Chickens are a popular backyard pet. They are popping up in many gardens across the country, which is good as they can help minimize household waste. However, chickens still need a balanced diet to stay healthy, so what can chickens eat?
Chickens are omnivores and can eat many different foods. Chickens can eat fruits and vegetables, like bananas and beetroot. They can eat grains like oatmeal and barley, and they can eat meat, like mealworms and meat scraps from your kitchen if they are cooked properly.
There are a lot of foods that chickens can eat, and there are others you need to avoid for the health of your chickens. We will go over and explain the foods chickens can eat and foods they should never eat in this article.
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What Do Chickens Eat?
Chickens are becoming popular backyard animals, with more and more people raising their own chickens. If you want to own your own chickens, you need to know what chickens eat to ensure they stay healthy in your care. So, what do chickens eat?
Well, chickens are omnivores and scavengers, so they will try to eat just about anything you put in front of them. However, particular foods should be a part of a chicken’s balanced diet because they are extremely good for them. Let’s go over the foods that chickens can eat.
Fruits And Vegetables
To keep chickens healthy, you need to give them fresh fruits and vegetables at least three times a week. Many chicken owners will save their kitchen scraps of lettuce, spinach, and other leafy greens for their chickens.
Chickens can also eat pumpkins and squash, cucumbers, kale, carrots, bananas, apples, and more. Some of these foods are considered treats for chickens and should be limited, but they are perfectly fine for chickens to eat.
Grains
Gains should make up the majority of a chicken’s diet. Barley, birdseed, cooked rice, corn, and oatmeal, should all be given to chickens as a part of a healthy diet. Barley and birdseed, in particular, should be given to chickens daily.
Different Plants
Chickens can also eat many different types of plants and herbs. These should be included in their diet as treats, though. These plants include basil, thyme, mint, daisies, rose, ferns, hostas, and more.
So, if you don’t want your chickens snacking on your flowers, you should keep them in a fenced-off chicken area.
Meat Options For Chickens
As chickens are omnivores, they do require some meat in their diets to remain healthy. You can give your chickens scraps of meat from your kitchen if it’s cooked properly and has no sauces.
Otherwise, you can feed your chickens mealworms, ham, tinned cat food, and more to ensure they get the protein they need.
What Should You Feed Chickens Daily?
For chickens, you need to feed them mostly grains, with fruits and vegetable portions every second day. The meat you feed them should also be given daily, as chickens require a good amount of protein to stay healthy.
A chicken’s diet should follow the 90 and 10 rule: their diets should be 90% normal, well-balanced food, and 10% treats. This means you can feed your chickens treats like pumpkins once a week.
What You Should Never Feed Chickens
So, there are many foods you can feed your chickens. Some of these foods may have even surprised you. Many of your kitchen scraps can be fed to your chickens, creating a recycling process in your own yard.
However, even though there are many foods you can feed your chickens, there is a whole bunch of food you should never feed your chickens as well. These foods are unhealthy for your chickens, or they can cause your chickens to become ill.
As a chicken owner, you want to ensure your chickens are always in the best health possible, so let’s look at which foods you should avoid feeding your chickens.
Candy Or Chocolate
One of the foods you must never feed your chickens is Candy or chocolate. For the obvious reason, Candy is filled with sugar and other chemicals that chickens are not used to eating. This can cause your chickens to be ill for a day or two, depending on how much they eat.
Chocolate is a big risk to chickens and should never be given to chickens for the same reason it should never be given to dogs. There is a compound in chocolate called theobromine that is toxic to dogs and poultry. Feeding your chickens chocolate could kill them.
Avocados
Avocados are another food you should stay away from when feeding your chickens. Even though some chicken owners feed their chickens avocados, it’s not advisable, and many experts are firmly against it.
The peel and pit of the avocados contain a compound called persin, which is extremely toxic to birds and can easily kill your chickens if they ingest a small amount of it. So, it’s best to avoid avocados altogether when feeding your chickens, as it’s an unnecessary risk.
Citrus Fruits
Citrus fruits are still argued about to this day, so the jury is still out about whether you can feed these fruits to your chickens or not. However, some people suggest these fruits can interfere with calcium absorption and cause the chickens to become ill, but this is not scientifically confirmed.
These fruits still have a question mark above them, so you can try to feed them to your chickens if you want to, but we aren’t sure if they will have a reaction. It might be better to go on the side of caution with this one and not feed citrus fruits to your chickens until more research is done.
Dry Beans
Even though you can feed your chickens cooked beans, feeding beans when they are still dry to your chickens is not a good idea. Dried beans contain hemagglutinin which is a big problem for birds and can kill them. When beans are cooked, the hemagglutinin is broken down and no longer a risk to your chickens.
Conclusion
Chickens can eat many different foods, with some being better for them than others. Chickens can eat kitchen scraps, including meat, which can help cut down on household waste. There are also foods you must never feed your chickens, as they can make your chickens ill.
Chickens still need a balanced diet to stay healthy, so you should keep an eye on what you feed them and when to ensure they remain happy and healthy. Good luck with your chickens!
