What Kitchen Scraps are Good or Bad to feed my Chickens?

Food	Yes
Acorn Squash, fruit, skins and seeds	Yes
Alfalfa	Yes
Almonds	Yes
Almond Butter	Yes
Amaranth, cooked or extruded	Yes
Ant	Yes	Typically chickens won’t eat ants. Be sure no pesticides were used on any colony
Apple	Yes	No seeds as seeds contain Cyanide
Apricot	Yes	Remove pit
Artichoke	Yes
Asparagus	Yes	May alter egg taste
Banana	Yes
Banana, skin or peel	Yes
Basil	Yes	Benefits the immune system
Bean Sprouts	Yes
Beans	Yes	ONLY cooked beans, never dry
Beet, leaves/leafs/greens	Yes
Beets	Yes
Bell Pepper	Yes
Bird Seed	Yes
Blueberries	Yes
Bread	Yes	Feed in moderation, as it contains nearly no nutritional value
Cantaloupe	Yes
Cantaloupe, seeds	Yes
Capsaicin	Yes	Chickens cannot taste capsaicin
Carrots	Yes
Cauliflower	Yes
Celery	Yes
Cheese	Yes	In moderation
Cherries	Yes	Remove pit
Chia Seed	Yes	Dried or gelled is ok
Chicken Bone	Yes	Only if cooked
Chicken, cooked	Yes
Chili	Yes
Chives	Yes	In small quantities, and only occasionally
Cilantro	Yes
Coconut	Yes
Collard Greens	Yes
Corn	Yes
Corn, husk	Yes
Corn, on cob	Yes
Cornbread	Yes
Cottage Cheese	Yes	Feed in moderation, chickens cannot process large quantities of dairy
Cranberry	Yes
Crawfish/crawdads, meat and shell	Yes
Crickets	Yes
Cucumber, peels	Yes
Cucumbers	Yes
Dog food	Yes	Only feed in moderation, best to restrict to when birds are molting
Edamame	Yes	do NOT feed uncooked soy
Egg shell	Yes	Great source of calcium
Egg, boiled/scrambled/cooked	Yes	Only feed cooked eggs, so they don’t start eating their own eggs
Eggs	Yes	Cooked only, to prevent encouraging egg eating
Fish	Yes
Flax seed	Yes
Garlic	Yes	In small quantities. Excellent water additive for immune support
Ginger	Yes	Great antioxidant and stress reducer
Goat food	Yes	Obviously, this is not meant to be a primary food source. But no harm will come if they get in the goat feed
Grape	Yes
Grass cuttings	Yes	Don’t feed grass clippings with any weed killer, pesticides or fertilizers applied. Use caution with longer cuttings, as they could lead to crop impaction
Green beans	Yes
Green peppers	Yes
Grits	Yes
Ham	Yes	In moderation due to salt content
Honey	Yes
Honeydew	Yes
Kidney beans	Yes	MUST be cooked
Kiwi	Yes
Lettuce	Yes
Mango	Yes
Meat scraps	Yes	Avoid fat, only feed cooked scraps, and only in moderation
Mushrooms, store bought	Yes
Nuts	Yes	Only shelled and unsalted
Oatmeal	Yes
Oatmeal, uncooked	Yes
Oats	Yes
Okra	Yes
Olives	Yes	Limit cured olives due to salt
Oregano	Yes	Excellent for immune health & as a water additive
Papaya	Yes
Pasta	Yes	Feed in moderation, as it contains nearly no nutritional value
Peaches	Yes	Remove pit
Peanut Butter	Yes
Peanuts	Yes
Pears	Yes
Peas	Yes
Pecans	Yes	Only shelled and unsalted
Pepper seed	Yes
Peppers	Yes
Pickles	Yes	Limit due to salt
Pineapple	Yes
Plum	Yes	Remove pit
Pomegranate	Yes
Popcorn, popped	Yes	Unsalted, unbuttered only
Popcorn, unpopped	Yes
Porridge	Yes
Potato, cooked or mashed	Yes
Pumpkin	Yes
Pumpkin, Seeds	Yes
Quinoa	Yes	Only washed or cooked, as raw contains saponins unpalatable to poultry
Radishes, and greens	Yes
Raisins	Yes
Raspberries	Yes
Rice	Yes	Cooked only
Rice, brown	Yes	Cooked only
Rice, cooked	Yes
Scrambled Eggs	Yes
Seaweed	Yes
Shrimp, meat and shell	Yes
Snails	Yes	Can carry gapeworm
Spinach	Yes
Squash	Yes
Strawberries	Yes
String beans	Yes
Sunflower Seeds	Yes	Great for molting birds
Sweet Potato	Yes
Tomato, ripe fruit	Yes
Walnuts	Yes	Only shelled and unsalted
Watermelon	Yes
Watermelon, rind	Yes
Wheat	Yes
Wheat Berries	Yes
Yam	Yes
Yogurt	Yes	Feed in moderation as chickens cannot digest milk. Good for probiotics
Zucchini	Yes

Bad Things

Fried foods (difficult to digest and they are not good for you either)

Uncooked and processed meats

Avocados

Onions

Raw eggs or whole egg shells (this can lead to egg eating!)

Chocolate (basically anything high in fat or sugar)

Strong-tasting foods like garlic and fish – they can impart unpleasant flavour to poultry meat and eggs

Anything spoiled or rotten

Anything that contains alcohol or caffeine

Dried beans

We have a whole list of plants that Chickens should not have access to listed on this page titled Plants For & Not For Chickens