Food
Chickens and Fire Ants: Safe Snack or Fowl Faux Pas?
A keeper in Central Texas let her flock onto a fire ant mound three days after hitting it with Ortho Fire Ant Killer granules. Two hens…
Backyard flock keeping
Is that safe to feed your chickens? Find out before you throw it in the run.
Eight years of keeping hens, written down honestly — including the parts where I got it wrong. Straight answers on feeding, breeds, coops and the strange things chickens do.
Quick answers
Can chickens eat…?
Type what is in your hand. Every food I have looked into, with the honest answer — safe, fine in moderation, or keep it well away from them.
- Acorn Squash Seeds
- Alfalfa Cubes
- Alfalfa Sprouts
- Alfalfa
- Apple Cores and Seeds
- Arrowroot Powder
- Artichoke Leaves
- Bananas and Banana Peels
- Barley Grass? My Funny Story Finding Out
- Basil Leaves
- Beet Tops
- Beetroot Leaves and Stalks
- Bell Peppers and Their Seeds
- Bitter Melon
- Black Rice
- Black-Eyed Peas
- Broccoli and Cauliflower
- Buckwheat
- Canned Peas and Carrots
- Cantaloupe and Seeds
- Cheese Pizza? A Slice of Advice for Chicken Owners
- Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms
- Chicken Salad? Feeding Chicken to Chickens
- Coconut Flour
- Coconut Milk
- Coconut Rice
- Coconut Yogurt
- Coconut
- Comfrey
- Crab Apples
- Crab Shells? My Funny Story Finding Out
- Date Seeds
- Dried Alfalfa
- Dried Dates
- Dubia Roaches
- Durian? This Tater Tot Has the Whole Story
- Flies? A Bug Bounty Your Hens Will Love
- Fresh Yarrow
- Frogs? The Truth About Chickens & Frog Diets
- Frozen Peas? Chickens on Ice
- Goldenrod? My Zany Experience Finding Out
- Goosefoot
- Grapefruit Peels
- Grapefruit Seeds
- Grapefruit
- Hamburger? The Juicy Truth Revealed
- Hamster & Gerbil Food
- Honey Graham Crackers
- Honey Locust Pods
- Honey Mushrooms? A Forager's Guide
- Honey Nut Cheerios
- Honey Roasted Peanuts
- Honey
- Honeydew
- Honeysuckle? A Sweet Treat Your Flock Will Love
- Horse Alfalfa Pellets
- Hummus? The Tasty Truth
- Locusts
- Loofah Seeds
- Lovage? The Surprising Truth!
- Medjool Dates
- Minnows? My Hilarious Experience Finding Out
- Oats and Honey Granola
- Oats for Horses? From Coop to Stable
- Old Carrots? Garden Scraps to Chicken Treats
- Onion Stalks? Cluckin' Good Choices
- Onions & Tomatoes? Chickens' Delight
- Oranges and Peels
- Pancakes
- Peanut Butter and Jelly
- Pickled Onions? The Surprising Answer
- Prawn Heads and Shells
- Purslane
- Rabbit Alfalfa Pellets
- Rabbit Food
- Red Grapefruit
- Seasoned Potatoes
- Spaghetti Squash Seeds
- Strawberries and Blueberries
- Strawberries With Mold
- Their Own Egg Shells? A Shell-Shocking Truth
- Tofu
- Too Much Greens
- Zucchini and Cucumbers
- Clucking in Color: Can Chickens Eat Purple Onions
- From Coops to Crisps: Can Chickens Eat Onion Rings
- Spring Onion Delight: Can Chickens Eat Spring Onion Leaves
- The Cake Debate: Can Chickens Eat Carrot Cake
Nothing matches that one yet.
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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 I 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 I follow it, and where one does not I say so instead of inventing confidence.
04
Have I actually done it?
My flock or somebody else’s. I mark the difference, 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.