Table Scraps and Leftovers for Chickens

I always dread these articles. Not because they’re not well intended but because it’s unnecessary and can cause more harm than good. Chickens are one of the most studied animals on the planet. Poultry nutritionists have come up with the correct and complex balance of nutrients in commercial chicken feed so that they are both productive and healthy. There’s science behind it. The rule is 90/10 but honestly, most of us over-love our chickens with unnecessary quantities of extras. With the pecking order, how do you determine which chickens are just getting their 10% share? Secondly, some of the items on this list offer NO nutritional benefits to chickens (spaghetti??). I heard a chicken expert frame it this way - we would never add extras to baby’s breast milk because it’s nutritionally complete. Why would we do that to our chickens if our goal is good health? Regarding this idea that they are omnivores and appreciate variety in their diet. Well they are visual eaters. They have something like 250-300 tastebuds and no teeth to chew, unlike humans who have between 2000-4000 tastebuds.So food goes in the beak and down the hatch. Unless folks are keeping their flocks cooped up all day, most chickens are getting access to bugs and other creepy crawlers. So, I would whether not create unnecessary health risks by feeding the a whole lot of stuff they don’t need.

Fantastic article a lot of good information.

I will NEVER give meat to my chickens, let alone encourage cannibalism. Wth. Idc what anyone says, that is just WRONG on so many levels. Feeding cooked chicken to your chickens are you effing kidding me?? Absolutely NEVER! Disgusting.

Lots of detail.. But my neighbor smmed it up nicely when I first started with chickens some sixteen years ago "You can't poison a chicken." Now Joe was about seventy or so at the time and had come up in a house w/o inside plumbing etc etc. So, I trusted Joe and fed my (free-range) birds accordingly.

I keep a coffee 'can' on the counter and strainers in the sink. Whatever food particles wind up in the sink, get transfered to the container. When preparing dinner, the odd bits of this, that and the other discarded in trimming the veg or meat are added to the 'can.' at teh end of the meal the plates are scraped and rinsed into the sink and that detritus winds up in the strainer, then into the 'can.' With each pot of coffee the can gets the grounds.

And, the chickens get whatever's in that coffee can the next day. So, egg shells after breakfast. Cantaloupe seeds and rind as well as orange peel*, less than perfect grapes and bananna peel.

* I was gifted a ninjah bullet food chapper thing and will grind up the banana peel and orange peel along with whatever's in the can (sometime I add water to facilitate the chopping) and toss the resulting mess in teh run for them to peck at - eating what they will and discarding whatever they don't feel ike eating that day.

I figure what they don't eat will attract insects which they love to eat.

I've got the best tasting eggs and sell every dozen they produce to the same small set of customers that swear by them.

I also use that chopper thing to turn a rotisserie chicken's remains into Dog Food Enhancement - bones, cartilige, skin fat (whatever we don't eat) all becomes a treat to mix in with the bargain dry dog food.

In short, these birds, left to their own devices, got along without us beore they met us and will get along without us as necessary. But it doesn't hurt to let them have at your (otherwise) garbage or compost as long as you have to go out there and collect the eggs anyway

I have fed my chickens cooked white hominy as a treat and when I do they grab it and run as fast as then can. lol
They do not like scrambled eggs at all

overall a good article with a great list of items to feed, but it's super easy to just ask google if in doubt! not sure why nuts are on the avoid list, not even a specific one type but all? My girls don't like bananas. I take the fruit out of the peel, is that how others feed them? not sure why they don't like them!

Well written and excellent information. Good list of what to avoid as well.

Well written and informative. Thanks for the list! You mention that you get instant fertilizer giving hens your veggies instead of composting but please warn that chicken poop is a Hot Fertilizer and should be aged at least 6 months or it will burn the roots on the plants you are fertilizing. Thanks for the fine article!

I'm surprised to see nuts and raw meat listed on the do not feed lists. Feeding either will not harm your flock.

