Can chickens eat coffee grounds?

[JudithM]

I recently heard about somebody using coffee chaff (from a roasting facility) for use as bedding and soil amendment. They have coffee grounds available too.

So, can chickens eat coffee grounds?

They can eat (apparently tannin-laced) acorns, so why not? Anybody try this?

EDIT: And would they eat the grounds? Would they get hooked on morning coffee if they did???

 

[JudithM]

I plant to sprinkle coffee grounds in my open air chicken pen because they discourage ants. The grounds will not kill the ants but they certainly don't like them an tend to relocate if you sprinkle coffee grounds around. I don't know if the chickens will pay them any attention or not just mixed with the sand in my pen.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

so you just dump leaves from the yard and coffee grounds in their pen and let them "mulch" it up for you and then what?? im new to chickens, but I have a lot of leaves and quite a bit of coffee grounds so knowing something good to do with them would be helpful!! thanks for any info you might have.

In the run, a setup as described would do a much better job of cutting down on odors, absorbing excess moisture, and allowing chicken manure to compost than a bare run.

I've never tried mixing in coffee grinds, but may start. I put LOTS of leaves into my run, and find that there can still be odor when you have a long stretch of wet days (aka, the last 10 months here RI).

 

[JudithM]

In the run, a setup as described would do a much better job of cutting down on odors, absorbing excess moisture, and allowing chicken manure to compost than a bare run.

I've never tried mixing in coffee grinds, but may start. I put LOTS of leaves into my run, and find that there can still be odor when you have a long stretch of wet days (aka, the last 10 months here RI).

We tried the shavings in the pens among other things and ended up with a soggy rotting mess. Our new pen has a coop in the middle of run with sand and it is easy to clean with a fine tooth stable rake we just purchased online from Big Dees Tack and Vet Supplies. It is so easy to scoop through the pen each morning, removing the majority of waste and so far, sand is staying clean and even the flies don't seem too interested but the ants.. awk! That is why we are going to start putting used coffee grounds in with the sand. I know you can put them on ant hills and the ants move away. Rain washes the sand and keeps it nice and clean with my help of daily or at least every other day, removing as much feces as possible.

 

[kerbotx]

I just saw bags of dried spent coffee grounds at TSC labeled as chick bedding... I was shocked, as I thought common wisdom was against this. Anyone use the stuff?

I just ran across it on the TSC website myself! Of course, my thinking is, can I do it myself for free?? Anybody?

 

[Meg-in-MT]

So I got some of this for my chicks and absolutely love it for the brooder pen. If you get a fine sifter (found a reptile sand pooper scooper) it works great and it is a lot less stinky than pine shavings. I just got a big bag of grounds from my local coffee shop and am drying them out!

How long have they been in there with the grounds? No issues? Do they try to eat them?

 

[BrynsHyns]

How long have they been in there with the grounds? No issues? Do they try to eat them?

About 1 1/2 weeks and so far no issues. I was cleaning them daily and dumping them about every few days. So far no issues, but I would suggest getting nipple drinkers and a feeder that is raised. That way the grounds are less likely to get into their drinking water. (Precautionary) I am new at this, but I was having a mild allergic reaction to the pine dust so this is an alternative that works for us!