Nutrena chick starter

[jtallant]

I am so mad. I just reached in to the bag to get some more feed, about halfway through the bag, and it's filled literally with mold. Thankfully, the chicks all seem to be okay. I will never, never buy Nutrena again.

DH is picking up some Purina Flock Raiser for me on his way home. I tried to call Nutrena but they won't answer. Turns out from talking to the local feed guy here (who of course doesn't have any chick starter in stock) a lot of people have been complaining about the Nutrena line in general being moldy. Frustrating to say the least.

Edited to add that I did not have this outside, it's inside the home in the "chick room."

 

[Oregon Blues]

Take the bag and the receipt back to the feed store and get a refund (as long as you didn't allow the feed to get damp)

 

[jtallant]

I thought about that, but it is a 60 mile round trip for me to get to that Atwoods and DH was coming back from the city right then so he stopped on his way at TSC to get a new bag of feed. The bag was never wet, went from the store to trunk to inside the house. I am just so thankful that all my chicks seem to be okay still this a.m. I might still call the Atwoods manager and let him/her know, although I doubt they give a ... I mean, the "chicken expert" there is the one who told me that there was, and I quote, "strychnine in that chick food, it's all got it in the feed, so be careful and don't feed it to my baby geese, and what is a gosling anyway?"

I wish I had noticed it sooner. From now on I'm opening bags from the bottom and I won't purchase Nutrena brand ever again, and I won't buy feed from Atwoods again. TSC is farther for me but at least they rotate stock better. Actually, the chicks seem to really like the Purina Flock raiser quite a lot, and they are all much more active this a.m., whether that's due to me not feeding them mold-tainted food or the actual composition of the feed I'm not sure though.

 

[twentynine]

Bring the bag back. Or-- I bet if you call the manager he may do what he can to make it right. Why hold Nutrena responsible for mishandling the feed when the feed was obviously mishandle by the store you bought it from.

I recently purchased a bag of starter from TSC that was wet when I opened it.

 

[jtallant]

Twenty-nine, you're right, I should bring the bag back, but as stated it is a rather long round trip that I don't have time for. I believe that the packaging has a lot to do with moldy foods, and when I call Nutrena to find out about it the answering machine just says that they are not accepting calls--that's the customer care line--so not terribly impressed and why should I support that? I will call the store later today and let them know, but I really don't expect anything other than an "oh, well bring it back and we'll replace it." It's not that they're going to pull the other bags, they'll just sell those too and then refund if another customer gets a moldy one. These are the times I wish I lived "just down the street" from ... well anything really.

 

[Tiffany from Nutrena]

jtallent,
I am so sorry you've had a negative experience with our feed! Believe me, that is not the norm for our products and we would like to help fix this situation. I am going to send you a PM asking for the lot number from the tag, the store you are shopping at, etc. and we will help make this right for you. I know this has been an inconvenience and want to let you know we will do everything we can to keep you as a Nutrena customer!
You'll be hearing from me shortly in a message...
Sincerely,
Tiffany from Nutrena

 

[tyjaco]

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, but it does happen.
I worked in a feed store for years, and it happens occasionally.
I opened a bag of Purina layer crumbles last year, and found a piece of metal in it!!
Turns out it was a broken off piece of the mill.
Don't blame Nutrena - things happen with EVERY mill....

 

[dawg53]

I very rarely post in this section of the forum, but "Nutrena chick starter" caught my eye and I have to comment.
I use Nutrena feeds, crumbles specifically; starter (medicated and non-medicated) to layer feed. The feed itself is contained in plastic sacks (at my feed store.) I've always found the contents dry, no clumps (indicating moisture or wetness,) and no bugs.
Last week I accidently spilled a small bottle of Blu-Kote on a sack of layer feed. It did not penetrate through the plastic sack, no purple feed whatsoever. I'm not sticking up for Nutrena nor Atwoods. (No Atwoods around here, never heard of them.)
My thinking is that in your instance, it must have occured where it was produced, moldy feed sacked, then shipped to Atwoods. (If your Nutrena sacks are made of plastic.)
Luckily you caught it in time, or you would have dead chicks. I wish you the best.

 

[stcroixusvi]

jtallent,
I am so sorry you've had a negative experience with our feed! Believe me, that is not the norm for our products and we would like to help fix this situation. I am going to send you a PM asking for the lot number from the tag, the store you are shopping at, etc. and we will help make this right for you. I know this has been an inconvenience and want to let you know we will do everything we can to keep you as a Nutrena customer!
You'll be hearing from me shortly in a message...
Sincerely,
Tiffany from Nutrena

Nice to see a prompt reply from the company. If they were certified organic, I might switch!

 

[jtallant]

Tiffany, I did PM you back. That was very open and gracious to even respond to a thread. Everyone should know she has offered to try to help rectify the situation. I was upset with Nutrena for not having a way to contact them, not because I thought that moldy food didn't ever happen I called 3 times and emailed with no response. But then Tiffany comes along and has really made a sincere effort to help or at least find out what happened.

Dawg, I would think that yes, you're right, it was packaged with some wet ingredients somewhere along the line, so from now on regardless of brand, I am dumping the whole bag into something else to check before feeding--lesson learned. I do that outside with my older flock but these guys are in the house. I think I was very lucky. I would have been devastated to lose my Jersey's after waiting 2 years to be able to order them. Especially because of my own inattention when opening the bag and not 'fluffing' through it or something first. I can only chalk it up to my own stupidity on that front.

I called the Atwoods and the manager there said pretty much what I thought it would be, oh, okay, thanks for letting us know. There was no question on whether or not I lost any chicks or any mention that they would check the other bags for a possible source or pull them. To be fair, I did tell the manager up front that I wasn't returning the bag or asking for a refund though. She sounded rather bored with the whole thing, so yeah, that particular Atwoods just lost a customer. I will try the Nutrena again when it comes time for layer feed though.