Please help with bugs in feed?

Question

Hi there, so my horse uses 2 types of sweet feed supplements for him to gain weight. ( long story) Anyways there have been these little tiny bugs in the food. I then bought these big air tight containers thinkiing it would kill them, it basically did the opposite!

For the last week i have been opening the bins and finding literally 200 of these bugs inside the scoop walking around. It is so disgusting and i dont want to feed it to my horse.

Questions: How are the bugs living still in an airtight container?

Are they bad for my horse to eat? Can he get sick from them? cause i am not sure how long the bugs have been there exactly cause i dont have great vision...

Any tricks to getting rid of the bugs?

thank you everyone ( this is a serious question)

Answer 1

You might want to take the feed back to where ever you got it.

Answer 2

No expert here, but I have read that horses get sick from certain bugs in hay or grain, so I'd call the vet.  If the bugs are in the feed when you buy it, the supplier needs to know about it.  Maybe the vet can help you, but I'd get new feed and hope to get reimbursed if the bugs came with the feed.

Answer 3

They can live in an airtight container without much of an issue. Not sure how but they can. Yes, they are bad for a horse to eat. Depending on the type and amount ingested, they can make a horse sick.

Throw all the feed out and start over. Even if you kill them. you are feeding your horse feed with dead bugs.  

Answer 4

Those pesky bugs are hard to control, and once they get entrance into a container of feed, you have to throw it out.  Yes , buggy food can make your horses really sick, can cause colic.  Never feed infested food to your horses.  Make sure you are buying fresh food.  There is usually a date of manufacture on the bag.  I've bought feed before, and it was full of bugs and worms.  I took it back to the store and got my money back.  Once your container is empty, clean it and the around the top and lid very well, maybe with a weak bleach solution or vinegar and water solution, rinse well and let air dry - in the sun would be good.  Then start with fresh food.  Make sure that the lid is left off the storage can only when you are scooping food.  Keep it covered as much as possible.  Those horrible mealy moths are everywhere and they multiply like crazy. You can't get rid of the bugs you have in your feed now.  You just have to throw it away in the garbage where your horses can't get to it.  good luck.  it is an annoying problem.