Can chickens eat grass?
Yes, chickens can eat grass in small amounts. Extension.org says young, tender plants are a valuable source of nutrients, but chickens can’t digest old, fibrous plants. Colorado State University Extension notes that chickens love grass clippings. Oregon State adds that chickens eat only small amounts of grass and can’t properly digest it.
How to serve it: short and fresh
Good to know: Don’t feed lawn clippings if pesticides were applied recently (extension.org).
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.
Sources
- Poultry Extension (extension.org) – Feeding Chickens for Egg Production in Small and Backyard Flocks
- BLV (Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office) – Animal welfare information 10.4: keeping chickens as a hobby (in German)
- CSU Extension/NRCS – Backyard Chickens (Jennifer Cook, 2011)
- Oregon State University Extension – How to Feed Your Laying Hens (PNW 477)
- RSPCA Australia – How do I feed my chickens a healthy diet?
- Oklahoma State University Extension – Backyard Flock Production (AFS-8202)
- RSPCA – Keeping chickens as pets: how to care for backyard hens
- APHA (GOV.UK) – APHA warns not to feed kitchen scraps to farm animals because of disease risk (2017)
- BMLEH (German Federal Ministry of Agriculture) – Animal feed: frequently asked questions (kitchen and food waste, in German)
Last checked: November 2026