Old Food?

[Jenna14Chicken]

I have some old layer feed from my old hens. When my babies were old enough to come out side I stoped using it and starting feeding all starter grower since I had a mixed age flock. Now my chicks are not chicks anymore and will soon be laying. The food is a few months old so I'm wondering if it's still good to feed them it or if it's bad. I no it sits in the silo for awhile so wouldn't it get bad there? Thanks for any help!

 

[Jenna14Chicken]

Please can anyone help I don't want it to go to waste, it's like 40 pounds!

 

[I Love Layers]

As long as it's not moldy I would say it's fine

 

[Jenna14Chicken]

Ok thank you!

 

[MeepBeep]

As said above as long as it's not molding and has been stored in a dry place it should still be perfectly fine after a few months...

 

[centrarchid]

Compost it unless it has been stored in a cool dry place. Free-range birds more tolerant of sub-par feed although do not push it too hard. Mold is not the only issue with old feed.

 

[centrarchid]

Look at run date on the feed. Six months tops if stored in air conditioned setting. Year if stored in a freezer. Feed getting too hot can go bad within 30 days. Birds in lay or otherwise growing will be most sensitive to degraded vitamins and fatty acids.

 

[Jenna14Chicken]

Thanks everyone! It is not in the bag anymore when we got it we put it in a tote. .. It is outside in the shed which gets pretty hot. Its like 90 degrees! There is no mold that I see and is dry. My mom is making me give it to them cause we have no money for New feed right now. If it's not good What can happen to my birds? I hope they will be ok please tell me they will be ok.

 

[centrarchid]

Purchase some fresh chick starter. Then mix it into existing feeding so 1/3 of consumed is chick starter. The starter will be more heavily fortified with vitamins relative to fomulations for older chickens at time of manufacture. Mix should get you back into good vitamin content.

If you feed birds on vitamin deficient diet (I said diet, not feed as not always =), then look for a loss of egg production first. Then you will see a reduced interest in feeding followed by a loss of weight and thriftiness (feathers and flesh will look pale or shabby). Death can follow although I suspect you will be allowed to pony up funds to by feed before that.

This is one of those situations where fermenting part of the feed or providing fresh dark greens can help a lot. Fermentation mediating fungi and bacteria can make some of the B vitamins I would be be most concerned about by storage at elevated temperatures and too long. Do not ferment all of the feed fed to them as the process can degrade other vitamins. The greens will also have what is needed but care must be taken not to dilute protein and energy intake too much. Most diet formulations for egg production are designed to be cost effective under optimal conditions. That means they not overly fortified with respect to very expensive protein as a means to control feed cost.

 

[MeepBeep]

To the OP how many birds are we talking about and how much feed? How long do you believe this left over bag will last?

Unless they are on this possibly deficient older feed for an extended period of time (weeks) it's not going to cause any realistic nutritional deficiencies, especially if they have any ranging time where they can forage or if you provide them left overs...