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Backyard flock keeping

Is that safe to feed your chickens? Find out before you throw it in the run.

Straight answers on feeding, breeds, coops and the strange things chickens do, with the dangerous ones said plainly.

  • Toxic or just untidy: said plainly
  • Safety answers sourced
  • No sponsored feed reviews
  • Says when to call a vet

Quick answers

Can chickens eat…?

Type what is in your hand. Every food we have looked into, with the honest answer — safe, fine in moderation, or keep it well away from them.

82 answers

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Where do you want to start?

The whole site, in five shelves.

Fresh

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Newest posts first.

Method

How we decide what to tell you

Feeding advice for chickens is full of confident nonsense copied from one blog to the next. This is the filter everything here goes through.

01

Is it actually dangerous?

Toxic, or just untidy? Those get very different answers, and most lists online muddle them.

02

How much, and how often?

Almost nothing is poison in a peck and safe in a bucket. The dose is the whole answer.

03

What does the vet literature say?

Where a real source exists we follow it, and where one does not we say so instead of inventing confidence.

04

Where did the answer come from?

Veterinary sources, extension services or what keepers report. Each answer says which, because it matters.

05

What goes wrong in practice?

The failure mode is usually the useful part — the mud, the rats, the hen who eats none of it.

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