Small Dark bugs in a new bag of food. Is it safe to use

[Folly's place]

I'm with LG on this, and in forty (OMG) years of buying livestock feed, for cattle, horses, and chickens, we've never had bugs arrive with the feed!
I can't say the same for some 'people food' that I've bought, although open dating seems to be a new concept in some quarters.
Mary

 

[lazy gardener]

Agreed, Mary. I have not been buying animal feed that long, and have never had it be insect infested. However, I did have to return a bag of scratch b/c it was moldy. And, I once returned a bag that appeared to be absolutely fine, but my birds absolutely refused to eat it.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Weevils or beetles living in chicken feed tend to eat the most nutritious components in the feed first. This is even more true with scratch grains based feed. Most of the grains will be hollowed out or empty hulls.

 

[Morrigan]

The other thing is, weevils multiple very fast. A couple of bugs in the feed would not be harmful, per se, but they will ruin your feed in short order. I got a bag of red wheat to use as sprouting grains. I didn't notice the weevils until I was already part way through. Then it was just one or two. By the time I was half way through they were everywhere and hollowing out the wheat and I had to toss it.

Agreed that it is totally cop out for the feed company to say "bugs are good for chickens."

 

[Folly's place]

I was amazed, not in a good way, by that comment about bugs in the feed from the feed company representative. I'd be screaming to the skies about that! Mary

 

[pattir612]

Just bought a 50 lb back of Nutrena Chicken starter grower that I store it in a metal garbage can in my garage. When I opened the bag there were small dark colored bugs moving inside the bag. I took it back to store and exchanged it for a new one but was wondering if it is ok to use. We are new to backyard chickens.

Thanks. I've learned so much from this group.

UPDATE: I did exchange the bag. I found the mill date label in the metal storage can from the bag and the mill date was before my chicks hatched so it was an old bag. The store orders a new bag when the 1 they have sells. From now on, I'm going to check the date before they load the bag. Thank you.

 

[lazy gardener]

How old was it?????

 

[pattir612]

Bought it mid November and the mill date was July 29th. My chicks hatched Aug. 9th

 

[lazy gardener]

So, it was ALMOST 4 months old. Shame! Find an other store to buy from.

 

[blackdog043]

The store orders a new bag when the 1 they have sells.

So they only stock 1 bag of feed at a time? What is your general location? I think you might want to find a new place to buy your feed.