A quick search of this site will show that lots of people use both to treat their flocks. Just make sure the raw meat isn't bad. We gave our chickens a pint of hamburger meat (we have 30, so not as much as it seems) and they loved it. Additionally, free range chickens catch and eat mice and frogs - and insects. Here is an article from a person certified in chicken health about meat:
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/can-chickens-eat-meat.html

Also, some commercial chicken treats have nuts and seeds in them.

Are there particular reasons these are included on your list? Are there particular nuts which are no-nos?

Here is a link to many things chickens can eat - notice that nuts is in the list. The infographic is made by a commercial treat producer
https://grubblyfarms.com/blogs/the-flyer/the-complete-guide-to-what-chickens-can-eat#:~:text=Almonds are a great source,chicken piñata for added enrichment!

I admit that raw meat is controversial. Grubbly Farms discourages it, but many other chicken keepers actively feed their flocks raw meat with no harm. You just want to make sure it is very fresh. If you wouldn't eat it, don't feed it to your birds. And you want to make sure it is in moderation because meat tends to be high fat - cooked or raw. But we aren't talking about a steady diet. We are talking about their treats.

Very informative, thank you for sharing. I am curious about no raw meat. What about bones that may have some raw meat? I sometimes have knuckle bones that may have crawled to the bottom of my freezer. Once thawed, doggo gets his share but I wonder if it’s ok for the girls?

Very informative!

What a great article. I had forgotten some of the nots. My worms eat everything except egg shells. So I bake them and powder them to return to the earth.

Nice to be reminded of the dos and don'ts of table scraps. Our girls expect every time we let them out of their coop in the morning they run up to the house to see what leftovers from our dinner the night before. If we don't have anything, we see what we have in the refrigerator that can be tossed out to them or if we have a bag of chips or tortillas we toss that out. As for not giving them garlic, I beg to differ. Our eggs are so delicious, especially hard boiled eggs, and I believe a lot of the reason is that the leftovers they eat has garlic or is seasoned with different spices.

This was SO helpful as I am a HUGE lover of giving our beautiful flock treats!!! I love the sounds they make and how excited they all get when they know we’re headed out with treats!!! I made a horrible mistake the other day and fed them cuties (little oranges) segments. We have 27 total feathered family members and I fed out 6 of those buggers!! They ate them and no one seemed to have any type of reaction; thank goodness!! But I honestly had NO idea the broad range of foods they can eat and love to eat! This was great!!! Thankyou! And as far as the lower rating due to accusing of forced cannibalism??? Birds/animals out in the wild eat what they eat to survive; in the safety of being a pet or member of your homestead, what is fed to them is up to the discrepancy of the owner. Cruel and disrespectful anyone would even post such manure!! And very sad on the UK folks; against the law to feed our scraps??? Yikes and sad!

I was surprised to see nuts on the list of no-no's. I've seen it on the list for ok in so many other places. I've fed my girls nuts as treats for years without any adverse effects. In fact, I had a couple at one point that recognized the container I bought nuts in and would sit on the patio and beg for treats. If ignored, they would hop up onto my lap.

This was very useful. I wasn’t aware they couldn’t have nuts. I’ve given mine nuts before in a wild bird seed mix. I won’t do it anymore.

This was VERY useful and appreciate the list provided. During the winter I provide more supplemental "treats" and scraps from my kitchen. They LOVE the visits and always know the sound of my nearing means goodies!! In the summer when they are out and have more free range, I let them get their fill on what is available from their own scavenger hunts.

This seems pretty consistent with what I've read over the years.

I became a better mom when we got chickens because I stopped freaking out about how much food my toddler was wasting when he would run his hands through his meals and then refuse to eat most of it. Now my kids are much older and don't do that but having the chickens around helps us put our leftovers and scraps to good use, making it easier to teach my kids to eat until they're full rather than clean their plate (an unhealthy eating habit I was taught).

I really like and appreciate this article. I only have 3 chickens and they look forward to their daily snacks.

Would be a good article except..... Are you aware that it is now a criminal offence in the UK to feed chickens waste human food/leftovets etc. Perhaps administrators of this web/blog, albeit written in the US, should be aware you have many readers in the UK. Perhaps a note on such articles to make folk aware. Nick Scott, Cairnryan, Scotland.