Have you ever stood in your kitchen, scraps in hand, wondering if your feathered friends can safely gobble them up? I’ve been there too! After 10+ years of raising backyard chickens, I’ve compiled this comprehensive guide to help you figure out exactly what can you feed a chicken without causing harm.
Chickens are wonderful little omnivores with diverse appetites, but they definitely shouldn’t eat everything! Let’s dive into the world of chicken treats, kitchen scraps, and healthy feeding practices that’ll keep your flock clucking happily
Why Balanced Nutrition Matters for Your Chickens
Before we jump into the massive list of chicken-approved foods, let’s talk about why proper chicken nutrition is super important.
Just like us humans, chickens need a balanced diet to thrive Your feathered friends require specific nutrients at different stages of their growth
- Young chicks need 14-18% protein content
- Laying hens require 16-18% protein
- Roosters need about 9% protein
When chickens don’t get proper nutrients, problems happen! For example, insufficient calcium leads to thin, brittle eggshells. Nobody wants that!
While treats are awesome for enrichment, they should only make up about 10% of your chickens’ diet. The remaining 90% should come from quality chicken feed that’s formulated for their specific life stage.
100+ Foods Chickens Can Safely Eat
Chicken Feed and Supplements
Let’s start with the obvious foundation of any chicken’s diet:
- Commercial chicken feed
- Oyster shells (for calcium)
- Chicken scratch
- Flock blocks
- Poultry grit
- Sprouted grains/fodder
- Sprouted bales of straw
- Bird seed (as occasional treats)
Protein-Packed Bugs Chickens Love
One of my favorite things about keeping chickens is watching them hunt for bugs! Their prehistoric little dinosaur instincts kick in and they become absolute bug-hunting machines. Chickens can eat:
- Ants
- Beetles
- Caterpillars
- Centipedes
- Crickets (live or dried)
- Grasshoppers
- Grubs (live or dried)
- Junebugs
- Mealworms
- Moths
- Slugs
- Termites
- Ticks
Note: While chickens will eat flies, it’s generally not recommended to feed them flies due to potential disease concerns.
Weeds and Flowers (Free Chicken Food!)
We’re always pulling weeds from the garden, and guess what? Many of them make excellent chicken food! Talk about turning a chore into a chicken treat. These plants are safe for chickens:
- Bee balm
- Chickweed (appropriately named!)
- Clover
- Dandelions
- Grass clippings (small amounts only)
- Lambsquarters
- Marigolds
- Mugwort
- Nettles
- Oxalis
- Plantain
- Purslane
- Wild violet
Kitchen Scraps Your Chickens Can Eat
I keep a small container on my kitchen counter labeled “Chicken Treats” where I toss safe scraps throughout the day. My chickens go absolutely bonkers when they see me coming with it! Here’s what can go in your chicken scrap container:
- Bread (whole grain, in moderation)
- Bulgar wheat
- Cereal (sugar-free)
- Cheese (all types)
- Cooked rice
- Cooked pasta
- Cooked eggs
- Cottage cheese
- Crushed eggshells (baked and crushed)
- Fish (cooked)
- Fruit (most types)
- Grits
- Milk (even sour milk)
- Most nuts (unsalted, crushed) – NOT acorns!
- Oats and oatmeal
- Cooked meat (beef, pork, poultry)
- Quinoa
- Seafood (cooked)
- Seeds (unsalted)
- Sprouts
- Popcorn (no salt/butter)
- Whey
- Whole grains
- Vegetables (cooked or raw)
- Yogurt (plain, no added sugar)
Garden Bounty for Chickens
If you grow a garden, your chickens will be thrilled to help with the harvest! These garden goodies are chicken-approved:
- Apples (seeds removed)
- Bananas
- Herbs (basil, cilantro, oregano, parsley, thyme)
- Beets and beet greens
- Berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries)
- Broccoli
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- Carrots and carrot tops
- Cauliflower
- Cherries (pitted)
- Chili peppers
- Collard greens
- Corn and corncobs
- Cucumbers
- Eggplant
- Garlic (in moderation)
- Grapes
- Kale
- Lettuce and leafy greens
- Melons
- Peaches (pits removed)
- Pears
- Peas
- Bell peppers
- Pomegranate
- Pumpkins and pumpkin seeds
- Squash
- Sunflower seeds
- Sweet potatoes (cooked)
- Tomatoes (ripe fruit only, NOT leaves)
- Turnips (cooked)
- Zucchini
Additional Safe Foods
- Coconut (fresh or dried)
- Chia seeds
- Hemp seeds
- Pumpkin flesh (cooked)
- Figs
- Dates
- Apricots
- Macadamia nuts (unsalted, shelled)
30 Foods to NEVER Feed Your Chickens
Just as important as knowing what chickens CAN eat is knowing what they SHOULDN’T eat. Some foods can be toxic or harmful to your flock. Never feed your chickens:
- Avocado (especially skin and pit – contains persin)
- Chocolate (contains theobromine)
- Onions (can cause anemia)
- Raw/dried beans (contain lectins)
- Rhubarb (contains oxalic acid)
- Raw potatoes (contain solanine)
- Tomato leaves (contain solanine)
- Moldy/spoiled foods
- Coffee grounds/caffeine
- Salty foods
- Sugary foods/candy
- Fried foods
- Processed foods/junk food
- Green potatoes
- Alcohol
- Medications (unless prescribed by a vet)
- Tobacco products
- Avocado pits and skins
- Moldy bread
- Excessive dairy
- Greasy foods
- Processed meats (high in salt)
- Fruit seeds/pits (may contain cyanide)
- Raw eggs (risk of salmonella)
- Raw fish
- Human supplements
- Citrus fruits (in large amounts)
- Garlic (large amounts)
- Apple seeds (contain trace cyanide)
- Uncooked rice (can expand in crop)
7 Smart Ways to Save Money on Chicken Feed
Chicken feed can get expensive! Here are some tricks I’ve learned to reduce costs:
- Free-ranging: Let your chickens forage for bugs and plants when possible
- Grow your own: Plant crops specifically for chicken feed like corn and sunflowers
- Buy in bulk: Purchase larger quantities for better prices
- Kitchen scraps: Use appropriate leftovers to supplement feed
- DIY feed: Make your own feed mix with locally sourced ingredients
- Fermentation: Ferment grains to increase digestibility and nutrition
- Minimize waste: Use feeders designed to prevent spillage
Simple DIY Chicken Feed Recipe
If you wanna try making your own chicken feed, here’s a basic recipe to start with:
- 30% wheat
- 30% corn
- 20% peas
- 10% fish meal
- 10% oats
- 2% poultry nutri-balancer
- Free choice kelp
- Free choice aragonite
Mix all ingredients together and serve to your hungry flock!
