The 7 Best Chicken Treats

What are the best chicken treats, you ask?

Oh, what a fun question. There are few things more amusing around here than walking out the door with a bowl of food scraps. My hens know that when I’m carrying the white scrap bowl, it’s time for chicken treats. And, they start hustling!

If you let your chickens free range, then they already have a deliciously varied diet from eating weeds, bugs, and flowers. If you use an enclosed run, giving your chickens healthy treats can boost their intake of vitamins and protein. Either way, giving your flock special chicken treats is fun and satisfying. It’s also a great way to keep that food out of the landfill and reduce food waste.

When Can I Give Baby Chicks Treats?

If you’re raising chicks at home, you might be wondering when you can start giving them some tasty chicken treats. Generally, you should wait at least a week or two before giving baby chicks treats. This allows their sensitive digestive tracts to develop fully, and lessens the chance that they’ll have health problems from new foods (like impacted crop).

Once your baby chicks are a week old, give them treats that will be easy to digest. A hard boiled egg, cottage cheese, or even a bowl of plain yogurt are all good sources of protein and other nutrients. And, practice extreme moderation here. Chicks should get almost all their nutrition from chick starter, which is carefully formulated with the protein, vitamins, and minerals they need for development.

If you do give your chicks treats, make sure you provide them with a source of grit so that they can digest their food.

Best Chicken Treats

You’ll get a laugh out of watching your chickens come running when they know you have something special. However, it’s important to realize that while there are many best foods for chickens, there are also many foods that are toxic and even deadly. So, let’s start with the best chicken treats.

1. Fresh Fruit

Chickens love fresh fruit. Fresh fruit is healthy, packed with vitamins, and can help hens stay cool and hydrated in hot weather. If you want see a happy chicken, dole out some fruit.

There isn’t really any fruit that you can’t give your hens. But you’ll find that your hens will each have their own likes and dislikes. They might devour grapes, but turn up their beaks at blueberries.

For example, some of my hens won’t touch strawberries. I have no idea why. But watermelon? Every single one of them will eat a watermelon down to the rind and still be searching for more. Grapes and bananas are also very popular with the girls.

To save money on fruit, consider buying the aged fresh fruit that’s on super sale at your local grocery store. For instance, you can often buy a bag of spotty brown bananas for $.99 at many grocery store chains. If you have a small flock that can’t eat the whole bag before they go bad, freeze them. Peel the bananas and compost the peels. Wrap each banana in a piece of parchment paper and store them in the freezer. Giving your chickens frozen fruit is another smart way to keep them cool when the weather is hot.

Keep in mind that you can freeze just about any type of fruit to give your hens, so if you come across a great deal at the store don’t be afraid to buy extra.

You might also be wondering…can chickens eat apples? The short answer is, yes, as long as you pick out the seeds. Apple seeds contain small amounts of cyanide, and this is a chemical you definitely don’t want your chickens to consume. So, pick out the seeds and you’re good to go.

2. Vegetables for Chickens

Fresh vegetables are one of the best chicken treats because they’re low in calories and high in vitamins and nutrients. You can give your chicken vegetable treats that are raw or cooked.

Some vegetables that make great chicken treats include:

• Beets: Cooked or raw, greens included
• Broccoli and Cauliflower: Raw or cooked
• Cabbage: Put a whole head out for them to peck at
• Greens: Lettuce, kale, and spinach are all healthy for chickens
• Wild Edibles: Chickweed is very popular with chickens
• Cucumber: Cucumber is full of water which makes it a great treat during summer months
• Pumpkin: Chickens love raw pumpkin, so when you’re done with your jack o’lanterns this Halloween toss it to your flock for a healthy treat
• Carrots: Raw or cooked, greens included
• Green Beans: Cooked only; raw beans contain the toxin phytohemaglutinin which can quickly kill a bird if consumed
• Zucchini and Squash: Raw or cooked; if you have a garden, your chickens might decimate these two crops (don’t ask me how I know…)
• Tomatoes: Another favorite out of the garden
• Corn: Chickens love corn cooked or raw; feed it to them straight on the cob and watch them peck away at it
• Sprouts: Sprouts are one of the best chicken treats because they’re extremely high in nutrients and easy to pick at and digest; grow sprouts at home to save money

Vegetables to Avoid

Unlike fruit, there are a few vegetables that could be harmful to chickens. Avoid giving your hens the following foods:

• Onions: Raw or cooked
• Avocados: Especially the pit and skin, which contains a toxin called persin which make your chickens sick)
• Green potatoes: Contains a toxin called solanine; cooked potatoes without any green spots are fine
• Eggplant: Leaves and fruit contain solanine
• Raw beans: Raw beans contain phytohemaglutinin, which is highly toxic to humans and chickens alike. You can give your chickens cooked beans as long as they are completely soft.
• Anything moldy: Avoid giving your chickens anything that is moldy or rotten. Wilted vegetables are fine.

