Can chickens eat bread?
Better not: chickens shouldn’t eat bread. The British Hen Welfare Trust says not to feed bread, since it can ferment in the crop and cause sour crop. US extension services list stale bread as a common treat (extension.org, Colorado State), so we err on the side of caution. In the UK, it’s illegal to feed kitchen scraps to chickens (RSPCA).
Good to know: Never feed moldy bread or wet bread that has started to ferment (German veterinary association for animal welfare, TVT).
Kitchen scraps: The rules depend on where you live. US extension services allow small amounts of table scraps, no more than 10 percent of the daily diet (Oklahoma State). In the UK, it’s illegal to feed kitchen scraps to chickens, even pet hens (RSPCA, APHA). In the EU, Germany’s agriculture ministry (BMLEH) says kitchen and food waste must not be fed to laying hens.
Better choices, for example
Sources
- British Hen Welfare Trust – Feeding your hens
- TVT (German veterinary association for animal welfare) – Leaflet No. 131.3: Chickens (in German)
- Poultry Extension (extension.org) – Feeding Chickens for Egg Production in Small and Backyard Flocks
- Colorado State University Extension – Raising Poultry the Organic Way: Disease Control and Feeding
- BMLEH (German Federal Ministry of Agriculture) – Animal feed: frequently asked questions (kitchen and food waste, in German)
- RSPCA – Keeping chickens as pets: how to care for backyard hens
- Oklahoma State University Extension – Backyard Flock Production (AFS-8202)
- APHA (GOV.UK) – APHA warns not to feed kitchen scraps to farm animals because of disease risk (2017)
Last checked: November 2026