Final Thoughts on Feeding Your Chickens
Feeding chickens doesn’t have to be complicated, but it should be thoughtful. Remember these key points:
- Commercial feed should make up 90% of their diet
- Treats should be limited to 10% of intake
- Always introduce new foods gradually
- Avoid anything moldy, rotten, or on the “don’t feed” list
- Fresh, clean water should always be available
My chickens have always been happiest with a combination of quality feed, controlled foraging time, and occasional treats from this approved list. Not only does proper feeding keep them healthy, but watching them enthusiastically chase after special treats is one of the true joys of chicken keeping!
Have you found any unusual chicken treats that your flock goes crazy for? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
My Chickens Won’t Eat
If you’ve tried to feed your chickens grass or lawn clippings and they wouldn’t touch it, consider what the rest of their diet looks like. Are they getting a lot of grubs, treats, kitchen scraps, etc? Chickens can easily get spoiled and will turn their noses up at “lesser” food choices.
While I certainly don’t advocate starving your chickens, it may take some time (or hunger) from your chicken before it realizes that the grass clippings you’ve provided are, indeed, worth eating. Try cutting back their average ratio of commercial feed a bit for a week or two while providing them with scrumptious scraps, and they might change their minds.
What Can Chickens Eat
When you look at the natural state of any animal and what it used to eat before domestication, we generally find that animal’s most healthy state as well.
Chickens can eat many things aside from commercial feed. It is actually to our benefit to look outside the feedbag since chickens that are allowed to free-range, peck, and scratch for bugs produce richer and healthier eggs. They’re also much healthier chickens in general.
Dalia shares about her Great Grandma in Guatemala, who would raise her chickens solely on the food waste from the family. Kitchen scraps, leftover tortillas or fruit fallen from the trees, the chickens were responsible for foraging for the rest of their meal.
Because chickens are omnivores, they will eat a wide variety of foods.
- Lawn clippings/Grass
- Snakes, frogs and lizards
- Eggs (hopefully not their own)
- Bugs
- Kitchen scraps (greens, sprouts, etc.)
- Hay
- Animals (mice, snakes, frogs, lizards)
- Crops (leftover broccoli leaves and stems, squash, and other garden scraps)
- Forage or Grain Crops (try growing a crop just to feed your chickens)
- Fruit from trees
- Fly larvae/Worms (try raising your own specifically for your chickens)
What Kitchen Scraps Your Chickens Can And CANT Eat! Some Are Toxic For Chickens!
FAQ
What is the easiest way to feed chickens?
The easiest way to feed chickens is with a treadle feeder. A treadle feeder is a large capacity feeder that uses a step activated door that gives chickens access to the feed. Treadle feeders are the best feeder for chickens because they keep rodents and wild birds out of the chicken feed, and protect the feed from rain and snow.
Can you feed a chicken a chick?
It is up to you whether you want to purchase medicated or unmedicated feed – just make sure you only feed chicks chick starter. When your chickens become pullets, they can be switched to layer feed or broiler feed. Layer feed has 16% protein and should not be given to birds unless they are lying.
What food is best for chickens?
Chickens prefer larger seeds like grass seeds and millet seeds. Providing them with lettuce, celery tops, chickweed, spinach, egg food, sprouted seeds, spray millets, carrot tops, and some nutritious fruits will help ensure they receive adequate nutrition. A regular supply of cuttlebone, grit, and fresh water is also necessary.
What should you not feed a chicken?
What can I feed a chicken if I don’t have chicken feed?
She said she’d feed them the way her great-grandmother fed them: Kitchen scraps/waste. Sprouted grains, seeds, legumes and beans. Let them free-range for bugs and other forage.
What kind of people’s food can chickens eat?
Can you feed chickens bread?
You can feed chickens bread, but only in small, occasional amounts as it offers very little nutritional value and can lead to health problems like obesity and malnutrition if given in large quantities. Moldy bread is toxic and should never be given to chickens, and even fresh bread should be considered a treat, not a staple, to ensure they still get a balanced diet of proper feed, vegetables, and other healthy snacks.