Can Chickens Eat Grapes?

Are you often concerned about what you can and can’t feed your chicken? If you are, then you should pay attention to this post.

YES, chickens can eat grapes.

It is really important to keep a tab on what you give your chickens, that way, you try to give them a healthy, long, or rather a healthy short life (you just might be cutting that long life short when you put a knife to their throat). If you’re looking for a more comprehensive guide on raising chickens we have a great article published in our blog.

Here’s a brief table showing what your chickens can and cannot eat and how much they can eat.

Let’s have a close look at what each fruit offers nutritionally.

Grapes Nutritional Table

In 100grams of grapes, there are;

Vitamin K – 14.6mg

Vitamin C – 3.2mg

Energy- 89 calories

Carbohydrates – 18g

Sugar – 15g, and negligible amounts of protein and fat content.

Interesting facts about grapes

Grapes are fruits, which are botanically berries of the deciduous woody vines.  They are of the flowering plant genus, Vitis. It can be eaten fresh or can be used to make wine, jam, grape juice, jelly, grape seed extract, raisins, vinegar, and grape seed oil.

Grapes are ellipsoidal and occur in clusters of 15-300.  Now, what do our chickens care about the history of grapes and all of this story? Well, they don’t care, all they want is their grape treat.

Can Chickens Eat Grapes?

Yes, they can. Grapes are healthy fruits that contain a whole lot of nutrients that are very beneficial to your chicken. Too much of it could cause harm to your chicken, as you know, too much of everything is bad.

Your chickens would eat grapes as long as they are available and it’s your duty as a good caregiver to moderate the number of grapes you are giving to them. You shouldn’t give your chickens grapes as a complete diet because they don’t contain all the essential nutrients your chicken would need to grow healthy.

Grapes should be introduced in bits and slices, otherwise, your flock can panic and choke on it, in their excitement to feast. If you haven’t noticed, chickens are greedy and one chicken would want to hoard the grapes. It is best to chicken feed them using a chicken feeder because this will allow for a much more spread out opportunity of eating by your flock.

So it is important to supply enough for all. You should wash the grapes and cut them into little bits. You could also string them up for your chickens to peck at. This amuses them.

Can chickens eat Raisins?

Raisins can also be fed to your chicken, but in moderation, as grapes contain a high level of sugar. Raisins come from grapes, they are simply dried-up grapes. The process of drying the grapes makes the sugar more concentrated in the grapes and so you can only treat your chickens to a little at a time, occasionally.

You should avoid giving your chickens store-bought grapes as they contain chemical preservatives. These preservatives could be harmful to your chickens. The same also goes for raisins.

Too many raisins being fed to your chickens results in unhealthy chicken fat and when your chicken is too fat, they develop joint problems. Their leg joints become weak from carrying their overly heavyweight, and then they become immobile, accumulating unhealthy fat.

What You Should Know About Grapes

There are different types of grapes. They include:

• Red grapes,
• Concord,
• Moon drops,
• Pinot noir,
• Lemberger,
• Cotton Candy Grapes,
• Crimson Seedless Grapes,
• Fry Muscadine Grapes,
• Gewurztraminer Grapes,
• Kyoho Grapes and lots more

My point is that your chickens can eat all of it. Some grapes have seeds and some do not. Seedless grapes are recommended for your chicken because they can hurt their beaks from pecking at seeds.

Your chickens can also eat the stem and the leaves as far as they are not sprayed with pesticides.

Grapes contain lots of vitamins, minerals, and important nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, fat, energy, and sugars. Raw grapes contain 81% water, 18% carbohydrates, 1% protein, and negligible fat. 100 grams, which is 3.5 ounces of raw grapes produces 288 kilojoules (69 kilocalories) of food energy and a moderate amount of vitamin K (14% of the daily value)

Benefits Of Grapes For Your Chickens

• They are rich in antioxidants
• They are equally high in vitamin k and vitamin c per 100 grams
• It prevents cancer in your chicken
• Your chickens have improved bone health
• Grapes allow for healthy weight gain, when not overfed to your chicken.
• Controls diabetes

In Summary

With all of these nutrients present, your grapes are nutritious treats for your chicken. Just make sure not to give them too much too occasionally. What’s that saying? Without balance, most things go wrong.