In this post we will cover what can chickens eat. Specifically, can they eat tomatoes, rice, bananas, potatoes and pumpkin?
Plus, a few other tips on my general philosophy for feeding scraps to chickens.
Many people worry about what to feed their chickens because they’re thinking of things like their dog. You don’t want to give your dog chocolate or raisins or onion. That doesn’t end too well.
So it’s natural to worry about your chickens and wonder what you should actually be feed them? What’s going to hurt them?
Unfortunately, sometimes I see people really like straying on the side of being super cautious and then they don’t end up feeding their chickens a lot of scraps, but that’s kind of boring because it’s super fun to watch your chickens eat scraps.
I don’t know if you’ve ever watched a chicken scratch through a pile of fresh vegetables or some old stale rice that you had in your fridge for a long time, but it’s super entertaining.
Using your Chickens to Create Compost
And feeding your chickens your scraps is another great way to cut down on your organic waste. About 25% of trash these days is organic and could be composted, so we treat our chicken coop like a giant compost pile.
They’re in there. They’re turning it. They’re eating some things out of the scrap pile. But then they’re also turning the rest into very nutrient-rich garden fertilizer.
Since our chicken coop acts as our compost bin, I tend to be a lot more lenient towards the rules. Meaning…I kind of bend them a little bit.
Although most people say not to give your chickens coffee or onions or a ton of tomatoes, especially unripe ones or potato pods or avocados, I definitely give them all of those things.
I give my chickens almost all of our organic waste, and here’s why I don’t think it’s a problem.
Number one, our chickens have access to a lot of different things. They have their laying hen feed. In the summer, they can go out, they can scavenge, they can hunt for bugs.
They have all the vegetation and even when I bring them scraps, I’m bringing them such a wide variety that they can pick and choose the things that are good for them.
I know that’s kind of trusting them a lot, but I do. I trust them to choose the things that probably aren’t going to be the best, and to eat the things that are good for them.
So that’s why I put my coffee grounds and my onion skins into my chicken coop.
What about that specific list of things?
Can you Feed your Chickens Tomatoes?
Number one, tomatoes. Some people say that don’t give your chickens a lot of nightshades, especially unripe tomatoes.
To be honest, my chickens don’t really get unripe tomatoes because I’m waiting for them to ripen because I want to eat them.
They get the tomatoes that are rotten on the vine, or ones that I didn’t get to that are really overripe.
And I feed my chickens a lot of tomatoes. So I’m going to say yes, feed your tomatoes to your chickens. They love really ripe tomatoes.
if you want to play it safe, maybe don’t give them some green ones.
Again. If you’re just trying to compost green tomatoes and your compost is your chicken coop, I wouldn’t be overly concerned.
Can you Feed your Chickens….
Rice
Yes. Rice is fine. Cooked rice, uncooked rice. I would not be worried about giving my chicken rice. Go ahead.
If you’ve cooked too much rice. You didn’t need it. It’s been sitting in your fridge for too long. Give it to your chickens. They will love and enjoy it.
Bananas
Chickens love bananas. Yes. Give them bananas. We typically don’t give them whole bananas because we eat the bananas.
But we will throw the banana peels into the coop, and even though they don’t eat the whole peel, they do enjoy pecking at it.
So that’s a lot of fun. And then the peels just compost…You’re probably sensing that we like our chickens to do our composting.
Potatoes
This one is controversial. Most people would say no, don’t give your chickens any potatoes. If you like to play it safe kind I would probably say no to potatoes.
If you’re like me and you’re trying to create good compost and you trust your animals, then, yes, I have given my chickens the potato peels in with the mix of all of the other stuff and not really sure how much of them they eat but what they don’t eat gets composted.
If you’re wanting to go by the book, then stay away from the potatoes.
Pumpkin
Can chickens eat pumpkin? The answer is absolutely yes. Chickens love pumpkins.
We grew a bunch of pumpkins specifically for our chickens and a bunch of squash specifically for our chickens. They love scratching and pecking through it.
They love the flesh. They love the seeds, that’s one of their favorite parts.
So yes, feed your chickens pumpkins.
So that’s a little bit of an overview of my strategy of feeding chickens. I pretty much trust them to pick and choose. I don’t stress too much about what I put in their scrap bucket because I know that they will probably stay away from the things that are super bad for them, and those things will just turn into compost, which is fantastic.
That way I don’t have to maintain a compost pile because everything just goes straight into the coop.
My chickens eat it, turn it, add their manure and we add the bedding. It’s just beautiful.
So that’s a little bit about what chickens can eat. I hope this alleviates a few of your fears about what chickens can eat.
