[daveinmanc]

just picked up a bag of layers pellets off  a lady last night from freecycle  

was chuffed to bits, 20 kilo, unopened  bag for nowt, jobs a good 'un . . . . .  got back and realized they were out of date ! expired oct 2007 so i dont want to give them to the ducks as ive read on here  they'd have little food value as the vitamins and minerals etc would now have ceased to be active any longer.

soooo  . . . . . .  with plans to turn some ground over for a bit of veggie growing  . . . . . .  will there be any benefit in chucking these on and 'feeding the ground' with them/turning them in with a rotorvator?   surely it cant do any harm? i know they'd break down really quickly and thought if i could use them rather than take them to the tip this afternoon . . . . . . .  just seems such a waste to chuck em away  :?

[mushroom]

I know nowt about ducks, but the food value of the pellets ain't just going to expire in October.., unless they've gone off, i'd use them.

[daveinmanc]

i would normally use a bit of common and think the same myself and just go ahead and use them, however, some of the poultry keepers on here that have a lot more experience than i have - have stated that the 'goodness' in the layers pellets does have a shelf life and after that they become pretty redundant.

now i do know there's truth in their statements as the mins & vits come from the food industry and they all give them a 'sell or use by' date so i'm erring on just sticking with what i've been advized  

[mushroom]

yep, (this is why I prefaced what i said with "I know nowt about ducks")

[daveinmanc]

lol    

so any thoughts on chuckin it on the ground and rotorvating it in  . . . .

[mushroom]

I'd compost it first (maybe I should have prefaced this with "I know nowt about pellets either")  :shock:  

[daveinmanc]

now thats the bit i'm not sure i'd need to do, if you chucked em in a glass of water they'd be in bits within a few hours, so in damp soil i would have thought a matter of days possibly to break them down

i've not long started the compost bin off and there's not that much in it for now, some veg waste and duck muck, twigs leaves etc etc and i'm thinking 20k of layers might be overkill lol   :shock:

 

[Trillium]

As long as you're turning it into the ground with a rotovator, you'll be okay. Vermin won't be attracted to it if it's covered in muck or wet soil, which makes it expand and be unpalatable.

Composting is also possible, provided it's mixed in well with green stuff that is actively composting, or hose it down first before adding to the pile.

I use alfalfa pellets to feed my roses and irises, but soon as I'm done, I hose them down and nothing touches them, so I know your idea will work.

[GrannieAnnie]

I'm not too sure about that Trillium!  The rats love digging in my muck heap where I've cleaned the chooks out looking for the bits of pellets they may find.  They dig tunnels all over it

[Trillium]

Could be that the rats are now used to digging through your muck knowing they'll find pellets there, GA.
Daveinmanc probably doesn't have your rat problem and could likely get away with rotovating it into wet ground. Pellets do swell quickly from moisture and fall apart so it would be hard to track mixed into soil.

[Aunt Sally]

Use by dates are there for a reason,  in chook/duck  feed it' because the vitamins start to deteriorate.  The rest of the nutrients will be OK.  If you can give them some extra vitamins.  I sometimes use Poultry Boost as a poultry boost  

http://www.labtecltd.com/proddetail.php?prod=8905

... then I'm sure you could feed them to the birds as long as they have been kept quite dry.

[daveinmanc]

cheers trillium you'll do for me  

i thought as much but wanted to check with you lot before doing it as i just didnt want to put something into the ground that might not have been good or would have had no effect or value.

we dont really have a problem with rats, there's a fair few field mice and shrews but they're always gonna be there, well, the ones that get away from the cat who is a lean mean killin' machine to say the least lol  

i know the pellets will break down quickly just by looking at them, i use far more compacted pellets for fishing and they have a rapid breakdown time in water so if layers took a couple of days i'd be surprised  :shock:

[daveinmanc]

keep yer frilly hat on AS they're goin in the ground  . . . . lol  

actually  . . . . .  it was a comment you made to someone else that prompted me to ask the question in the first place, so i do listen, see  . . . . lol

[Trillium]

chicken pellets should be mushy within the half hour - at least, mine are. The alfalfa pellets are mush within 10 minutes.