The best alfalfa for your chickens is leafy and dry, and it doesn’t smell musty when you open the bag or bale. Pellets, a chopped bag or a flake off a good bale all work. Honestly, the form matters a lot less than two other things. First, it has to be free of mold. Second, it stays a side dish next to a complete layer feed, never the meal itself. Organic is your call. None of the sources I read found that hens do better on it (though it does matter if you sell your eggs as organic).
I rewrote this page from 21 sources, and they’re all listed at the bottom. What alfalfa does for a hen comes from Jacquie Jacob at the University of Kentucky and from Feedipedia (the feed database that French agricultural research bodies run with FAO). The Merck Veterinary Manual covers feeding in general, and mold. How to judge hay comes from three extension services: Montana State, Oklahoma State and UConn. Storage comes from the University of Minnesota and New Mexico State. The organic rules come straight from the federal regulations and a USDA explainer. I also read the labels on three alfalfa products sold for horses and other livestock.
The old version of this page told a story I can’t vouch for. The writer had been “raising chickens on my little farm here for near 20 years”. A cheap bag of feed from the hardware store sat in the feeder for an hour, barely touched. Then came “I tried giving my girls some non-organic alfalfa once – big mistake”, and the hens “got real sick soon after”. That’s all gone. So are the “galvanized metal trash cans” and the line “ol’ Tanner learned a valuable lesson”.
The claims went with it. It said the synthetic pesticides and fertilizers kept out of organic alfalfa “can really hurt your chickens and contaminate their eggs”, and I found nothing that says so. It said to offer alfalfa free choice “24/7” because “Chickens know how much alfalfa they need”, which runs straight into what the feed guides say about treats. It said bright green means “the nutrients are peaking”, and Oklahoma State warns against judging hay on color alone. It also gave shelf lives for hay and pellets that I couldn’t find in any source, so those are out too.
A word on the photos. None of them shows a hen eating alfalfa, because I couldn’t find a real one I’d trust that isn’t already on this site. So they show the plant, the hay and the ways people handle it. Two come from USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service in Montana and one from its Iowa office. One comes from the USDA’s own stream. Three come from Alabama Extension. Every credit links to the photo’s own page.
The short version.
- Alfalfa is a treat. All treats together should stay under a tenth of what a hen eats in a day, and the rest is complete layer feed.
- Any form works. Read the ingredient list on a bag, because two bags called alfalfa pellets aren’t always the same.
- In hay, look for leaves, buds instead of flowers, a clean smell and no mold inside the bale. Don’t go by color alone.
- If the grower had the hay tested, ask to see the numbers, then open a bale and look anyway.
- Organic tells you how the field was farmed. It matters for the paperwork if you sell organic eggs.
- Moldy, musty, dusty or wet alfalfa goes in the trash, not the run and not the bedding.
- Keep it dry, up off the ground and covered, and buy only what your flock will get through.
Alfalfa Is a Side Dish Next to the Layer Feed
So before you shop, it helps to know what alfalfa is for. The Merck Veterinary Manual’s chapter on backyard flocks says “birds should receive most of their diet from a balanced, nutritionally complete ration”. Among the common feeding problems it lists is “dilution of balanced and nutritionally complete rations with scratch or supplemental feed”. A scoop of alfalfa is supplemental feed.
Colorado State Extension draws the line: “Treats should make up no more than 10% of their daily diet”. Alabama Extension says a laying hen eats “between 100 and 150 grams of feed per day or roughly 0.25 pounds”. That puts every treat she gets, alfalfa included, at 10 to 15 grams a day. My page on how to make alfalfa meal for chickens works through the amounts, so I won’t repeat them here.
Alfalfa stays small for a reason. Jacob writes that its use in diets for monogastric animals (ones with a simple stomach, chickens among them) “typically is limited by its high fiber content”. Measured against what poultry need, Feedipedia says dehydrated alfalfa meal “has a low energy and protein content, and a very high fibre concentration”. It belongs in poultry diets at “relatively low” rates, Feedipedia says, so the birds keep performing. It also flags the plant’s saponins, which have “well-known depressing effects on poultry performance”. Feed intake and egg production take the hit.
Here’s the part I find most useful. Jacob notes that “High levels of alfalfa have been used in molting diets for egg layers”. Jacob adds that research has shown “feeding alfalfa is equally effective as withdrawing feed” for bringing on a molt.
