There are a few – although not many – foods that you should not feed to your chickens. These foods are toxic and could cause your chickens distress, sickness, or worse.
There is so much information (and misinformation) out there about what you can and can’t feed chickens. I’ve tried to compile only the most accurate information from extremely reliable sources and compared that with our own experiences raising chickens.
This article only covers the foods which you might potentially eat and provide to your hens which are potentially toxic to them, but it does not cover food which should be discouraged for behavioral reasons (think – raw eggs). Nor does it cover ornamentals (flowers for free-range hens) which could be harmful.
In addition to the food mentioned below, it bears mentioning that you should also never feed your chickens spoiled, rotten or moldy food. Those molds are just as bad for the hens as they would be for you.
Chickens are omnivores. It seems they will try eating pretty much anything, especially when they are young. And this is mostly fine. After all, chickens have evolved to be foragers. In the wild, they can eat a wide range of things, including insects, seeds, lizards, frogs, and even rodents*.
*please note: if there are observed rodents in your coop, there are likely twice as many or more as observed. Your chickens are not exterminators and while they CAN eat mice in the wild, would be unlikely to tackle a rodent problem in a coop on their own. Moreover, rodents carry diseases, especially in their feces which could be ingested or inhaled by your chickens. And, when your chickens are asleep, there have been documented incidences of rodents nibbling chicken feet, causing severe injury and even death. Please do not allow rodent populations to go unchecked assuming a chicken will take care of the problem. Check out these Tips to Predator-Proof your Coop. Soapbox over – back to your regularly scheduled program.
However, there are a few foods which in small quantities will cause your chicken gastric distress, and in large quantities could lead to poisoning. These are generally things which would also be toxic to us humans too, although we are much bigger and eat far less of our body weight on a daily basis, making these toxic foods less worrisome for us. But for a chicken – catastrophe.
Vegetables in the Nightshade Family
In particular, you should not feed your chickens any vegetable from the nightshade family. The Nightshades, including tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant, have a substance called solanine, which is toxic in large quantities. Solanine is found in small levels in the vegetable, and in much higher levels in the leaves of the plant. (For example, the leaves of the potato plant).
We humans don’t absorb this compound very well, BUT, we are unable to eat these vegetables in any quantity which would hurt us. But for a chicken, solanine is a bit more toxic. Especially since they are far more likely to eat the leaves of the vegetable which has much higher quantities of solanine when out foraging.
Tomatoes in moderation are OK for chickens, but I prefer not allowing my girls to acquire a taste for them; in case they wander into the raised vegetable beds. Raw green potatoes are especially bad for chickens, as they contain the highest amount of solanine. Cooked potatoes are safer – although I have found that our chickens do not prefer potatoes, except when in stir fry or french fry form. Therefore I avoid them as a treat altogether.
This is generally true for other pets as well – rabbits, dogs and cats should never be fed any vegetable from the nightshade family.
Avocados
Avocados contain a substance called persin. All parts of the fruit have this substance, although notably, the skin and the pit contain the most amount of persin. Those are the parts we humans do not eat. However, birds and rodents are particularly sensitive to persin, causing extremely rapid heartbeats. Even the fruit of an avocado could be toxic to your chickens, when eaten in quantity.
I know, you are about to say that you’ve given your birds the remnants of the avocado after you’ve made guac and they’ve been fine, right? Right. Small amounts are OK. And not only that, they eat the small remaining bits of flesh and leave behind the rind where the most persin is. Large amounts of persin can cause pancreatitis, diarrhea, vomiting and myocardial damage in your dogs, rabbits and cats, too. To be safe, keep avocados away from all pets.
Alliums
Many of the plants in the allium family, including onions, shallots, leeks, scallions, and ornamental allium species should not be fed to a chicken.
These contain a toxic substance called N-propyl disulfide. While harmless in humans, it causes a breakdown of red blood cells in chickens and other pets which in turn can cause anemia. N-propyl disulfide is in the flesh, leaves, juice and processed powders of onions, so no part of the plant should be fed to your animals.
