Bad rye seed?

[hillrunner]

I had several bags of Rye left from last year. This was seed I bought in late October for a hail mary attempt at saving some plots after a painfully dry late summer fall had decimated my fall plots. I don't think any of it came up last fall but I chalked that up to it being too late. I stored it in a non-insulated shed right alongside my corn, beans, clover, radishes, turnips, oats, and alfalfa left over from last year.
I started checking plots last weekend and realized none of the rye is germinating. Everything else is up but the rye did nothing.

I've not had a problem storing rye before and I'm wondering if the seed was bad when I purchased it?

Of course we had good rain on the original seeding and now it's hot and dry for the 2nd try. Below you can see the comparison from the germination test I did this week to compare the new seed I purchased Monday vs the old seed. 100% failure vs 100% germinated.

 

[Wind Gypsy]

That'd be pretty frustrating! Hard to picture Rye not germinating decent.

 

[Turkey Creek]

I know we all tend to be in a rush to get seed in the ground when the opportunity arises, but its probably not a bad idea to germ test each bag once you get it.

 

[matinc]

Just remember rye seed is a living organism and it's possible heat from the summer killed it off inside the shed.