites" then say "Don't feed a bag full of grain mites", not "don't feed a bag with bugs in it." Specificity matters.


There are all sorts of bugs that can get into a bag of feed - ants, roaches, beetles, weevils, flies, etc. The vast majority are nothing more than chicken feed.