Can chicken eat bread? No, chickens cannot eat bread.

Chickens are omnivores and have turned out to be one of the most effective ways to prevent waste. Chickens have been nicknamed “trash-cans” because of their ability to feed on leftover foods, vegetables, or fruits.

These leftovers can also double as chicken treats. Some of these leftover treats serve the very important purpose of supplementing certain nutrients that formulated feed cannot provide. These nutrients are also very important for the rapid and healthy growth of chickens

As much as your chickens love to get treated to the good stuff from your kitchen, they cannot eat everything from there. Foods that contain salt, bread, rotting fruits, moldy foods, alcohol, onions, avocado, chocolate, and anything that contains caffeine are examples of foods you should not give to your chicken.

These foods can cause harm to your chicken, reduce their productivity, cost you some money if you are a commercial producer, or worse, kill your chicken.

To find out more about what chickens can eat and what they can’t eat check out 

Nutritional Table for Bread

Here’s a table containing the nutrients in bread and the amount in grams.

Serving size – 1 slice of 25 grams contains 67 calories

Nutrients	Amount	% RDI
Total fat	1 gram
Carbohydrates	13 grams
Protein	2 grams
Fiber	0.6 grams
Thiamine		8%
Folate		7%
Sodium		7%
Manganese		6%
Selenium		6%
Riboflavin		5%
Niacin		5%
Iron		5%

Interesting Facts About Bread

Bread is a staple food made from dough which consists of flour and water. It is usually prepared by baking.

Bread is the oldest man-made food, it dates back to early history. It was used for spiritual and also traditional exercises.

There are different types of bread, namely;

• Brown bread
• Dark sprouted whole grain
• Banana bread
• Cornbread
• Flatbread and the list goes on

Bread is made up of flour, yeast, sugar, salt, milk, water, egg, oil/ butter. Sugar and yeast contained in bread can ferment in your chicken’s crop which is not a good thing for your chicken.

A crop is part of the chicken’s digestive anatomy which holds foods that your chicken has newly eaten before digestion takes place. The fermentation of these ingredients can cause the pH level of the crop to increase which is bad for your chicken’s wellbeing

Bread contains a very low quantity of protein, calcium, which your chickens need in large quantities for healthy growth and high-quality production of eggs.

Can Chickens Eat Bread?

No, chickens cannot and should not eat bread, whether it is organic or not. Bread is very unsafe for your chickens, causing more harm than good to your chickens and your business

What You Should Know About Bread

Bread contains low protein and calcium and doesn’t hold enough of the essential nutrients your chickens need for healthy growth. It contains elements that can cause harm to your chicken.

Bread contains additives that are not exactly healthy for your chickens. The sugar content in bread can harm your chickens as their body system was not designed to digest large quantities of sugar.

Dangers of  Feeding Bread to Your Chicken

Here’s a list of why you should not give your chickens bread

• It can cause sour crops in your chicken
• Your chicken ends up producing eggs with soft or fragile shells if the eggs have shells at all
• Choking – dry bread that has been swallowed by your chicken could swell and become difficult to push past your chicken’s throat thus choking it
• Digestive problems, as your chicken’s system, was not designed to break down so much sugar
• Increase in pH level of your chicken’s crop
• Your chickens would not be as healthy as they should be.

In Summary

Bread is bad for your chicken and should be kept away from them. You can feed your chickens bread in very little quantity soaked in water but there’s no guarantee that it would not hurt your chicken. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

Bread contains very little nutrients so why bother giving it to your chicken since it causes more harm than good.

Your chickens can eat a lot of things, but they should not be fed bread because it simply is a bad idea. When you are giving your chickens kitchen scraps or leftovers or even treating your chicken, don’t be tempted to give them bread.

There are a lot of other treats you can use to substitute their diet, bread is just not one of them. We hope that you enjoyed this article. We recommend you take a look at our starter guide on raising backyard chickens.