Question about moldy feed-- what caused it?

[Skye'sDucks]

I was just outside about to dump our last bag of feed into the buckets we use, but the feed was moldy inside! I'm very frustrated and I know my mom will be, too.

But, I wanted to ask: what could have caused the mold? We've been buying this feed for a while now, never had an issue except another moldy bag a few months ago. Never had an issue with the other brand we bought before switching over to this one.

We do live in FL, so it does get pretty humid here. We store the feed in our garage: it is next to the door so maybe too much humidity is getting in but again, we've stored it in the same spot our whole time of having ducks (almost 3 years) and moldy feed has never been a common occurrence.
My other question is, can moldy feed be caused by too much heat? The edge of the bag kind of butts up against our storage freezer, and the bag was warm. I noticed it happened with our other bag, but that never got moldy.

By the way, the bag was probably stored for around 2 months? We've always bought three bags though, and with our feeding pattern and number of ducks we go through a bag a month roughly. (They free range all day)

Unless it was just another unfortunate fluke, we will probably try to prevent this by buying less feed at a time and I'll try to store it differently or in a different spot to keep away from the warm side of the freezer...sigh.

Thanks for any help!

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

The humidity and warmth may have helped, if not caused the mold. Who knows, maybe it got wet before you even bought it. I'd recommend getting a cheap trash can and either dumping the feed in the can, or setting the whole bag in. Is there a cooler, less humid place you could store the feed?

 

[Folly's place]

Check mill dates on each bag before buying, and plan on feed that's within one month of milling. then, store it in it's original bags in metal garbage cans, up off the damp floor on blocks of some sort. I also have a couple of empty feed bags in the bottom of each garbage can, again, to block moisture.
This all will help!
Make sure you don't feed anyone that moldy feed!
Mary

 

[Skye'sDucks]

The humidity and warmth may have helped, if not caused the mold. Who knows, maybe it got wet before you even bought it. I'd recommend getting a cheap trash can and either dumping the feed in the can, or setting the whole bag in. Is there a cooler, less humid place you could store the feed?

Thank you for the help and tips; there really isn't a cooler or less humid place, our garage is about the best we can do. I will definitely look into getting trash cans to store the feed in, though, and I'll keep it away from the freezer like I said in case that helped cause mold.

Check mill dates on each bag before buying, and plan on feed that's within one month of milling. then, store it in it's original bags in metal garbage cans, up off the damp floor on blocks of some sort. I also have a couple of empty feed bags in the bottom of each garbage can, again, to block moisture.
This all will help!
Make sure you don't feed anyone that moldy feed!
Mary

Thanks so much for the tips! I am definitely throwing it out, I wouldn't want to cause any harm to my flock. I'll have to check the dates, and I'll even check the date on this bag, too. We don't pick out the bags at the feed store we go to, but I suppose it wouldn't be too much hassle to ask for a swap if the feed is older.

When we go up to the feed store hopefully later today I'll have to look into getting garbage cans to change up how I store feed now that this has happened more than once.