Can Chickens Eat Grapes?

Can Chickens Eat Grapes Featured Image
Chickens can eat grapes in moderation. Feeding grapes in limited amounts is definitely okay as a treat as long as your chickens otherwise have a balanced diet.

Feeding chickens tasty treats and healthy snacks is a joyful experience that homesteaders love. Not only do chickens enjoy the variety of food as they are omnivores, but the food scraps are being used instead of going to waste!

As with any food you provide to your chickens, it is important to understand the health benefits as well as the health problems that can come from any particular food. Grapes are often fed to chickens as a chicken treat, but is it good for your chicken’s health?

Is it Safe to Feed Your Chicken Grapes?

Chickens can definitely eat grapes and it’s generally safe to serve these, but they may be overeager and try to gulp them down whole which is a choking hazard. Chopping up the grapes into smaller pieces will make it less likely that choking will occur as they will only be swallowing part of the grape.

person chopping green grapes
Always chop your grapes – even the leftovers!

Chickens have beaks but do not have teeth, so they cannot chew the same way that people can. It is imperative that any extra treats you give are in bite-size pieces, especially to baby chicks.

As with any treat, chickens are prone to overeating, so you will want to make sure you don’t feed them too much and cause unintentional weight gain.

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You should never feed moldy grapes to your chickens as this can cause digestive issues so be sure they are relatively fresh and do a quick visual inspection for mold prior to offering them to your birds.

We recommend only feeding organic fruits and veggies to your chickens as some pesticides can be harmful to chickens if consumed in large amounts, and always wash any produce to reduce the amount of pesticide that may be present, the same as you would for anything you would eat.

What Health Benefits do Grapes Provide for Chickens?

Backyard chickens who are given grapes occasionally as part of a chicken’s diet will gain important boosts to their immune system. Grapes are a wonderful source of antioxidants and a good source of carbohydrates.

Grapes also contain vitamin A, vitamin b6, vitamin K, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium, and even calcium! All of these are important for chickens to consume.

Do Chickens Like Grapes?

Our feathered friends love grapes because of their sugar content.

If you do offer grapes to your chickens, be sure that you limit the amount that each bird consumes, but also make sure that all of your chickens are able to partake, lest they fight or peck at one another.

What Type of Grapes Should You Feed Chickens?

Every part of the grape including grape leaves, grape vines, and grape seeds is okay for a chicken to eat.

You can provide red grapes or (preferably) green seedless grapes in moderation. There is no particular variety that chickens should not consume.

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red and green grapes
Both green and red grapes are fine, but green seedless grapes are preferable

What about raisins? A raisin is a dried grape and it can be fed to a chicken but fresh, whole grapes are a much healthier choice.

Raisins have concentrated sugars and if store-bought, will have extra additives that are not good for chickens to have.

Raisins also cause rapid weight gain in chickens, and this is not the type of feed that you should use to grow your birds – it will likely lead to overweight chickens with joint problems.

Christina

A longtime resident of Southern California, Christina recently moved across the globe to Austria, where she bought land specifically to build a small house with room for a backyard chicken coop. Christina spent her childhood summers on a farm, raising and caring for a flock of hens owned by her grandparents, which prompted a lifelong love of chickens, and other farm animals. Christina is passionate about writing, having written hundreds of articles for well-known websites, and uses her English degree in service of her love for animal welfare, most recently taking on a writing position at Chicken Care Taker in 2022.

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