Turns out a diet heavy in alfalfa is what’s been used to bring on a molt. That’s pretty much the opposite of what most of us want.
The upside is color. Jacob calls alfalfa “a natural source of xanthophylls, which are the pigments that give the yellow color to chicken skin and egg yolks”. In poultry diets, Feedipedia says, dehydrated alfalfa is “mostly used for pigmenting eggs and meat”. Yellower yolks, in other words.
Pellets, Chopped, Flakes or Meal: Read the Tag
You’ll find alfalfa at the feed store in a few forms, and they’re closer than they look. Feedipedia explains that alfalfa is dried and then “ground and passed through a screw die to make pellets”. So a pellet is meal pressed into a shape. A chopped bag is the dried plant cut short, and a flake is a slab you peel off a bale.
The bag is where you’ll see the differences. Standlee’s alfalfa pellets are “¼ inch hay pellets”, and the ingredient list is one line: “Sun-Cured Alfalfa (Ground)”. Its nutrition table lists 16 percent crude protein minimum and 26 percent crude fiber maximum. Country Companion’s 50 lb bag lists “Alfalfa hay sun-cured ground, Bentonite”, so there’s a second ingredient. Its numbers are 15 percent protein minimum and 33 percent fiber maximum. They aren’t the same food, which is why the tag is worth a look.
Standlee’s chopped alfalfa is cut into pieces of roughly 2 to 4 inches. Its ingredient list reads “Sun-Cured Alfalfa (Chopped), Canola Oil, Sunflower Oil, Glycerin, Green Tea Extract”. It’s sold for horses, and nothing on it says chickens. Rabbit pellets are a whole other bag with a whole other list, and I covered them on can chickens eat rabbit alfalfa pellets.
The rule’s the same for every bag. Turn it over and read what’s in it.
Long hay has one more thing to think about. Penn State University, on The Poultry Site, says crop impaction “normally develops when a group of fibers get tangled together into a mass that is too big to pass”. It’s “more common in free-range birds or in birds with access to pasture”. Long, tall grass and hay bale twine are on that list too. Birds that went without greens all winter “are more likely to consume excessive plant matter”. The University of Maryland’s list of culprits includes “grass”, “string” and “plastic”.
None of these sources names alfalfa stems, so I won’t say they cause it. My call: offer pellets, a chopped bag or the leafy bits of a flake rather than a whole slab of long stems. And pick up every scrap of twine (Cackle Hatchery names “Hay bale twine, string from feed sacks, and plastic strips shredded from feed sacks” as possible causes too).
Judge Alfalfa Hay by Its Leaves and Its Smell
Leaves first. Montana State says the leaves hold 70 percent of alfalfa’s nutritive value, and Oklahoma State says “two-thirds of the hay protein is in the leaves”. Feedipedia agrees that leaf protein runs “much higher than that of the stems”. So the hay you want is leafy. Montana adds that good haying can still lose up to 40 percent of the leaves, and hay that gets rained on and turned can lose over 60 percent.
Pull a handful and feel it. Oklahoma State says leaves are prone to shattering when hay goes below 15 percent moisture, and you can tell by how easily they come off the stems. The judges’ rule of thumb: “If leaves break off the stems easily, judges may predict the leaves will be lost before animals can eat them”.
Then look for flowers. Oklahoma State says “Presence of buds but no blossoms (Bud stage) indicates highest alfalfa hay quality”. About one stem in ten showing a blossom is early bloom, and that’s still very good. When most of the stems are blooming, quality is low. Montana’s table puts numbers on it. Bud-stage alfalfa runs over 40 percent leaves and over 18 percent crude protein. Full bloom drops under 20 percent leaves and under 12 percent protein. The flowers and seed pods in the photo above are what you don’t want to see all through a bale.
Then smell it. Oklahoma State says “The smell of typical fresh cut hay is desirable”. A whiff of mildew, mustiness or rot means low quality. Hay baled at over 20 percent moisture can come out brown with a tobacco-like smell.
