What Do Chickens Eat? Safe and Unsafe Foods (Printable Chart)

Chickens can eat most fruits, vegetables, grains and cooked leftovers, but those should only be extras. What chickens should eat every day is a complete layer feed, with treats kept to about 10% of what they eat. A short list of foods is off-limits: avocado skins and pits, chocolate, raw dried beans, green potato peels, moldy food, salty junk food and alcohol.

What do chickens eat? The 90/10 rule

A laying hen needs a precise balance of protein, energy, calcium, vitamins and minerals to stay healthy and keep making eggs. Commercial layer feed is formulated to deliver all of that in every bite, which is why poultry specialists at extension services recommend it as the base of the diet.

The simple way to think about it is the 90/10 rule:

• 90% complete feed. Layer feed for hens 18 weeks and older, usually about 16% protein with 3-4% calcium for strong shells.
• 10% extras. Kitchen scraps, garden produce, scratch grains and store-bought treats.

Oregon State University Extension puts the limit at about 10-15% of daily intake, or what the birds will finish in about 20 minutes. Go much beyond that and hens fill up on low-nutrient snacks, eat less of their balanced feed and can lay fewer eggs. If your flock has slowed down, too many treats is one of the first things to check in our guide to why chickens stop laying eggs.

Which feed for which age?

Do not give layer feed to young chicks: the extra calcium is too much for growing kidneys. Molting hens benefit from more protein, as explained in our chicken molting guide.

Grit and oyster shell: the two supplements that matter

Chickens have no teeth. They grind food in the gizzard, a muscular stomach that uses small stones (grit) to crush whole grains, seeds, grass and bugs. If your hens eat only crumbles or pellets, they need little grit. As soon as they eat scratch grains, scraps or forage, offer insoluble poultry grit in a separate dish.

Oyster shell is different: it is a soluble calcium source, not a grinding tool, and the two cannot replace each other. Most layer feeds already contain enough calcium, but high-producing hens, older hens and flocks that eat a lot of treats often benefit from crushed oyster shell offered free-choice. Hens take what they need. Thin, rough or soft shells are a sign to add it.

What can chickens eat? The printable chart

Use this A-Z chart to check common kitchen and garden foods. “Yes” means safe as an occasional treat within the 10% rule, “Limit” means fine in small amounts, and “No” means keep it away from your flock. Cut large or firm foods into beak-sized pieces and remove uneaten scraps before nightfall so they do not attract rodents.

Print this chart: use the print button to get a one-page version you can tape inside the coop door or on the fridge.

Print this chart

What can’t chickens eat? Foods to never feed

Chickens will peck at almost anything, so “they ate it” does not mean it was safe. These are the foods most often listed as dangerous by extension specialists, including the University of Florida IFAS Extension:

• Avocado skin, pit and leaves: persin can cause breathing trouble, weakness and heart damage in birds.
• Chocolate, coffee and caffeinated tea: theobromine and caffeine overstimulate the heart and nervous system.
• Raw or undercooked dried beans: phytohemagglutinin causes severe digestive harm. Cooked beans are fine.
• Green potatoes, sprouts and raw peels: solanine affects the nervous and digestive systems.
• Moldy, rotten or fermented leftovers: mold toxins can make a whole flock sick.
• Salty, greasy and processed food: chips, fast food, deli meats.
• Alcohol: never, in any amount.
• Fruit pits and apple seeds: the flesh is fine; the seeds and pits are the problem.

Best chicken treats (and how much to give)

Treats are useful: they make hens easier to handle, encourage foraging and bring them back to the run at night. The best ones add something the feed does not, like moisture in summer, extra protein during molt or something to scratch for in winter.

Healthy chicken treats by season

• Summer: frozen watermelon chunks, cucumber, berries frozen in a block of ice.
• Fall: pumpkin halves, apple slices (no seeds), sunflower heads.
• Winter: a handful of scratch grains in the late afternoon, which keeps hens busy and adds calories before a cold night. Our guide to keeping chickens warm in winter has more ideas.
• Molt: mealworms, black soldier fly larvae, scrambled eggs.

How much is a treat?

