Can Chickens Eat Chocolate?

Can chickens eat chocolate? No. Chocolate is bad for chickens. Never give your chickens chocolate no matter how little it is. A Small Amount of chocolate will make chickens sick. The more the quantity, the much more fatal the effect.

When raising chickens, we tend to go through lots of stress. From cleaning their pens or cages to making sure their food and water supplements are complete, taking enough care to maintain the temperature of where they are kept, and even watching out for what they eat.

Chickens are omnivores, beyond this they are scavengers and mini trash cans. They can eat whatever they see or claw out of the dirt. Chickens are usually seen scattering the dustbins, looking for anything edible to consume, and anything that can be edible for chickens, I mean anything. 

Sometimes, we tend to have concerns about raising chickens. This is because it is no news that bad food has negative effects on them. It is easy for chickens to fall sick due to the nature of their immune system, and if chickens are raised for commercial purposes, then it means any health issue at all can mean a big loss. One of the best ways to care for your chickens’ health is to ensure that they eat the right food. And how do you know the right food? 

Here is a collection of foods that your chickens can eat much of, just a little, and what your chickens can’t eat at all.

Talking about what your chickens can’t eat, Chocolate is one of them. This is one major food you need to advise your chickens to keep far away from their reach. Chocolate is a death sentence for chickens, it is important to make sure that they have no cause or opportunity to eat it or even get a taste of it at all. Does chocolate contain nutrients? Of course! Chocolates contain nutrients that are beneficial to the human body but very hazardous to chickens. You can feed yourself chocolates but not chickens. How? read on!

But let’s first take a look at the nutritional value of chocolate.

Table Of Nutrition For Chocolate

101 g of dark chocolate with 76% cocoa solids 

Calories – 604

Interesting Facts About Chocolate

• It takes about four hundred cocoa beans to produce just one pound of chocolate, each cocoa tree grows about two thousand five hundred cocoa beans, which means one cocoa tree can only produce about six pounds of chocolate.
• An average serving of milk chocolate has almost the same amount of caffeine you would find in a cup of decaffeinated coffee.
• Chocolates are vegetables – originated from vegetables! Also, white chocolate is not exactly chocolate.

Where Is Chocolate From?

• Chocolate is from cocoa. Cocoa trees are not strong, they are very delicate. So delicate an average cocoa farmer loses about thirty percent of his crop each year.
• Cocoa means “food for the gods”. Its name is a derivative of cocoa beans whose botanical name is ” Theobroma Cacao”. It was named by Carolus Linnaeus, the known father of taxonomy.
• About 1.5 million cocoa farms are estimated to be present in West Africa. This crop was originally raised by hand on small farms owned by families.
• The leaves of this plant can move about ninety degrees, from vertical to horizontal and vice-versa to receive more sunlight and protect the younger leaves from too much heat.
• Cocoa trees can last for as long as two hundred years old. Though, their bean seeds are only marketable for the first twenty-five years.
• The single largest producer of cocoa is Cote D’Ivoire. They are cultivators of 40% of the world’s supply of cocoa.
• In its early days of discovery, cocoa was very valuable to Meso-Americans. They were even exchanged as currency.
• About forty to fifty million people depend on cocoa worldwide for their livelihood. In West Africa, the average size of a cocoa farm is about seven to ten acres.

Can Chickens Eat Chocolate?

No. As discussed earlier, it is wrong to feed your chickens chocolate. It harm or kill them.

What You Should Know About Chocolate

Chocolate is good for humans but don’t feed your chickens chocolate. It contains caffeine which is an element found in soda drinks that should not be fed to chickens.  Caffeinated foods are generally bad for chickens. I would also never recommend adding chocolate to your chicken feeder. You will see a disaster of a mess that will not be pretty! 

Dangers Of Chocolate To Chickens

• Chocolate contains a chemical compound known as Theobromine. This chemical substance is very toxic to chickens.
• Also, the sugar and flavor content of chocolate will lead to very fatal digestive unrest and even death.

In Summary

Chickens cannot eat chocolates, they should not be fed with chocolates. Chocolate contains substances that are very toxic for chickens. Ensure half-eaten and unwanted chocolates are disposed of far away from your chickens’ reach. If your looking for a starter guide on raising backyard chickens, then take a look at our blog post.