What Can Chickens Eat? The Safe, Limited, and Never Lists
What chickens can eat, what to limit, and the ten foods extension services say never to feed. A sourced table of fruits, vegetables, grains, and scraps.
Researched from university extension, USDA, and veterinary sources. How we research.
Chickens can eat most of what comes out of a kitchen or garden: nearly every fruit, nearly every vegetable, cooked grains, cooked meat, eggs, and a long list of bugs and weeds. The exceptions are short and specific, and they matter, because a hen will eat an avocado skin or a pile of dry beans just as happily as a handful of grapes. This page is the master list. It gives you the foods that are safe, the ones to keep small, and the ones extension services say never to feed, with a link to a full guide wherever we have written one.
The foundation is not on this list. A hen's diet should be a complete commercial feed formulated for her age, and everything below is extra. Our feeding guide covers starter, grower, and layer feed; this page covers what goes on top.
The Two Rules Before the Lists
Treats stay small. The poultry extension service's feeding guide for small flocks puts it in practical terms: table scraps and scratch grains together should be no more than the flock can finish in about 20 minutes, because too many scraps and greens push out the balanced feed and pull egg production down. Most keepers translate that into a rule of thumb of about 10 percent of the day's food, and for a standard hen that is a couple of tablespoons of treats.
Anything besides feed needs grit. Chickens have no teeth. They grind food in the gizzard with small stones, and a hen on commercial feed alone can get by without them because the feed is already ground. The moment you add grapes, greens, or scratch, she needs grit, either from ranging on bare ground or from a dish of commercial grit in the run. Chicks that get treats need chick-sized grit for the same reason.
Safe Foods for Chickens
Everything in this table is safe in treat-sized amounts for adult chickens. Where we have a full guide, the link goes to it.
Fruits
| Fruit | Notes |
|---|---|
| Grapes | Halve them for small breeds; sugary, so a few per bird |
| Strawberries | Tops and leaves are fine; skip moldy ones |
| Apples | Core them; seeds contain a cyanide compound |
| Bananas | Flesh is fine; peels only if chopped and organic |
| Tomatoes | Ripe fruit only; leaves, stems, and green fruit contain solanine |
| Watermelon | A summer favorite; rind and seeds are fine |
| Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries | Whole, no prep |
| Cantaloupe, honeydew | Flesh, seeds, and rind |
| Peaches, plums, cherries, apricots | Flesh only; remove the pit |
| Pears | Core them like apples |
| Oranges and other citrus | Safe; most hens simply ignore them |
| Pumpkin and squash | Flesh, seeds, and skin |
| Pineapple, mango, kiwi | Flesh; skip the tough skins |
Vegetables and greens
| Vegetable | Notes |
|---|---|
| Carrots | Raw is hard to peck; grate or cook; tops are fine |
| Celery | Chop it; long strings can bind the crop |
| Lettuce, kale, chard, spinach | Hang a head in the run for entertainment |
| Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts | Raw or cooked |
| Cucumbers, zucchini, summer squash | Halve and let them peck |
| Bell peppers | Fruit only; the plant is a nightshade |
| Cooked potatoes and sweet potatoes | Cooked only, and never green |
| Mushrooms | Store-bought only; pull wild ones from the run |
| Peas, cooked green beans, corn | Cooked beans only, see below |
| Beets and beet greens | Will turn droppings red, which is harmless |
| Radishes and turnips, with greens | Chop the roots |
| Herbs: basil, mint, oregano, parsley, cilantro | Fresh or dried |
Grains, protein, and everything else
| Food | Notes |
|---|---|
| Cooked rice, pasta, oatmeal | Plain, no sauce or salt |
| Bread | Occasional, small pieces; no nutritional value |
| Scratch grains, cracked corn | A handful in the evening in winter, not a diet |
| Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds | High fat; a sprinkle |
| Mealworms, black soldier fly larvae, crickets | The best protein treat; see best treats for chickens |
| Scrambled or boiled eggs, crushed shells | Cooked eggs are excellent during molt |
| Cooked meat and fish | Small, unseasoned pieces |
| Plain yogurt, small amounts of cheese | Keep tiny; too much dairy means loose droppings |
| Bugs, worms, slugs, ticks, mice | Free-range chickens hunt all of these |
| Grass clippings and weeds | Short, fresh, and unsprayed; long grass can impact the crop |
Foods to Limit
These are not poisons, but each causes trouble in quantity.
- •Bread, pasta, rice, and other starches. Filling, low in protein, and hens fill up on them and skip their feed. A few bites, not a loaf.
- •Scratch and cracked corn. The extension feeding guide calls scratch relatively low in protein and warns against letting it displace layer feed. A small evening handful in cold weather is the traditional use.
- •Salty leftovers. The University of Florida's extension warns that too much salt leads to dehydration and kidney damage. Chips, fast food, canned soup, and seasoned leftovers are out.
- •Onions. Florida's list notes that large amounts damage red blood cells and can cause anemia. A stray onion in scraps is not a crisis; a bowl of them is.
- •Spinach, chard, and beet greens. Fine as part of a mix. High-oxalate greens fed in bulk can tie up calcium that layers need for shells.
- •Sugary fruit. Grapes, bananas, and watermelon are candy to a hen. Great in summer heat for the water, but a few pieces per bird.
- •Dairy. Chickens do not handle lactose well. A spoonful of yogurt is fine; a bowl of milk is a mess.
