Properly stored chicken feed keeps the nutrients from degrading and the feed safe to eat. A number of things can cause feed to go bad including rodents, insects, mold, moisture, and light. To ensure freshness, use up feed within 2 to 4 months. Meanwhile, store chicken feed in a durable container with a tight-fitting lid. If old feed looks off or smells bad, throw it out.
What Happens If You Store Chicken Feed Incorrectly?
• Ingredients degrade over time, losing nutritional value.
• Waste increases, costing you money.
• Bad feed can make your hens stop laying.
• Bad feed can make your chickens sick.
• Really bad feed can kill chickens.
What Makes Chicken Feed Go Bad?
How Long Can You Keep Chicken Feed?
How long you can store chicken feed depends on when it was milled and on the ambient temperature. Prepared feed is at peak nutrition for about four weeks of being milled. Allowing for a week or two for transport and storage at the feed store gives you about two to three weeks.
However, temperature influences how fast the nutrients degrade. During warm months, buy only as much as your flock can use up in two months. In cold weather, you can stretch that to 4 months under proper storage.
What’s the Best Way to Store Chicken Feed?
• In a container with a tight-fitting lid.
• The container should be easy to clean.
• Away from moisture.
• Out of sunlight
• Consistently cool.
• Well-ventilated storage area.
• Off the floor on a pallet or other platform.
• Secure from predators and rodents.
• Well-lit to readily reveal any changes.
Storing feed containers outdoors is not a good idea, since temperature and humidity are difficult to control. The result can be moldy or spoiled feed. The feed may also attract pests that can overturn your container or otherwise gain access to the feed. Likewise, storing containers inside the coop can attract unwelcome predators.
When filling the container, take care not to spill any on the ground, which will attract insects and rodents. If you do spill, sweep up the spilled feed and dispose of it.
Use up all the feed in the container before adding fresh feed. If a little feed is left in the container, pour it into the lid or a small bucket, clean the container, pour in the fresh feed, and add the old (but still good) feed on top where it will be used up first.
When cleaning the storage container, use dish soap and warm water. After cleaning the container, rinse out the soap, then thoroughly dry the container in sunlight before adding fresh feed.
What’s the Best Type of Container for Storing Chicken Feed?
The best type of container for storing chicken feed is a clean, galvanized metal trash can with a tight-fitting lid. A thick plastic container, such as one sold as raccoon-proof or bear-proof, is also suitable.
The container must be durable, rodent proof, and keep out moisture and light. A 20-to-30-gallon trash can will hold one or more 50-pound bags of feed. A 55-gallon container will hold 3 bags.
For smaller quantities, a 5-gallon bucket holds about 15 pounds of feed. However, rats and mice can chew through plastic.
Rodents will also chew into feed left in the original bags. The feed then becomes accessible to insects, light, and moisture.
How Long Will a 50 lb. Bag of Chicken Feed Last?
How much feed each chicken eats varies with the chicken’s age, breed and strain, degree of activity, and condition of health. Other factors include the ration’s palatability and texture, and its energy and protein content.
This table tells you approximately how long one 50-pound bag of feed will last one chicken. To determine how long a 50-pound bag will feed your specific flock, divide the number in the right-hand column by the number of chickens in your flock.
How can you tell if chicken feed has gone bad?
How can you tell if chicken feed has gone bad?• Smells musty, sour, or rancid
• Texture change, webbing, or clumping
• Moist or oily appearance
• Color change
• Insect activity or larvae
• Chickens stop eating it
If you pay attention to how fresh feed looks and smells, you can tell pretty quickly if it starts to go bad.
FAQs
What is the shelf life of poultry feed?
Up to 2 months in warm weather, 4 months in cold weather.
Can chickens eat expired feed?
Feed that has expired only a short time after the date on the label, and looks and smells normal, is safe to feed to chickens. Chickens are unlikely to eat bad feed anyway.
How long will a 50 lb. bag of feed last 4 chickens?
• Bantam — 50 lbs. will feed 4 bantams for about 25 wks.
• Light breed — 50 lbs. will feed 4 lightweight layers 6-8 wks.
• Dual purpose — 50 lbs. will feed dual purpose chickens 4-5 wks.
• Heavy breed — 50 lbs. will feed 4 heavyweight chickens 3-3½ wks.
How much feed should 20 chickens eat a day?
• Bantam — 20 bantams eat about 1½ lbs. of feed per day
• Light breed — 20 lightweight layers eat about 4-6 lbs. per day
• Dual purpose — 20 dual purpose chickens eat about 7-8½ lbs. per day
• Heavy breed — 20 heavyweight chickens eat about 10-11½ lbs. per day
Are metal containers safe for chicken feed storage?
Yes, metal containers are safe for storing chicken feed. Metal containers are, in fact, the most preferred option.
What is the risk of using old feed?
• Contamination by insects and other pests.
• Nutrient loss, leading to deficiencies.
• Rancidity as fats oxidize.
• Mold, which isn’t always visible.
How to keep chicken feed from molding?
To keep chicken feed from going moldy, store it in a clean container with a tight-fitting lid, in a cool but well-ventilated area, away from moisture and sunlight. Elevate the container off the floor on blocks or a pallet to avoid accumulating moisture.
Helpful Links
How Much Feed Does a Chicken Eat?
Feed Options — What Do Chickens Eat?
What Do Baby Chicks Eat?
And that’s today’s news from the Cackle Coop.
Gail Damerow has raised chickens and various other poultry for more than 5 decades and has written numerous books about them, many available from the Cackle Bookstore.