A standard-size hen eats roughly a quarter pound (about 115 g) of feed a day. Ten percent of that is about 1.5 tablespoons of dense treats like mealworms or scratch, or a larger handful of watery produce like lettuce or melon. For a flock of six, a cup of chopped greens or fruit a day is a reasonable ceiling. Offer treats after hens have eaten their feed, ideally later in the day.

Can chickens eat grapes, bananas and tomatoes?

These three are among the most searched foods, so here is the short version.

Grapes

Yes. Grapes are safe for chickens, but whole grapes can lodge in the throat, especially in bantams and young birds. Cut them in halves or quarters. Raisins are dried grapes and much more concentrated in sugar, so a few go a long way.

Bananas

Yes. Ripe banana flesh is soft and easy to eat. Peels are not toxic, but most hens ignore them and they may carry pesticide residues, so peel first or chop the peel finely if you want to use it.

Tomatoes

Yes, ripe tomatoes are safe. Tomatoes belong to the nightshade family, and the leaves, stems and unripe green fruit contain compounds that can be harmful. Fence your tomato plants or let hens into the garden only after harvest.

Apples, carrots and celery

All three are safe. Core apples and remove the seeds, which contain amygdalin, a compound that can release cyanide. Raw carrots are hard for hens to break up, so grate them or offer them cooked. Celery is fine but stringy; chop it into short pieces so long fibers do not ball up in the crop.

Watermelon, strawberries and pineapple

Watermelon is one of the best hot-weather treats because it is mostly water, and hens will pick the rind clean. Strawberries can go in whole, green tops included. Fresh pineapple is safe in small, soft pieces, but the skin and core are tough and fibrous, so leave those out.

What do free-range chickens eat?

Chickens are omnivores. Given space to roam, they eat grass, clover, weed seeds, insects, worms, grubs and the occasional small frog or mouse. Foraging is good for them: it adds variety, keeps them active and can deepen yolk color thanks to the pigments in green plants.

Foraging does not replace feed, though. A backyard lawn rarely supplies enough protein and calcium for a hen laying five or six eggs a week, and forage quality drops sharply in late fall and winter. Keep layer feed available every day, even for birds that range all afternoon.

• Do let hens clean up the garden after harvest, when they eat pests and weed seeds.
• Do provide grit, since foraged plants and seeds need grinding.
• Do not let them graze areas treated with herbicides, pesticides or slug bait.
• Do not let them into ornamental beds with toxic plants such as foxglove, oleander, yew or daffodil bulbs.

Can chickens eat kitchen scraps?

Yes, within limits. Plain vegetable trimmings, fruit, cooked grains and cooked eggs are all good scraps. Avoid anything salty, sugary, greasy, moldy or heavily seasoned. Check local rules too: some states restrict feeding meat scraps or food waste to livestock, so if you sell eggs, ask your state department of agriculture.

Biosecurity matters as well. Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has continued to circulate in US wild birds and flocks as of October 2026. Do not leave scraps out where wild birds can share them with your hens, and report sudden deaths in your flock to your state veterinarian or USDA APHIS.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Feeding treats in the morning, so hens fill up before eating their layer feed.
• Letting treats creep above 10% because the flock “loves them.”
• Giving layer feed to chicks or skipping layer feed for scratch grains only.
• Offering oyster shell instead of grit, or grit instead of oyster shell.
• Tossing moldy bread, spoiled leftovers or rotting fruit into the run.
• Leaving uneaten scraps overnight, which attracts rats and raccoons.
• Feeding lawn clippings or weeds from treated lawns.

FAQ

Keep reading

• Can Chickens Eat Pumpkin and Pumpkin Seeds? Halloween Guide
• Chicken Molting: How Long It Lasts and What to Feed Molting Hens
• Why Are My Chickens Not Laying Eggs? 11 Causes and Easy Fixes

Sources

• How to Feed Your Laying Hens (PNW 477) – Oregon State University Extension
• Feeding the Laying Hen – Alabama Cooperative Extension System
• 10 Foods You Should Never Feed Chickens – UF/IFAS Extension
• Successfully Raising a Small Flock of Laying Chickens – Penn State Extension
• Defend the Flock – USDA APHIS