Grain mites

[aart]

Feed, in the hemp bedding?

Peavey Mart sucks.

I assumed you cleaned out the 'dirty' brooder into that bucket....surely there's some spilled feed in there as well as the bedding and chickie poops.
Check your bag of feed and inside the brooder too.....tho grain mites are very hard to see.

 

[HowIsItDone]

I assumed you cleaned out the 'dirty' brooder into that bucket....surely there's some spilled feed in there as well as the bedding and chickie poops.
Check your bag of feed and inside the brooder too.....tho grain mites are very hard to see.

Duh, of course.
What was I thinking?

I checked the feed bag, (it's in a different bin), and it looks okay, but I sprinkled some DE around the container and on the surface of the bag.

Can I put a bit of DE right in the feed?
It says it's food grade.

 

[Stravager]

Duh, of course.
What was I thinking?

I checked the feed bag, (it's in a different bin), and it looks okay, but I sprinkled some DE around the container and on the surface of the bag.

Can I put a bit of DE right in the feed?
It says it's food grade.

You can put DE in the food. Unless you're using a ton and it's like a flour mill in the air it's relatively safe for chickens to ingest.

 

[HowIsItDone]

You can put DE in the food. Unless you're using a ton and it's like a flour mill in the air it's relatively safe for chickens to ingest.

Great, I'll add a bit, to be on the safe side.
Thank you!

 

[HowIsItDone]

New question...

Can chickens eat grain mites?
Obviously, a person wouldn't plan for that, but if it happens, is it harmful?

 

[Stravager]

New question...

Can chickens eat grain mites?
Obviously, a person wouldn't plan for that, but if it happens, is it harmful?

They can eat grain mites as far as I'm aware. The biggest issue I know of is for humans and horses there's a specific strain of bacteria they can carry that can cause health issues, but you usually need a LOT of grain mites for that to become an issue. The biggest issue for chickens would be that the grain mites can eat all the nutrients from the grain/feed and so they're not getting a lot nutrient wise. How much of an issue it is also depends on the health of the chicken and what else they're getting in the diet.

 

[HowIsItDone]

They can eat grain mites as far as I'm aware. The biggest issue I know of is for humans and horses there's a specific strain of bacteria they can carry that can cause health issues, but you usually need a LOT of grain mites for that to become an issue. The biggest issue for chickens would be that the grain mites can eat all the nutrients from the grain/feed and so they're not getting a lot nutrient wise. How much of an issue it is also depends on the health of the chicken and what else they're getting in the diet.

Do you think the food to mite ratio has something to do with how old it is?
How old is too old?
Is there a best before date on the bags? I haven't found one.

They say they are killed by freezing, which makes me look forward to winter, lol. At least they stop reproducing.

From what I understand, they are in most grains, like the oatmeal, wheat, and rice that we consume too. Creepy.
So creepy.

I wonder how many bugs we eat every day without noticing.
Ugh.

 

[Stravager]

As far as I've been able to see during my research commercial chicken feeds typically have max nutrition within one to three months of manufacture, then the older it gets the less nutrition it tends to have. Fresh food can have more mites than old food - they can spawn like a tsunami when the conditions are right. You won't find a BBD on bags, just a LOT number. The LOT number will tell you when it was manufactured, and you can gauge the date from there. Sometimes you have to call the manufacturer and ask what the LOTs mean.
In small quantities they just look like dust or grain crumbles, so we probably have a fair bit without noticing. However, since we usually cook grains then they'd all be dead by the time they hit our tongue and you'd never know.
Bugs are good protein and are eaten by many cultures.