Feeding scraps to chickens - Dos and Don'ts
Should You Feed Chickens Scraps?
Most backyard chicken keepers feed scraps to their chickens. But this doesn’t mean that scraps are good for chickens.
In fact, many chicken health problems are caused by poor diet. Feeding scraps to your chickens can cause deficiencies and ill-health. Poor egg production, weird eggs and sick chickens are often caused by too many scraps.
Chicken keepers feed their birds scraps for many reasons: to save money on feed, because the chickens enjoy them and for the satisfaction of seeing food waste turned into healthy eggs.
But common kitchen scraps can be unhealthy for chooks. Feeding your chickens scraps can actually be very bad for them.
If you do want to feed your chickens scraps, it is important to take simple steps to avoid impacting their health and productivity. This includes limiting scraps, avoiding unhealthy scraps and providing both extra protein and a low-dose supplement to your flock.
Why scraps are bad for chickens
Although chicken keepers don’t like to hear it, the simple answer is that scraps are bad for chickens.
You’ve probably seen how excited your chickens get when you give them scraps. There is a reason for this – scraps are like ice cream for chickens. Everyone gets excited about ice cream!
Like children, chickens will fill up on the ice cream and ignore more nutritious food, namely their feed, to their own detriment.
You can't apply the healthy food pyramid to your chickens. The food pyramid is for humans, not laying hens. So even though fruit and vegetable scraps seem healthy, they are still ice cream for chickens.
Most modern chicken feeds are labelled as “complete” feeds for a reason. These feeds actually are complete: they provide a chicken with all of the vitamins, minerals and nutrients needed to thrive.
If your chickens are filling up on scraps, they won’t be eating their daily ration of feed. If they aren’t eating enough of their feed, their diet won’t be “complete” because the nutrient-balance in the feed has been diluted by the scraps.
You may save money on chicken feed if your birds eat lots of scraps, but it is a false economy. In the long run you will lose out on unhealthy, unproductive birds and less nutritious eggs.
How to make scraps healthier for chickens
When chickens eat too many scraps and not enough feed, it causes three main problems:
- Chickens don't get enough protein
In order to produce nutritious eggs, protein is essential. This is particularly the case with modern breeds that produce 300+ eggs per year! Without sufficient protein, your birds will lay less and lose condition Their eggs will be less nutritious too!
One of the biggest issues with scraps is that they are often low in protein. This is particularly true of what we commonly think of as “healthy” scraps, such as vegetables and fruit.
Fruit and vegetable scraps are usually low in protein and high in fibre. The fibre fills chickens up, so they don't eat as much feed or as much protein as they should. Because protein is so important for laying hens, this can cause real problems.
- Chickens don't get enough essential vitamins and minerals
Scraps also dilute the balance of essential vitamins and minerals in chicken feed. While some scraps, especially vegetables and greens, do contain beneficial nutrients, chickens will miss out on other nutrients that are available in their feed.
- Chickens become overweight
Chickens love bread, pasta, white rice and other processed grains. And most chicken keepers give their birds these carbohydrate-rich scraps. But these types of grains are unhealthy for chickens - they encourage gorging and are too high in energy. Not only does this stop chickens consuming enough of their feed, it also causes chickens to become overweight, which leads to lower egg production and a range of health problems.
Because most scraps, including processed grains, are low in protein, they may also encourage chickens to overeat, as they try to meet their nutritional needs by over-consuming less nutrient-dense foods instead of eating a healthy amount of nutritionally-balanced chicken feed.
However, it is possible to make scraps healthier for chickens.
Supplementing scraps
The main issue with scraps is nutritional deficiencies. In particular, scraps are typically low in protein and do not contain enough of the essential vitamins and minerals required by chickens.
If you feed your chickens good scraps, in moderation, as explained below, you need to also supplement their diet with protein and vitamins and minerals in order to avoid deficiencies and other health issues.
Boost protein with Dried Mealworms or other high-protein treats.
Add a regular, low-dose vitamin and mineral supplement like Mega Mineral to ensure that your chickens are getting all of the nutrients they need, even on days where they consume scraps.
Good scraps and bad scraps
Of course, some scraps are better for chickens than others.
Although they are low in protein, fruit and vegetable scraps are better than really unhealthy scraps, which can cause obesity as well as deficiencies.
| Good scraps for chickens (in moderation) | Bad scraps for chickens |
|
- Most fruit and vegetable scraps (cooked or raw)
- Whole grains - Cooked meat - Cooked fish or seafood - Seeds - Cooked beans - Eggs (ensure they are unrecognisable so your chooks don't learn to steal eggs from the nesting boxes) - Greens and forage |
- Foods high in fat, sugar or salt
- Processed foods, include white bread, pasta and rice - Raw potato - Avocado - Food that is mouldy, rancid, rotten or spoiled - Chocolate - Coffee - Dried beans - Plants high in oxalates such as rhubarb leaves or uncooked warrigal greens (New Zealand spinach) |
Feeding scraps to chickens - Dos and Don'ts
There are some simple rules you can follow if you are going to feed scraps to your chickens.
| DOS | DON'TS |
|
- Stick to healthy scraps (see above)
- Feed scraps once per day, ideally in the early afternoon - Only feed as many scraps as your birds will eat in 10-20 minutes - Provide unlimited access to a complete feed - Pick up uneaten scraps - Use a dish - Increase the protein content and nutrition of your scraps with a supplement |
- Feed your chickens bad scraps (see above)
- Feed lots of scraps or a very large amount of any particular type of scrap - Feed scraps multiple times per day - Throw scraps on the ground - Leave uneaten scraps in the coop - Situate your compost bin in the coop - Feed your chickens scraps if you live somewhere that it is illegal (check your local laws) |
Other ways to keep food waste out of landfill
No one likes wasting food, so it is very satisfying to feed scraps to chickens and see the waste turned into eggs. But there are other ways that you can use your scraps without compromising the health of your chickens:
- Compost scraps and create compost for your garden
- Put scraps into a worm farm. This will create fertiliser for your garden and you can even feed some of the worms to your chooks!
- Use the scraps to breed black soldier fly larvae, another healthy, high protein treat that your chickens will love!
- Bury the scraps in the garden for in-situ composting
Do you want to know more about what to feed your chickens?
You might like these other blog articles:
- Why modern laying hens can't eat what old barnyard chooks did
- The Best Diet for Laying Hens
- Do My Chickens Need a Vitamin and Mineral Supplement?
- What Not to Feed to Chickens
- The Best Forage Greens to Plant for Chickens
Our chicken keeping advice is based on over 10 years experience keeping chickens and working with backyard chicken keepers. If there is something you'd like to know, Contact Us!
Happy chicken keeping!
Rachael - Dine a Chook Australia
