Mold at the bottom of the feeder

[Jameslutte]

Please help!!
Recently I discovered black mold at the bottom of my chicken feeder… will the chickens be okay?? I discovered it yesterday, and I took a good amount of it out, but I ended up leaving the feeder in the run, not wanting anything to discover it and possibly lead it to my chickens. They ended up eating from it again, and I assumed it’d be fine because they were eating what was on top and not the moldy part. They seem fine right now, I gave them fresh food. This has happened before, except with greenish blue mold, and they still seemed fine, that time the same day I removed everything and gave them fresh food. Will they be okay? Should I be worried even though they look fine? Also with the the way I have the waterers hanging, they are tied with a bendy Metal rod encased with plastic, and instead uniting the metal, I found old chick feeders and used that to put water in, and filled up the waterers in the run. I put fresh foood in them a little after, and I dried off where the food falls to, but not the actual part holding the food. Reading that mold takes 24 hours to begin growing, I decided they’d be fine until when the big feeder is fully dry. I also had to do this in another feeder in the coop because some chickens couldn’t get to the food, so I got another feeder but to save time I poured some food into that one too with drying anything ( I used to feeders to fill up the waterers). Will they be good, again they seem fine. Thanks for your help

 

[User690263]

They should be fine.
I've had that issue before when moisture got into the feeder. I got rid of the moldy feed, then scrubbed the feeder and bleached it to kill any mold spores.
Hope this helps!

 

[FrostRanger]

They should be fine, just keep an eye on them and work on weatherproofing your feeders so this doesn't happen again

 

[rosemarythyme]

Do you live in a humid climate? Are the feeders not placed in a climate protected area? What type of feeders do you have?

 

[Al Gerhart]

What kind of feeders? How did the water get in? Is the bulk feed clean or was at a high moisture level to start with?

A lot of humidity issues can be solved with a simple incandescent light bulb inside the container for very little electricity cost. Just enough to keep the feed and the metal barrel warm enough that no condensation occurs and to keep the feed nice and dry. For a feeder, even a 60 watt light in a cookie tin set under the feeder would be enough to warm up the feeder and feed. I suppose I better point out in both cases the light bulb needs to be working.....

 

[SourRoses]

Moldy feeders are dangerous. They can breathe in the spores as well as eating moldy feed.
And it can be hard to see that feed is contaminated... by the time it's visibly discolored there is a lot present.

We're in humid, stormy Florida. So I bleach the feeders often. Perform a visual check before adding feed and if there's any feed dust clinging to the sides or trough area, that's a sign that moisture is present.

I take them out where I have a big muck bucket, fill with water, then bleach, then submerge the feeder(s). How long they need depends on the bleach / water ratio... if I want them done fast I add a lot of bleach. If the water is not agitated after adding it, the bleach can last through several loads of chicken dishes. Otherwise it off-gases quickly. Take them out and use the hose on jet to rinse, and wahh lahh, no scrubbing. I hate scrubbing chicken stuff because of the nooks and crannies. Without a muck bucket, I've also used 5 gallon buckets and kitty litter pans, but it usually requires submerging the feeders in two stages, one upside-down, so I like the big bucket.
And yet, I can't stand doing human dishes, lol.