Purina All flock Pellets -- terrible smell

[Chubbicthe2nd]

I just bought a new bag of Purina all flock pellets, and they smell terrible, like the awful smell of dog food but a little worse. Is this normal?

(My previous bag of feed was nutrena nature-wise 20% protein all flock, and it smelled like basil pesto).

Typically, does chicken feed smell bad? Or not? I'm wondering what is normal -- does Purina tend to stink more than other brands, or is it just that the nature-wise nutrena brand smells good abnormally?

Also, if it smells bad does this mean it probably has something that's chickens need, or not? Like, is that just what blood meal smells like?

 

[HollowOfWisps]

I have never had a bad or particularly odorous bag of Purina All Flock. My bags all smell like milled grains to me. I would return it.

 

[nuthatched]

Just return it, it may be rancid.
It wouldn't smell as nice as nutrena even if it were fresh.

 

[FrostRanger]

When in doubt, don't feed it to your birds. I third returning the bag. Chicken feed should never smell outright terrible, it should have a fairly neutral smell

 

[aart]

Check the manufacturing date stamped on the sew strip on the bottom of bag.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

It is reliably reported that Nutrena "smells better" than Purina pellets.

Purina pellets should not smell "bad". They won't smell as good as Nutrena, but they should not smell "bad".

As Aart said above, check the mill date. If you don't know how to read it, post a picture, we'll help. Optimally, you want a bag produced w/i a month or two of milling, and you want your birds to finish eating it w/i a season of milling.

Even if the mill date is recent, it might still be bad. Storage of milled grain in warehouses is notoriously bad (though not as bad as we saw during the Pandemic, on average). Most big box stores warehouse in large metal structures, concrete floors, and no climate control - that has the potential for all kinds of problems.

I can't offer more advice than that - for reasons unimportant here, my sense of smell is significantly impaired. My offerings above are my observations of other comments on BYC by many other posters. I've used both feeds with success, and can't smell either. I also can't smell buring sugar cookies in the oven, so its not my nose you should rely on.