Healthy treats for chickens give flock owners the chance to bond with their flock while adding essential nutrients to boost overall health. In the fall, offering seasonal favorites can support your flock’s immune system and overall well-being. Keep reading to learn which healthy fall treats for chickens your flock will love.
Pumpkins: A Fall Favorite Healthy Treat for Chickens
Pumpkins are a classic fall vegetable and one of the most healthy treats for chickens, packed with nutrients that support immune health and digestion. Members of the squash family, pumpkin seeds are believed to be a natural dewormer because they contain a compound called cucurbitacin. This compound is believed to help rid livestock and poultry of tapeworms. While pumpkin seeds work well as a preventive against tapeworms, if your flock has internal parasites, a vet-prescribed dewormer should be used instead of natural dewormers.
Pumpkins for chickens are also a great source of beta-carotene. Once ingested, the beta-carotene is then converted to vitamin A. The chicken’s body will then use the vitamin A to boost the immune system and prevent respiratory diseases.
Pumpkin seeds also contain high levels of vitamin E, which helps to prevent common chicken health conditions such as coccidosis and E. coli.
Winter Squashes: Nutritious Fall Treats for Your Flock
Winter squashes, including butternut, acorn, and spaghetti squash, are seasonal favorites that make excellent healthy fall treats for chickens. The winter squash family includes butternut squash, spaghetti squash, and acorn squash. These delightful squashes may not be as popular a choice in a good treats for chickens list, but they are equally as healthy for your flock.
Spaghetti Squash: A Safe and Healthy Fall Treat
Spaghetti squash is a gentle, nutrient-rich option that can be cooked and fed in small pieces, making it a healthy treat for chickens during the fall. While it can be fed to chickens raw, cooking it until tender and cutting it into small, manageable pieces is the best way to prevent choking or a crop impaction due to a chicken swallowing a large piece and getting it lodged in the crop.
Spaghetti squash is an excellent source of vitamin C needed to support a healthy immune system and is a good source of fiber.
Butternut Squash: Vitamin-Rich Treats for Chickens
Butternut squash is high in vitamins A and C and provides essential minerals, making it one of the best healthy treats for chickens this season. This beneficial squash is high in vitamins A and C and is also a good source of potassium. Potassium helps a chicken’s body function correctly, helping to ensure the heart, organs, and muscular system are running smoothly.
Feed cooked butternut squash in small pieces to prevent choking.
Acorn Squash: Hydrating Fall Treats for Your Flock
With its high water content, acorn squash helps keep chickens hydrated while providing a seasonal, healthy treat for chickens in the fall. The high water contents help chickens stay hydrated, especially in warmer climates where fall temperatures are still quite warm. While staying hydrated is important at any age, it is especially critical to ensure laying hens stay well-hydrated to ensure good egg production.
As with all squashes, cook acorn squash before feeding to your flock.
Fennel: An Enriching and Healthy Fall Treat for Chickens
Fennel bulbs and fronds offer both nutritional benefits and entertainment, making this aromatic plant a perfect healthy treat for chickens during fall. All parts of the plant are edible, including the bulb. In the fall, if you’ve been growing fennel, dig up the bulb and watch your flock go to work pecking at the bulb.
Fennel is considered to be antimicrobial, antifungal, antibacterial, and anticancer. Fennel is also an excellent choice to feed to molting hens.
Apples: Sweet and Healthy Fall Treats
Apples are a favorite fall fruit for both people and poultry, and feeding them in small, seedless pieces provides a safe, healthy treat for chickens. This delicious fruit contains prebiotics and phytochemicals that help support a healthy gut and intestinal tract. Apples are high in protein and are a healthy treat for molting hens (especially when mixed with unsalted, sugar-free peanut butter).
When you’re harvesting apples, hang some in the run for chickens to peck at or cut them into small pieces and sprinkle them on the ground. Or you can mix cut apples with peanut butter and feed them in treat block hangers. Do not feed apple stems, cores, seeds, or leaves to chickens, as these are toxic.
French Marigolds: Edible Flowers That Boost Health
French marigold blossoms are edible, antiviral, and antioxidant-rich, offering a colorful and healthy fall treat for chickens. Not only does eating French Marigolds make for vibrant yellow-orange egg yolks, but they are also considered to be antiviral, antifungal, and an immune booster.
Another benefit to French Marigolds is that they are a natural insect and snake repellent. Planting them around the perimeter of the coop and run is believed to help ward off insects and snakes.
Feed only the French variety of marigolds (only the blossoms are edible) to your flock.
Fresh Greens: Nutrient-Packed Treats for Fall
Seasonal greens like kale, arugula, and dandelion leaves are packed with vitamins and minerals, making them top healthy treats for chickens in autumn. Arugula, kale, dandelion greens, herbs, and leaf lettuce are all packed with nutrients and essential vitamins and minerals to help your flock thrive.
In warmer climates where fall temperatures are still warm, these greens offer an excellent way to help chickens stay hydrated. Fall greens are packed full of calcium, folate, potassium, vitamins A, C, and K, and zinc, supporting a healthy immune system.
Broccoli: Superfood Treats for Healthy Chickens
Broccoli is a nutrient-dense superfood that supports immune function and overall health, making it one of the most beneficial healthy treats for chickens this fall. Broccoli is antimicrobial and antibacterial, and contains lots of antioxidants.
This healthy vegetable contains many vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A and C, magnesium, potassium, selenium, and zinc. Feeding chickens broccoli is also believed to ward off winter illnesses in the flock.
While this list highlights some of the best healthy treats for chickens this fall, there are many seasonal and year-round options to keep your flock thriving. Feeding your chickens nutritious treats not only supports their health and immune system but also provides fun enrichment for your flock.
This article about treats for chickens in the fall was written for Hobby Farms and Chickens magazines. Click here to subscribe.
