Chicken treat cheat sheet! Chickens get everything they need from their layers pellets but feeding a few treats adds variety to their diet and helps prevent boredom. Feeding treats is also a great way to tame your hens. It is, however, very easy to over feed treats and chickens eating too many snacks may develop nutritional deficiencies as they will eat the treats in preference to their complete food. Here’s how to avoid over feeding:

1. Feed treats later in the day to ensure the hens have filled up on layers

pellets first. 2. Extend the entertainment value of each treat by hiding it, hanging it or

making it slightly tricky to eat! Thread food on skewers, hang whole cabbages or apples on bungee chords, hide treats under piles of leaves or buy a dog treat ball – your hens will soon learn to roll it around!

3. Watch to see how much of each snack your chickens eat. If there is some left over then feed a little less next time.

The quantities given below are a very rough guide and based on the assumption that you are providing two or three different treats per day. Larger hens will happily eat more and some chickens turn their beaks up at certain treats altogether. Experiment with different treats but never feed meat, dairy, onion, avocado or salty/ sugary/ oily foods.    

Treat

Max quantity/ hen/ day

How to prepare it

Grapes 4 grapes Feed whole or chop in half for small

bantams. Spaghetti/ pasta 5 pieces Feed plain. Try hanging spaghetti

around the run. Apple chunks 6 small chunks Chop into half inch chunks. Try

threading onto skewers as part of a fruit kebab.

Banana slices 3 thick slices Try threading onto skewers as part of a fruit kebab or mash banana into cracks in a log, a pinecone or half a coconut shell.

Greens/ cabbage 1 large leaf Hang leaves up whole or shred finely. Sprouts 3 sprouts Try threading onto skewers or playing

chicken football! Mealworms 1 heaped teaspoon Great for training hens to eat out of

your hand (if you don’t mind holding the mealworms!). Mix them into warm

porridge or rice. Peanut butter 1 small teaspoons Spread onto apple slice or into cracks

in a log, a pinecone or half a coconut shell.

Mixed corn 1 tablespoon Great for training hens to eat out of your hand or scatter it so they can scratch for it.

Peas 1 tablespoon Scatter them and watch the hens run around after them! Feeding frozen peas in the summer can help hot hens cool down.

Cherry tomatoes 3 tomatoes Feed whole or chop in half for small bantams. Try threading onto skewers as part of a fruit kebab.

Sweetcorn 1 small tablespoon Feeding frozen sweetcorn in the summer can help hot hens cool down.

Bread 4 small chunks Cut or tear into half inch chunks. Rice 1 tablespoon Feed plain. Scatter the rice or mash it

into cracks in a log. Broccoli or cauliflower

3 florets Break into smaller pieces or hang an entire head of broccoli up for pecking.

Porridge 2 tablespoons Never feed raw oats, always cooked. Make the porridge up with water and no salt or sugar. Stir in corn, mealworms, peanut butter or boiled egg for a high protein snack.

Carrot 6 small chunks. No need to peel, just chop into half inch chunks.

Egg ¼ - ½ an egg Boil, allow to cool, peel and mash into crumbs. Alternatively, scramble an egg lightly in the microwave.

Popcorn 1 heaped tablespoon Pop some plain popcorn in a pan and allow to cool. Try threading onto thin twine (use a darning needle) and hanging up in the run.

Pumpkin/ squash 2 tablespoons of ‘innards’ or 6 small chunks of pumpkin flesh.

Scoop out the innards or chop the flesh into half inch chunks. For a real treat provide a quarter or half squash and let them pull it apart themselves!

Peelings (apple, carrot, parsnip, courgette)

3 tablespoons Hang them around the run.

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