My hens weren't eating because the feed was stale!!!!!

[chuckzoo]

I have been posting for several weeks now because my two hens were eating very little.

I tried to rule out everything, worms, crop problems etc., but could not figure out why until Buttercup Chillin asked how old my feed was!

 

[flgardengirl]

I bet you're glad to have figured that out. It is better than if they were sick lol.

 

[chookchick]

I had a bag of feed once, that smelled not quite right, and of course it was organic and a bit spendy. But my chickens did not like it--their food consumption went way down. I say, LISTEN to your hens!--if they aren't eating it, something is not right.

 

[Mahonri]

Not only that, if they do eat stale or sometimes moldy feed... it can kill them.

 

[Carpe DiHen]

Thanks for sharing, I will watch for that! I'm getting babies in April, and I am holding off buying anything so I don't have to store it too long!

 

[elmo]

I've read that you should try not to buy more feed at one time than your flock can consume in about 3 months. For me and my small flock, that's a 50 lb bag. I bought one of those vittles vaults with the lids that spin closed.

 

[MareeZoCool]

Thanks for sharing, This is some important information!

 

[chuckzoo]

I don't have very much space to store feed so I bought a plastic gift wrap container from Walmart to put my feed in. It is red with a clear top, is tall and takes up very little floor space which works great for me. I have asked my feed store to order smaller bags of feed so they can have fresh feed all the time.

 

[Three Cedars Silkies]

Here in Florida we cannot buy more than they can consume in about a week. With the humidity in the air it just goes bad quickly. My closest feed store apparently wasn't selling a lot of poultry feed and it was smelling stale when I opened a "fresh" bag. I took it back and told them I wasn't going to buy anymore until they got in a fresh shipment.

She immediately pulled all of it off the shelf and got a fresh shipment of Purina brand instead of the Dumor that they were carrying. Since then we haven't gotten a bad bag.