Color is the easy one to get wrong. Oklahoma State says “judging hay on color alone is a mistake because green hay may be of inferior nutritional quality to off-colored hays”. The sun can bleach the outside of a bale, and the hay can still be good. UConn’s color table calls sun bleaching a minor problem. A light golden outside from sun bleaching “Decreases palatability and carotene (used to make Vitamin A) but not a very serious problem”. Brown hay that smells musty is different. UConn puts it down to mold growth in hay that wasn’t dry when baled, with a musty, moldy odor, and its advice is “don’t use this hay”.
Open a bale before you buy a stack. The Oklahoma State judges say hay should be “opened then evaluated in their inner portion”. Montana’s list for good alfalfa hay is leafy, bright green, a pleasant smell, fine stems that bend, and no mold or foreign matter. Montana also admits those signs are subjective and don’t settle the question, which brings us to the next section.
Yeah, that’s a lot of poking at one bale.
A Hay Test Beats My Nose, So Ask for One
Oklahoma State says there are two ways to judge hay, chemical analysis and a look. “Both methods are important and they complement each other”, it says. A lab test gives numbers like protein and fiber. Your eyes and nose catch what a lab can’t, like leaves that will shatter or hay that will mold if it sits.
Montana State says “Hay sampling is best accomplished with a hollow core probe”. Square bales “should be sampled by inserting the core sampler near the center of the butt end of the bale”, the way the man in the photo is doing it. Montana wants at least 20 bales sampled from a lot, and a lot means hay of uniform maturity from a field cut within 48 hours. UConn says your county extension office can show you how to use a core sampler, and you might even be able to borrow one.
For the few bales a backyard flock goes through, I wouldn’t pay for my own test. My call: ask the grower whether the lot was tested and what it showed, then open a bale and check it yourself anyway. The thing is, hay can change after it’s sampled. Oklahoma State points out that hay at the time you buy it “may be different from the sampling time”, because leaves fall off and nutrients leach out in handling and storage (and mold can set in).
Organic Alfalfa: What the Seal Covers
The USDA seal is about how the crop was grown. In a USDA explainer, Miles McEvoy, the National Organic Program’s deputy administrator, wrote that produce can be called organic if it’s grown on soil that had no prohibited substances applied for 3 years before harvest. McEvoy added that “Prohibited substances include most synthetic fertilizers and pesticides”. The federal rule, 7 CFR 205.105, also rules out what it calls excluded methods, ionizing radiation and sewage sludge. The explainer says the standards “expressly prohibit” genetically modified organisms.
For animals, the rule is about the whole ration. Organic livestock get a “total feed ration composed of agricultural products”, and those have to be “organically produced and handled by operations certified under this part”. Pasture and forage count as part of that ration. The rule does allow some approved substances as feed additives and supplements. So if you sell your eggs as organic, your alfalfa has to be certified organic too, along with the rest of their feed and forage. The details of that paperwork are beyond this page.
As for the hens themselves, I didn’t find a study that compares laying hens on organic alfalfa with hens on conventional alfalfa. The old version of this page said the synthetic pesticides and fertilizers used on conventional alfalfa could hurt your birds and taint the eggs. Nothing I read backs that up. Buy organic if it matters to you or to your egg customers, and judge the hay inside the bag the same way either way. Look at the man standing in that field. Nothing in a field or a bale shows how it was farmed.
Only the certificate does.
Moldy, Musty or Wet Alfalfa Goes in the Trash
Every label I read says the same thing, and Standlee says it in capital letters. It prints “NEVER FEED MOLDY OR INSECT INFESTED FORAGE TO ANIMALS” and “DISCARD ANY SOILED OR WET FORAGE IMMEDIATELY”. Country Companion’s bag says “Never feed moldy, or insect infested hay to animals”.
Merck explains why. In its chapter on aspergillosis, the mold “can proliferate and sporulate in feed and bedding”. Older birds pick it up from “inhalation of spore-laden dust from contaminated litter, feed, or dusty range areas”. Healthy adult birds that breathe in a few spores usually shake it off. But Merck is plain that “There is no effective treatment in poultry”.
Molds can also leave toxins behind. Merck’s chapter on mycotoxicoses says birds are exposed “via ingestion of contaminated feed or bedding material”, and that “Once formed, they are chemically stable”. So drying out a moldy bale won’t get rid of them. The first sign can be quiet, too. At first, Merck says, “refusal of new feed may be the only clinical sign”. Merck’s first step is to replace it: “contaminated feed or bedding should be replaced”.
