Safe Kitchen Scraps and Treats (10% Rule)
By The Coop Team · Updated July 3, 2026
Quick answer
To ensure your chickens remain healthy, treats should make up no more than 10% of their daily intake. Safe treats include leafy greens, cucumbers, fruits like apples (without seeds), and plain cooked grains. Always avoid moldy, greasy, sugary, or raw meat scraps.
Key facts
- Max Treat Percentage
- 10%
- Chickens Daily Intake
- 90% feed
- Safe Treat Varieties
- 18 types
- Apple Seeds Toxicity
- cyanide compounds
- Chop Treat Size
- small pieces
Treats should stay under 10% of daily intake so the balanced layer or all-flock feed still does its job.
Safe Crowd Favorites
- Leafy greens (kale, chard, lettuce, spinach in moderation)
- Cucumbers
- Zucchini
- Watermelon and other melons
- Cooked squash and pumpkin (raw is fine too)
- Berries
- Apples (no seeds in bulk, they contain cyanide compounds)
- Bananas
- Grapes cut in half
- Cooked plain rice
- Cooked plain oatmeal
- Cooked pasta
- Plain whole grain bread in small amounts
- Cooked beans (never raw)
- Scrambled or hard-boiled eggs
- Plain yogurt
- Cottage cheese
- Mealworms and black soldier fly larvae
- Garden bugs, worms, and grasshoppers
Herbs Chickens Love
- Oregano
- Parsley
- Basil
- Mint
- Thyme
- Dill
Rules of Thumb
Nothing moldy, nothing greasy or heavily salted, nothing sugary, and no raw meat scraps that could rot in the run. Chop bulky treats so a bossy hen cannot swallow them whole. Toss treats in the run late afternoon so hens fill up on their real feed first.
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