What Not to Feed Chickens: 33 Unhealthy & Toxic Foods
One of the most confusing and hotly debated issues in chicken keeping is what NOT to feed chickens. Here are 33 foods that are unhealthy or toxic for chickens
There are many sides to this issue; some people feed their chickens absolutely everything and leave it up to the chickens to decide what's best for them. Others are uber careful about every morsel that enters the chicken coop.
When deciding what chickens should not eat, we tend to fall somewhere in the middle.
There are hundreds of foods that you can feed to your chickens, and some that you absolutely want to avoid.
In fact, there are at least 33 foods chickens shouldn't eat. Some of the foods on this list may not outright kill your chickens. But have been known to cause internal issues and are best avoided altogether.
Some of the foods on this list are just unappealing to chickens and would be better off getting tossed in the compost pile.
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Feeding chickens the wrong foods can lead to many health issues, such as kidney failure, heart problems, obesity, and death. This list contains some toxic foods for chickens as well as foods that chickens just prefer not to eat.
While we all love to lower the chicken feed bill by giving kitchen scraps to our birds, it's a good idea to be mindful and stay on the safe side by avoiding the following foods.
From the Garden:
It may be tempting to give your chickens every bit of scrap to come out of your garden, but slow your roll for just a moment.
There are several things from the garden that are just terrible for chickens. Leaves from members of the nightshade family are poisonous to chickens.
Potatoes with green skin can make your chickens sick and even kill them, and they're not good for you either!
Many types of uncooked beans will kill your birds. Be sure to do your best to keep chickens out of the garden and avoid giving them the items on this list.
What Not to Feed Chickens From the Garden:
- Green Potatoes and green potato skins
- Tomato Leaves and Tomato Plants
- Onions
- Potato Leaves
- Rhubarb and Rhubarb Leaves
From the Kitchen:
Most of the things in your kitchen are fine to feed to chickens in moderation. We've even written a post on 100 things you can feed your chickens, including lots of table scraps from the kitchen.
We do have to warn you, though, that the following items are ones to keep out of the coop. Some of these foods are straight-up poisonous, and some your chickens will just scoff at. A lot of the foods on this list have little nutritional value. While they're not full of toxic substances, they just aren't doing your chickens any favors regarding their health.
A good rule of thumb for feeding chickens from the kitchen is to ask yourself, "Is this junk food?" If the food in question is highly processed, full of sugar, salt, or grease, it's likely not good for your chickens.
Another great way to easily decide is to ask yourself, "Is this something I would eat?" Things like coffee grounds, leftover food that has mold or has gone rotten are all things you'd never eat, and should definitely never feed them to your flock.
What Not to Feed Chickens From the Kitchen
- Anything Containing Caffeine or Alcohol
- Any Salty foods
- Anything Sugary
- Apple seeds and apple cores
- Avocado (controversial, certainly avoid the skin and pit)
- Butter
- Candy and Chocolate
- Citrus fruits and citrus peels
- Fried Foods
- Junk food, such as chips and pretzels
- Ice Cream, Sherbet, Frozen Yogurt
- Pastries and Sweet Baked Goods
- Rotten or Moldy Food
- Seeds and Pits from fruit
- Soda & Juice
- Uncooked raw beans
- Uncooked Pasta and uncooked rice
From the Yard:
Here's where things get a little tricky. You likely have plenty of wild and cultivated plants growing on your property. If you free-range your flock, they have the opportunity to eat those plants.
Many wild and ornamental plants are not safe for chickens to eat, but that doesn't mean you have to choose between having these plants in your yard and keeping chickens.
Now, let me preface this by saying I'm not a veterinarian or expert, just someone who loves to share my love of chickens with the world.
In our experience raising chickens over the years in several different locations, we've found that chickens tend not to eat toxic plants that are not good for them.
We let our chickens out to free range every week. Our property has lots of wild mushrooms, rhubarb, beans, ferns, weeds, flowers, shrubbery, and trees galore.
Our chickens eat a ton of the vegetation on our property, but they naturally don't touch the things on this list, or if they do, it's a tasting nibble, and then never again.
If you don't want to take the risk, or if you don't believe your chickens will be able to discern what's good from bad in the yard, you may have to either keep the chickens contained or consider removing or fencing off the following plants on your property.
What Not to Feed Chickens From the Yard:
- Azalea
- Ferns
- Foxglove
- Holly
- Lawn clippings (can eat in moderation, too much can lead to crop issues)
- Lobelia
- Lupine
- Mushrooms
- Nightshades
- Rhododendron
- Oak Leaves and Acorns
- Toads (a weird one, I know, but chickens can die from eating those cute little tiny toads)
I know it can be nerve-racking to figure out what not to feed to chickens when you first start raising them. This list aims to at least give you a starting point and some general guidance.
A good rule of thumb when feeding your chickens is to ask yourself, "Is this a good, healthy food for people to eat?" If it is, then it's probably okay to feed to your chickens, of course, with some exceptions.
Chickens will thrive when fed a whole food diet. They are omnivores, meaning they eat both vegetation and meat. They love eating most vegetables, most fruits, meat of all types, eggs, and some dairy in moderation.
It's perfectly fine to give your chickens a healthy snack from the kitchen or garden as long as it's not on this list.
If you follow these basic guidelines and use your best judgment when feeding your chickens, you'll be sure to raise a happy, healthy flock.
If you're curious to know what you CAN feed to your chickens, don't miss our post with 100+ things you can feed to chickens.
Along with a commercial feed, giving your chickens small quantities of these favorite treats will give them a balanced diet and help to avoid health issues down the road.
I know it states no junk food however are Crusts from pizzas ok or not? And also how many years do they lay eggs for ours are coming up 19weeks now and only had them a week and a half..and had about 15-20 eggs
Yes pizza crusts and other breads are fine in moderation. Egg laying totally depends on the chicken! Most chickens you can count on 4 years of good egg laying, but we've had some that kept laying daily until they were 8-9 years old. And have had others that stopped daily laying at 2 years old.
@Meredith, I had a flock for many years and there was one buff Orpington that lasted 13 yrs. Goldie gave an egg every day until a raccoon snuck in. She was a lap chicken, never found another as sweet.
My new coop ( I am new to chickens) is on ground where a cherry tree used to be and there are still old cherry stones around. Also Hazel nuts from another cut down tree. Will very old cherry pits be a problem?
My hens are under a plum tree and also where a cherry tree was recently cut down with several old cherry pits around. Should I be worried?
I wouldn't worry about that, they're very unlikely to eat pits off the ground.
I thought you had to be careful feeding dried mealworms? My friend who keeps chicken has been farming his own because the company he rehomed his hens from advises against it. They said that most are imported and often nutritionally compromised and even sometimes fed on a diet that should not enter the human food chain via egg consumption. Can anybody clear this up please?
Dried mealworms are perfectly fine to feed to your chickens, if you're worried about it you can buy from US based sellers or raise your own mealworms.
Mostly concerned with our 23 chickens eating llama poop. We try to keep it picked up but can't always keep up with 4 llamas. Thank you
I’m new to having chickens and I have one chicken that I raised from a chick and what feed brands are good for her and what feed brands to avoid giving her?
Any brand of chicken food is perfectly fine, that's a matter of personal preference and your budget. Personally I love Scratch and Peck feed, but any feed that's made for chickens is good!