Interestingly, garlic has a different makeup than other alliums, and therefore only has a small amount of this disulfide in it. Therefore, garlic is safe in moderation for chickens. In fact, in moderation, garlic can act as an antibacterial and anti fungal agent, boosting the immune system of your chickens. Still, I would not recommend garlic in very large quantities.
While most animals will turn up their nose to an onion bulb, you could get into trouble with onion rings, or when there are onions mixed into, say, a burger you feed your dog; or allium leaves blended into a super-vegetable chicken treat.
Dried Beans can be Lethal
Never, ever give your pets dried beans. They will probably avoid them anyway, but to be safe, keep any bean plants well away from your chickens.
Dried beans are known to create very serious illness. While there have been no reported deaths to humans from dry bean ingestion, they remain on the list of one of the world’s more surprisingly toxic foods. And, for chickens, who can eat gravel and pebbles with no ill effect, dry beans are fatal. Red kidney beans are the most dangerous, but many beans which have not been properly cooked are potentially fatal for your chickens.
Beans contain a toxin called phytohaemagglutinin. Illness occurs after eating as few as three or four beans and will progress rapidly. Once your hen ingests the dry bean, there’s nothing you can do to save her.
Cooked beans are safe, however with caveats. Soak the beans first, then cook in a rolling boil. Some sources purport that cooking your beans in a slow cooker is not sufficient heat to kill the toxin.
Chocolate
Yes, Chocolate is another of the foods you should not feed to your chickens. Chocolate is a known toxin for dogs and cats, and for the same reasons, is bad for chickens too. All chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine, in varying quantities. Both are bad for both your chicken’s digestive track and for their hearts. The more bitter the chocolate, the more potent the theobromine.
In fact, ingesting chocolate could lead to cardiac arrest in your chicken within as little as a day. Frankly, why would you feed your chicken your good chocolate cake anyway?
Apple seeds are toxic, but likely safe for your chickens
Chickens and rabbits both love apples! And, any other part of the apple is like a super food for your chickens. However the seeds contain amygdalin, which in turn contains cyanide, a very lethal poison.
Quite a large amount of seeds are needed to be first crushed and then ingested to be poisonous, at least for humans. About a half cup. Studies have not been performed on exactly how much would be needed to harm a chicken, but extrapolation would be less than a teaspoon. This does not take into account the very different digestion capabilities of a chicken compared to a human. Still, that’s quite a lot of crushed seed.
Also, chickens will swallow things whole and are incapable of chewing. Individual apple seeds which are not first crushed would have a very low toxicity level. The amygdalin cannot escape the hard outer shell of the seed. In fact, many wild animals ingest them without breaking the apple seed shell and effectively reseed the apples with no ill effect to the host.
Rabbits are another matter – they indeed pulverize their food, and have extremely sensitive digestive systems, so whenever feeding apples to your bunny, always core them first!
So, here is the list of foods that you should not feed to your backyard or domestic chickens:
Foods That You Should Not Feed to Chickens
- Don’t give your chickens leaves, stems or flowers of rhubarb, potato, eggplant or tomato plants.
- Avoid all plants in the nightshade family, including eggplant, peppers, tomatoes and potatoes. Especially avoid raw green potatoes, which have the highest concentration of solanine.
- Avocados contain persin, which is toxic to chickens. This is mostly concentrated in the pit and skin.
- Large quantities of onions can be harmful to chickens, affecting their red blood cells, causing hemolytic anemia or Heinz anemia
- Uncooked raw or dried beans contain haemagglutin, which is very poisonous
- Chocolate contains theobromine and caffeine, known to be very toxic to all pets.
- Avoid citrus juice and skins – these often can cause a decrease in egg production.
- Don’t give chickens any edible containing salt, sugar, coffee, or liquor. Also avoid any food flavored with onion or onion salt.
- Avoid feeding your free-ranging chickens specific unshelled nuts of walnuts (Juglans spp.), black walnuts (Juglans nigrs), hazelnuts (Corylus), and pecans (Carya illinoinensis).
