Can Chickens Eat Kitchen Scraps (The Rules)?
Kitchen scraps are a great chicken perk when the balanced feed stays 90% of the diet — here's the one-paragraph rulebook.
The why
Chickens are omnivorous recyclers, but layers are also production athletes on a formulated diet; every treat displaces feed. The keeper's contract: scraps are the garnish, feed is the meal.
How to feed it
The always-fine list: most fruits and veggies, cooked plain grains and proteins, greens. The never list: moldy anything, salty snacks, chocolate, avocado, raw dried beans, alcohol, and anything on this hub's red pages.
Worth knowing
Treats total ≤10% of intake; remove uneaten scraps daily; when a food's not on any list you trust, the flock can live without it.
The 90/10 rule: whatever the treat, a laying flock's diet should stay about 90% balanced feed. Treats — even the healthy ones — are the garnish, not the meal. Wondering what your flock really costs to feed? Try our free egg cost calculator.
📄 Free printable: The Chicken Never List
The 15 foods that can hurt your flock, on one page — print it, tape it inside the feed-bin lid.
Keep your whole flock on track
Homestead Paradise tracks your birds, eggs, feed costs, and health records in one place — and Harold, your homestead advisor, reads your records and tells you what he'd do next. Snap a photo of a mystery plant or bug with Harold's Eyes before it ends up in the run.
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