Chicken Treat Chart: The Best Treats for Backyard Chickens

I don't agree with many of the items listed. Some people seem to like to continue past "wisdoms" which have no basis in fact. Old articles which have long been disproven should not be a basis of fact.
A number of items listed are great (at least for my birds). We have moved our birds to Superworms which are a bit more costly but have a much higher nutrition level. We feed all sorts of fresh veggies, uncooked oatmeal, pea shoots, bean sprouts and occasionally canned or fresh corn. Since we do our own canning and can control what is in our food, we give our birds all sorts of things that I wouldn't give them out of a can. Our birds have laid all winter long and are now showing full plumage as well as happiness.

This is an excellent article for both the novice and experienced. An educational and a refresher course for us all.

We see these lists each year. One subscriber took a screen shot for reference. I’ve copied them for my chickies, too. Today, I perused the article as a refresher. Repetition is an excellent tool for memorization.

Love the article but I wonder why no one ever puts chickweed on the list of treats. If your chickens aren’t free range they will never get this unless you pull it fro m your garden. Chickweed is a prevalent garden weed in Arkansas and my chickens favorite treat.

My girls go crazy over the
thanksgiving turkey carcass and chicken carcass from Costco's broiled chicken. I give it at night when the run is closed so the dogs and cats can't get the bones

Good article. I feed my chickens warm oatmeal on especially cold mornings (below 32 degrees). To make it extra nutritious, I save meat scraps whenever I’m trimming chicken or beef to cook chop into small pieces and put small portions in a container in the freezer. Then when making oatmeal for the girls, I throw a chunk of the frozen scraps into the water and by the time the oatmeal is made, the meat is cooked. Talk about going after their food!

Love this site! It is so informative!

Wonderful to have a list readily available. Screen shot the whole list.

Great list and dialog however, if you raise chicken to eat their eggs or sell the eggs, do not, I REPEAT DO NOT, feed your chickens raw fish. There is nothing wrong with feeding them fish, in fact they love it. I did feed them fish once, raw tuna scraps, a few days later I ate one of those eggs, it was like chewing on a fish oil capsule. So, so, so disgusting. not sure if cooked fish would do the same but I am not taking any chances.

I appreciate all guidelines concerning what to feed chickens. I like to slip dandelion greens through the mesh on top of their run, so they have to jump for it. I also like to spread natural peanut butter on whole grain bread and cut it up into little pieces. One hen grabs a piece and runs with it while the other inspects each one before she chooses.

Thanks for the information!! I’ve been looking for a list of acceptable foods for my chickens. This was very helpful and I will print it out to keep it handy for the future.

Always looking they may like and enjoy.

This list is awesome thank you very much! I will be referring to the list often as I like to mix up the foods that they can have. Mine love papaya and mango and a small amount of pineapple

Very helpful! Especially the part about the cat food, which I didn’t know!

Thank you for putting this together & sharing sweet photos of your flock. There's nothing quite as joyful & hilarious as a chicken finding a cricket, chasing another chicken that found a blueberry or one jumping up to reach grapes off of the vine, one at a time. You're right about some loving a particular food while others don't...mine all like yellow squash but only a few enjoy zucchini or cucumber...Go figure. This is a great list to remind me what varieties I can offer my flock, thank you.

I reference this all the time to entertain different treats for my chickens. thanks for providing info

Wow, this list is my future go-to for chicken treats!

Awsome!

Good article. Laid out very well.

Wonderful, in detail, easy to read, straight to the point. My chickens always try eating foam, dried paint, plastic, you name it and they’ll find a way to try and eat it.

This was very helpful, especially the what not to feed. I got a lot of great ideas on how to spoil my babies