Mold in run

[mpgo4th]

I'm rethinking my feeding plan. I have a large pan that I fill with feed and place under the coop out of the weather. The chickens throw food everywhere but eat it off the ground too. With all of the rain lately I have found white fluffy mold all over the run growing off of feed that was spilled. This morning I had to Rake out the run to remove mold. Is this still a health threat to my birds after I raked it?

 

[sixinva]

This is a good question as I have noticed the same thing. (4 inches of rain yesterday). I will be watching for a response from someone who knows, on this one.

 

[mpgo4th]

For now I'm using a one quart chick feeder. They eat out of it fine but I might have to fill it up twice a day. Who knew 6 chickens could eat so much.

 

[TXchickmum]

We had this situation as well. I didn't care for the mold or the amount of feed that was spilled and wasted. We built a wooden tray (just large enough to catch feed but not allow the hens to climb in it and scratch) with short sides to place on the ground under the hanging feeder. Any feed that was spilled went into the tray. After the feeder is empty, I scoop the excess feed from the tray back into the feeder. -works great and eliminates feed/mold in the run.

This also eliminates the need for scooping feed from the run in the evening to prevent rodents.

 

[Den in Penn]

Raking it out and removing the feed spread on the ground its growing on will help the problem. Mold spores are always present, its the concentration of the growing mold you have to worry most about. If your filling it twice a day its time to change to a larger feeder, one that they can't beak the feed out of. That would help with the mold problem.