So don’t move moldy hay into the coop as bedding either. Merck’s aspergillosis chapter says “moldy bedding or ranges should not be used”. UConn’s buying advice fits on a sticky note: “look for hay that is not musty, dusty, or moldy”.
We aren’t vets. If a hen is gasping, wasting or off her feed after a bad bale, call a vet who sees poultry.
Store It Dry, Off the Ground, and Use It Up
The University of Minnesota says “Bales resting on the ground will absorb enough moisture to grow mold”. In a study at Morris, bottom bales of third-cutting alfalfa stored on sod went from 18 percent moisture to about 32 percent. About 22 to 23 percent of the bottom bales’ volume spoiled, against 1 to 8 percent on gravel or in the barn. Minnesota says storing hay indoors cuts losses by about two-thirds. Pallets or gravel under the stack help too.
A tarp isn’t a cure-all. New Mexico State says hay tarps keep rain out, but they “can also trap moisture”, which leads to condensation and mold. Hay that was too wet when it went into storage can heat up, and in the worst case catch fire. Oklahoma State says a buyer may predict that “wet-feeling hay will mold if stored more than a few weeks”, which is one more reason to feel a bale before you buy it.
Bags need the same care. Standlee says to store it somewhere covered, cool and “well-ventilated”, out of the weather. Merck’s backyard chapter says “Feed should be stored in a dry, cool area to keep vitamins from breaking down and to prevent fungal growth”. It also lists “prolonged feed storage, leading to degradation of vitamins and minerals” among the common mistakes. My call: keep the bag closed in a dry shed, not on a damp floor, and buy what your flock will finish while it’s still fresh.
So here’s the order I’d go in when you buy alfalfa. Pick the form your hens can handle, and read the tag. Open the bale or bag, and look for leaves and buds. Smell it, and walk away from anything musty. Ask about a hay test if there is one. Then store it dry and up off the floor, and serve it as a side dish next to the layer feed. If you want the amounts, they’re on my alfalfa meal page. You can also run the Chicken Feed Calculator for the layer feed side of the math.
Sources
- Jacquie Jacob, University of Kentucky, on extension.org: Alfalfa in Poultry Diets.
- Feedipedia (INRAE, CIRAD, AFZ, FAO): Alfalfa (Medicago sativa).
- Feedipedia: Alfalfa, dehydrated.
- Merck Veterinary Manual: Management of Backyard Poultry.
- Kromm and Lighty, Merck Veterinary Manual: Aspergillosis in Poultry.
- Sandu, Merck Veterinary Manual: Mycotoxicoses in Poultry.
- Colorado State University Extension: Raising Poultry the Organic Way, Disease Control and Feeding.
- Alabama Cooperative Extension System: Feeding the Laying Hen.
- Cash and Bowman, Montana State University Extension, MT 9302: Alfalfa Hay Quality Testing.
- Oklahoma State University Extension, PSS-2588: Evaluating Hay Quality Based on Sight, Smell and Feel.
- UConn Extension: Hay Analysis, Its Importance and Interpretation.
- Idowu and colleagues, New Mexico State University, Circular 668: Reducing Harvest and Post-Harvest Losses of Alfalfa and Other Hay.
- University of Minnesota Extension: Preserving the Value of Dry Stored Hay.
- Penn State University on The Poultry Site (2024): Crop Disorders of Chickens I, Crop Impaction.
- Jon Moyle, University of Maryland Extension, EBR-60: Common Crop Issues in Backyard Chickens.
- Cackle Hatchery: Crop Impaction in Chickens.
- 7 CFR 205.237: Livestock Feed.
- 7 CFR 205.105: Allowed and Prohibited Substances.
- Miles McEvoy, USDA blog (2012): Organic 101, What the USDA Organic Label Means.
- Standlee: Premium Alfalfa Pellets label, and Premium Alfalfa Chopped label.
- L&M Supply: Country Companion Alfalfa Pellets, 50 lb.
Sources checked October 31, 2026. The calls on which form to offer, when to skip a hay test and how to store a bag are mine. We aren’t vets. If a bird looks sick, call a vet who sees poultry.
Related read: How to Raise Chickens for Eggs — Instant PDF download. Secure checkout by Stripe
