Storing Poultry Feed in Ghana and Avoiding Aflatoxin

Most feed is lost in the store, not the trough

The farmer was sweeping spilt maize off the store floor with his hand when we arrived. The bags were stacked against the back wall, two of them bulging at the corners, and the room smelled like wet cardboard. He had bought the maize at harvest to save money. By the time the rains came, most of that saving was sitting in a bin.

Feed loses value in a store in three ways. The nutrients fade, the birds eat less of it because it tastes wrong, and mould grows. The third one is the dangerous one, and it is the one farmers notice last, because a bag can look fine on the outside while the middle has already gone.

Aflatoxin: what it is and where it comes from

Aflatoxin is a toxin made by certain moulds, mainly Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. They grow on maize, groundnuts, cottonseed and other crops when those get damp, cracked or damaged, and they grow fastest when it is warm and humid. Ghana's rainy seasons give them exactly that.

Two facts make aflatoxin hard to manage. First, cooking does not destroy it, so a bird that is fed contaminated feed gets the toxin even if the feed is heated. Second, the toxin can stay in the feed after the visible mould has gone, so a clean-looking sack is not proof of a safe one.

Aflatoxin matters for people as well as birds. Residues can carry into eggs and meat, which is why food safety rules are strict for any flock that sells to the public. A farmer who sells eggs or dressed birds has every reason to keep the feed clean, and that is a good reason to take storage seriously even when the birds seem fine.

Ghana's humidity and the store

The main rainy season and the minor one are when stores take the hardest hit. Walls sweat, floors wick damp up from the ground, and a cracked roof lets rain run down the inside of a wall. A store that was dry in August can be wet by October if one corner has a leak.

The harmattan is kinder to stores because the air is dry. The dust it carries is a different problem. Fine dust settles on feed and in troughs, and it holds moisture if the store is cleaned with water and left to dry slowly. Sweep rather than hose, and make sure the floor is dry before you stack bags on it again.

Near the coast, the air can stay damp for days even in what feels like a dry spell. Do not judge the store by the weather on the day you visit. Judge it by the walls, the floor and the smell after a week of humid nights.

Moisture is the number that matters

Grain should go into the store dry enough that the kernels do not feel cool or damp when you squeeze them. A moisture meter for maize should read at or below about 13 per cent. Mash has its own limit, usually set by the mill, so ask for the moisture figure on the analysis sheet and keep it with the batch.

If you dry maize yourself, spread it thin on a clean, raised sheet in full sun and turn it through the day. Do not dry it on bare earth, where dust, droppings and animals get into it. Bring it in before the afternoon rain, and do not put it back out wet in the morning.

Dampness does not always show. A bag that feels fine on the outside can be warm in the middle, which is a sign that mould has started. Push a hand into the centre of a stacked sack now and then. If it feels warm or smells sweet and earthy, the bag is no longer safe to keep.

Building a store that keeps feed dry

A good store is not expensive, but it does need planning. Most of the failures we see come from a store that was built in a hurry, against a wall that catches the rain, with no way for the air to move.

• Use a floor that is raised or concrete with a slight slope for drainage, and keep water away from the door.
• Stand bags on pallets or wooden platforms at least 15 cm off the floor.
• Keep bags at least 30 cm away from the walls, so air can move and you can see the back wall for leaks.
• Use a roof with no leaks, and check the wall that faces the prevailing rain after every storm.
• Vent the store high and low so warm, humid air can leave.
• Keep the store closed to rats and insects, with a clean floor and doors that fit. Rats chew bags and carry damp and disease.
• Store fuel, pesticides and cleaning chemicals in a separate room, never next to the feed.

If you are building a house for the first batch of birds, our broiler house setup guide covers the feed store alongside the brooding area and the equipment. Plan the store before the birds arrive, not after.

Stock rotation: first in, first out

Write the date of arrival on every bag with a marker, and keep the older stock at the front. This sounds obvious, and it is the most ignored habit on Ghanaian farms, because the new sack is always the easiest to reach.

In the rainy season, keep feed on hand for only a few weeks. In the dry season, you can stretch to about six weeks for maize and grain. Mash with added fat goes rancid sooner, so buy less of it and use it faster. Buy in the size you will actually use. A tonne of maize that you need in ten weeks is a tonne of risk you did not need to take. If you mix your own feed, the same rule applies to every ingredient bin, and our mixing your own poultry feed guide sets out how to keep each bin on its own rotation.