- •Citrus. Safe, but most chickens will not touch it, and there is no reason to force it.
Foods Chickens Should Never Eat
The University of Florida's extension published its ten-item never list in 2026, and it lines up with what veterinary references say. With the tomato-plant addition from our own solanine guide, this is the complete list.
- •Avocado. The skin, pit, and leaves contain persin, which can cause breathing trouble, weakness, and heart failure in birds. The flesh carries less, but extension advice is to skip avocado altogether.
- •Chocolate. Theobromine and caffeine are toxic to poultry; small amounts can cause seizures, heart problems, or death.
- •Raw or dry beans. Uncooked beans contain phytohemagglutinin, which can kill a chicken. Cooked beans are safe. This includes dry kidney beans, pinto beans, and the beans in a bag of soup mix.
- •Green or sprouted potatoes and their peels. Solanine, a nervous-system toxin. Plain cooked potatoes are fine; see can chickens eat potatoes.
- •Tomato and potato leaves, stems, and green fruit. The same solanine, from the same plant family. See can chickens eat tomatoes.
- •Moldy or rotten food. Molds produce toxins that hit the respiratory and digestive systems. Florida's rule: if you would not eat it, do not feed it.
- •Very salty food. Dehydration and kidney damage.
- •Onions in quantity. Anemia from red blood cell damage; see can chickens eat onions.
- •Alcohol and fermented leftovers. Toxic; causes disorientation, respiratory failure, and death.
- •Apple seeds and stone-fruit pits. They release cyanide when crushed. The fruit is fine; the seeds and pits are not. See can chickens eat apples.
- •Coffee grounds, tea bags, and anything caffeinated. Affects the heart and nervous system and can be fatal.
Most of these take more than a stray bite to hurt a hen, and a flock that snatches one grape with a seed in it is not in danger. The point is not to panic over a crumb but to keep the bin of avocado skins and the bag of dry beans where the flock cannot get into them.
Can Baby Chicks Have Treats?
Chicks do best on starter feed and nothing else for the first couple of weeks. After that, tiny amounts of soft food are fine, chopped small, with a dish of chick grit alongside from the day the first treat appears. Skip anything sugary or salty entirely. Our brooder setup guide covers the feed side.
Will Treats Change the Eggs?
Sometimes, and usually for the better. Greens and yellow corn deepen yolk color because they carry xanthophyll pigments that end up in the yolk, which is why pastured eggs look orange. Onions and garlic in quantity can flavor eggs. Too many treats of any kind mean fewer eggs, because a hen filling up on bread is not eating the protein and calcium her layer feed supplies. If the count drops, treats are the first thing to check; see how many eggs a chicken lays a day for the other causes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What human food can chickens eat?
Nearly all fruits, vegetables, cooked grains, cooked meat, eggs, and plain dairy in small amounts. The list to avoid is short: avocado, chocolate, raw beans, green potatoes, nightshade leaves, moldy food, salty and sugary junk, onions in bulk, alcohol, caffeine, and fruit seeds and pits.
What vegetables can chickens eat?
Leafy greens, cabbage family vegetables, cucumbers, squash, carrots, celery, peas, cooked potatoes, bell peppers, beets, radishes, and herbs. The exceptions are the green parts of nightshades (tomato, potato, pepper, eggplant plants) and raw dry beans.
What fruits can chickens eat?
Grapes, berries, melons, apples and pears without seeds, bananas, stone fruit without pits, citrus, pumpkin, and tropical fruit without tough skin. Ripe tomatoes count too. Keep sugary fruit to a few pieces per bird.
Can chickens eat table scraps?
Yes, within the limits above. Extension guidance is that scraps and scratch together should be no more than the flock finishes in about 20 minutes, and never anything moldy, salty, or on the never list.
What is poisonous to chickens?
Avocado (persin), chocolate and caffeine (theobromine, caffeine), raw dry beans (phytohemagglutinin), green potatoes and nightshade foliage (solanine), moldy food (mycotoxins), apple seeds and fruit pits (cyanide compounds), alcohol, and too much salt.
Can chickens eat bread?
In small amounts. It is safe but nutritionally empty, and hens that fill up on bread lay fewer eggs. Never moldy bread.
Bottom Line
Feed a complete ration first, keep treats to what the flock finishes in 20 minutes, put grit out, and keep the eleven items on the never list out of reach. Inside those lines, almost everything from your kitchen and garden is fair game, and your hens will let you know which ones they like.
Sources:
- •Poultry Extension (eXtension). Feeding Chickens for Egg Production in Small and Backyard Flocks (scratch grains, grit, the 20-minute rule for scraps). https://poultry.extension.org/articles/feeds-and-feeding-of-poultry/feeding-chickens-for-egg-production/
- •UF/IFAS Extension Holmes County. 10 Foods You Should Never Feed Chickens (Waters and Owens, May 2026). https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/holmesco/?p=28475
- •University of Maryland Extension. Common Crop Issues in Backyard Chickens, EBR-60 (impaction from grass, string, and fibrous material). https://extension.umd.edu/resource/common-crop-issues-backyard-chickens-ebr-60
- •Merck Veterinary Manual. Cyanide Poisoning in Animals. https://www.merckvetmanual.com/toxicology/cyanide-poisoning/cyanide-poisoning-in-animals
- •Ortiz D, et al. Biofortified orange corn increases xanthophyll density and yolk pigmentation in egg yolks from laying hens. Poultry Science 2021 (PMC8187250). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8187250/
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