3. Mealworms Are One of the Best Chicken Treats Ever

One of the best chicken treats of all time are mealworms. Chickens love mealworms. And by love I mean that if you walk out the door with a bag of mealworms you’re going to get mobbed. I don’t know what it is about this little bug, but it’s like caviar or morel mushrooms or the finest steak. Your chickens will not turn it down.

The only problem with mealworms is that they’re pretty expensive. We don’t buy mealworms for our girls for this very reason. Prices vary considerably depending on where you go, but you can get a 10 lb. bag of freeze dried mealworms on Amazon for around $55. You can also find mealworms at your local co-op, feed store, or at Tractor Supply.

If you do give your hens mealworms, do so in moderation. Mealworms are very high in protein so your hens don’t need a lot. Mealworms are a great treat to give when your chickens are molting, as the extra protein will help their feathers grow back faster.

4. Cooked Oatmeal or Raw Oats

Chickens love cooked oatmeal, especially during the winter months when it’s cold. When we have leftover oatmeal at breakfast, I take it straight out to the hens. Chickens also love to eat raw oats.

Avoid giving your chickens instant oatmeal (from packets). Instant oatmeal has high amounts of sugar, which is unhealthy for your birds.

5. Scrambled or Hardboiled Eggs

Cooked eggs are one of the best chicken treats because they’re delicious and high in protein. Cooked eggs are also good for a sick chick or hen because it’s so filling and easy to digest.

Never give your chickens raw eggs. Chickens will certainly eat a raw egg, but you don’t want them to develop a taste for this, as it will cause them to start eating their own eggs. This is a terribly bad habit that’s hard to curb once it starts.

6. Cooked Pasta

There are few things my hens love more than cooked pasta. Noodles, elbows, rotini, shells…they love it all.

Feed chickens cooked pasta in moderation. Pasta high in carbohydrates and doesn’t offer that much nutrition. And just like us, too much pasta can quickly lead to weight gain.

7. Meat

Chickens love meat of any kind…including chicken. Some chicken owners feel uneasy about giving their chickens cooked chicken to eat, and I can understand this point of view. However, I give our girls the leftover chicken we have and they love it. It’s healthy and high in protein, and I certainly would rather give it to them than let it go to waste.

Chickens will eat any kind of meat. Just avoid meat that is fatty, fried, or otherwise highly processed.

Are Bread and Rice Good Chicken Treats?

Many people love giving stale bread and cooked rice to chickens. And there’s no doubt that chickens love these treats. However, bread and rice offer little nutritional value and can cause your chickens to gain weight, so only give these treats in moderation. Whole grain bread and brown rice are more nutritional options.

Note: Never give your chickens uncooked rice. Uncooked rice will swell in their system and can be fatal.

Avoid Processed, Sugary, or Salty Chicken Treats

Never give your chickens foods that have been highly processed. Anything that comes out of a box or can (unless it’s vegetables) should be avoided. If you do give your chickens canned vegetables, make sure it’s low salt or salt-free.

You should also avoid giving your chickens any food high in sugar or salt. These foods, like sugary breakfast cereal or canned pasta or soup, can cause weight gain and other health problems.

Practice Moderation With Chicken Treats

It’s important that you don’t go overboard with chicken treats. Giving your chickens too many treats will upset their nutritional balance and lead to obesity and other health problems like fatty liver or vent prolapse. Too many treats can also interfere with egg production and cause hens to lay fewer eggs or stop entirely.

Here’s a good example of how too many treats can affect a bird. We took in two roosters last spring that needed a home. One of them, Christopher, was overweight from lack of exercise and too many treats. He didn’t seem to have a lot of energy, he had trouble mating with the hens, and he couldn’t move as fast as his brother. He was just unhealthy and he didn’t feel good.

We’d planned to keep them penned up, but decided to let everyone keep free ranging so that both roosters could get the exercise and varied diet they so badly needed.

Once he was on a healthy diet and getting plenty of daily exercise, Christopher began to lose weight and perk back up.

Last Word

Doling out some of the best chicken treats now and then is rewarding, and it’s fun to watch them dig into something delicious that they don’t get to eat every day. However, don’t go overboard. Treats should never make up more than 10% of your chickens’ diets.

I’d love to hear back from you. What treats do your chickens love most?