If you want to plan the quantities, our layer feeding guide and broiler feeding schedule show how much each stage eats, so you can match the stock to the number of birds.

Reading the signs: what mould looks and smells like

Mould starts small. The first sign is often a faint musty smell in the store, not in the feed itself. Next you will see grey, green or white fuzz on a few kernels, or a bag that feels warm or damp in the middle. Grain that has caked into clumps, or that shows a black speckled look, also means trouble.

If you find a problem in one bag, check the bags either side. Mould spreads from one sack to its neighbours through damp and through the dust that falls from split bags. Lift the stack and look at the bottom bags as well, since they sit in the wettest air.

A sweet, earthy smell is a warning even when you cannot see anything. Trust your nose, and then back it up with a test.

What to do when you find a problem

Keep this table near the store door. It covers the most common signs and the first action to take for each one.

If the same problem comes back in a new delivery, change the supplier or the store before you change anything else. A problem that returns after a clean store points at the feed, not the building.

Testing for aflatoxin: when and how

A test is the only sure way to know. Smell and sight miss a lot. A test costs money, but it costs far less than a flock that grows slowly, or a vet bill for liver damage that never fully clears up.

Test when you start with a new supplier, when a batch smells or looks wrong, and before you use groundnut cake or cottonseed, which carry higher risk. If a cheap cake is tempting you, our cheaper feed alternatives article sets out the limits on each one. Ask the supplier for a recent certificate for the batch. If you cannot get one, take a sample to a feed testing laboratory.

1. Take small handfuls from at least ten bags spread across the batch, including the bottom and the back of the stack.
2. Mix the handfuls in a clean bucket, then reduce the mix down to one sample of a size the lab asks for.
3. Seal the sample in a clean, dry bag, label it with the date, supplier and batch, and keep a second sample.
4. Send the sample promptly, and keep the result with your batch records.

A single sample from the top of a sack tells you very little. The toxin is patchy, so the sampling is as important as the lab.

What aflatoxin does to birds

The effect depends on how much the birds eat, for how long, and how old they are. In general, aflatoxin damages the liver, slows growth, worsens feed conversion, lowers laying and weakens the immune system.

The immune effect is the one that catches farmers out. A weakened bird takes vaccines less well and gets worse from diseases it would normally shrug off. Coccidiosis and Gumboro can hit harder on a flock that has been eating mouldy feed, so a disease that looks like an ordinary outbreak may have a feed problem behind it. Our articles on coccidiosis and Gumboro describe the signs to watch for.

These signs look like many other diseases. Do not treat them yourself. Call your vet, keep the feed sample and the bird records, and follow your vet's advice on what to do next, including any tests on the birds.

What to do with a bad bag

A bad bag is a problem you can manage if you act quickly and calmly. The mistake is to hope it will be fine in the mix, or to feed it out to the birds because it is already paid for.

1. Take the bag out of the store straight away and separate it from the rest.
2. Do not feed it to chickens, dogs, pigs or any other animal.
3. Keep a small sample in a clean bag with the date and supplier written on it, for testing.
4. Dispose of the bulk well away from the birds, the water and the feed store, where animals and people cannot get at it. Ask your local vet or district agriculture office how they want it handled.
5. Tell the supplier. A good supplier wants to know, and a supplier who does not is one to stop buying from.
6. Check the rest of the batch and the bags beside the bad one before you put anything else into the bin.

Write the incident in your records with the date, the batch and the action taken. If birds show signs after that, our record keeping guide explains how to link the feed history to the flock's results.

A weekly storage checklist

Ten minutes once a week is enough to catch most storage problems before they cost you a batch. Put the checklist on the store door, and sign it each time.

• Walk the store and check the walls, roof and floor for new damp, leaks or cracks.
• Check that every bag is off the floor and clear of the walls.
• Smell the store and each stack, and push a hand into the middle of one or two bags.
• Check the dates on the bags and move the oldest stock to the front.
• Look for rats, droppings, insects and chewed bags, and deal with them.
• Sweep up spilt feed and fines, then bag or discard them.
• Note any change in the birds' feed intake or droppings in the flock record.
• Order the next delivery based on the number of birds and the stock you have left.

If you need birds for the next batch, our day-old chicks page explains what we sell, and you can place an order through the order form or ask on WhatsApp at +233 24 915 1503. We will tell you honestly what the first week needs, including how the feed should arrive and be stored before the birds do.

Questions farmers ask