Chickens typically enjoy eating a varied diet that consists of vegetables, fruits, and protein-rich treats.
While most foods available to your chickens should be safe for consumption, you should avoid giving certain ones. These could include those which cause health issues or weight gain for them as well as anything toxic which might harm them in any way.
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Potatoes
Chickens are omnivorous creatures that delight in snacking on fruits, vegetables, grains and table scraps – as well as enjoying scratch feed made up of barley, sunflower seeds, wheat and corn.
Chickens enjoy fruit like watermelons, strawberries and raspberries but should only be given in moderation to prevent digestive upset. Rhubarb, uncooked beans and green potato skins can cause serious intestinal distress in chickens so it is wise to avoid feeding these to your flock.
Watermelon Rind
Watermelons are summertime favorites thanks to their sweet flavor, high water content, and array of antioxidants like citrulline, lycopene, and carotenoids that provide essential nutrition while simultaneously quenching thirst and decreasing body temperature.
Before purchasing watermelons, always double-check their expiration dates to avoid spoilage. Smell and color can give a telltale sign if a fruit has gone bad.
Radishes
Chickens enjoy snacking on fresh fruits, vegetables and insects to add nutrition and energy to their diet while keeping active. Snacking on nutritious treats keeps chickens feeling good!
Orange peels can make for an exciting treat for chickens to snack on, but only in moderation due to the nightshade toxin solanine present in them. Before offering orange peels to your flock, be sure to thoroughly wash and scrub the peels first so as to ensure their consumption will not cause harm to their health.
Orange Peels
Oranges are an essential ingredient in winter diets for chickens. Rich in Vitamin C, which has long been recognized as being essential to maintaining strong immune systems and cardiovascular wellness, oranges provide essential nutrition.
Also packed with fiber and polyphenols, which help manage cholesterol and lower risk factors associated with chronic diseases such as cancer.
Orange peel is an integral ingredient in many savory dishes, providing citrusy flair to soups, sauces and meat rubs.
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is an extremely nutritious and healthy vegetable that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Packed full of fiber and antioxidants to support heart and blood vessel health, cauliflower offers great value.
Your body needs magnesium to help manage cholesterol and inflammation levels, while decreasing risk for cancer and other gastrointestinal diseases.
Sulforaphane, an antioxidant found in this food, helps raise blood pressure and enhance kidney function, as well as promote DNA methylation – an effect which may protect arteries from damage while increasing their functionality.
Sunflower Seeds
Sunflower seeds are an excellent source of essential fatty acids and other vitamins and minerals, as well as being high in fiber – helping prevent diabetes, heart disease and certain forms of cancer.
Chickens require a diet rich in fruits and vegetables to ensure they receive all of their essential vitamins. Produce such as leafy greens, corn, cooked beans, non-sugary cereals/ grains/berries can all be given safely to chickens.
Pumpkin Seeds
Chickens consume an array of foods from fruits and veggies to grains and seeds – their favorite foods being corn, oats, barley, sunflower and pumpkin seeds.
While chickens can be known to enjoy eating nearly anything they find, some foods should be strictly off limits as they could potentially be unhealthy or poisonous to them.
Cantaloupe Seeds
Cantaloupes are delicious fruit that provide chickens with essential vitamins and minerals. Low in fat and packed full of vitamin C for healthy skin and bones, cantaloupes offer many health benefits to chickens!
Cantaloupe rinds are also an excellent source of calcium for chickens to produce healthy eggs. You can add cantaloupe rinds to your compost pile as a means of increasing soil nutrients; just bear in mind that they take longer to decompose than other materials.
