Can chickens eat oranges?
Better not: chickens shouldn’t eat oranges. Colorado State University Extension advises against feeding citrus to chickens. It says so in its small-flock brochure and in its guide to raising poultry organically.
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
- Colorado State University Extension – Raising Poultry the Organic Way: Disease Control and Feeding
- Colorado State University Extension, Boulder County – Backyard and Small Flock Poultry in Boulder County (2020)
- 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