Treating your flock to homemade snacks is a fantastic way to keep them happy, productive, and well-pampered! Store-bought chicken treats can be pricey, but making treats for chickens is an affordable and rewarding alternative—especially when you can use ingredients you likely already have at home!
When I first inherited my chicken flock from a friend (coop and all), I ordered some chicken treats (compressed seed discs) from Amazon. The girls loved them, but after purchasing them a few times, they were discontinued.
Months later, I saw a reel on Instagram that shared a homemade chicken treat recipe. It was for one large cake that was baked in a springform pan. I made it a few times, then lost the recipe. So, today, I decided to come up with my own recipe, which is loosely based on the one I lost.
One of the changes I made was to bake the chicken treats in muffin tins to make "little cakes." I want to make sure there are plenty to go around, even for the misfits of the group that wouldn't get any otherwise.
I recommend poking holes in the compressed discs before baking them if you plan on suspending them with string. I found that my chickens preferred eating them on the ground, where they kicked them around like a hockey puck. So, if you want to spoil your ladies (and gents), make them a batch of theses homemade chicken treats!
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Ingredients & Substitutions
- Layer Crumble: Choose from layer crumble or chicken scratch.
- Soldier Fly Larvae: You can add dried soldier fly larvae or dried mealworms.
- Rolled Oats: I used old fashioned rolled oats, but quick oats should be ok to substitute.
- Nuts & Seeds: Sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds are a natural dewormer (may help with parasites). They're high in protein and healthy fats. Sunflower seeds are great for feather health due to their high-fat content. Both should be raw and unsalted. If you only have one of the two, just double the amount.
- Applesauce: I used a 4-ounce jar of homemade applesauce with cinnamon. You can substitute 1 container of regular or cinnamon-flavored applesauce.
- Molasses: Molasses is a good source of minerals like iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium. Add in moderation, however, because it's high in calories and can cause diarrhea. If you don't have molasses, try adding honey instead.
- Psyllium Husk: We always have psyllium husk on hand; just a small amount will do. I recall the original recipe had wheat germ, which we don't usually buy, but if you do, add that instead!
- Eggs: Eggs act as a binding agent and their shells provide calcium, essential for strong eggshell production. If you find your mix is not wet enough, add one additional egg.
*See recipe card for quantities.
How To Make Homemade Chicken Treats
- Add dry ingredients to a mixing bowl, then mix the wet ingredients (molasses, applesauce, and eggs) in another bowl.
- Crush eggshells and add to the dry ingredients, then pour the wet ingredients over them and gently mix until combined.
Pro Tip: Optionally, you can add 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes, which boosts the chickens' immunity, deters internal parasites, and improves circulation!
- Line a muffin pan with paper cup inserts and spray cups with a light coating of oil. Add ⅓ cup of treat mixture into each cup and press down with a rubber spatula to compress into a disc.
- Bake in a preheated 325℉ oven for 20 minutes or until firm. Once completely cool, peel off the paper cups and store the cakes in a gallon-sized ziplock bag.
Pro Tip: If you plan on hanging the treats, make a hole in the center of each cake with a chopstick or a similar object before baking them.
Equipment
To make these chicken treats, you'll need mixing bowls, measuring cups, a rubber spatula, a muffin pan, and muffin liners.
Storage
Store homemade chicken treats in an airtight container, such as Tupperware or a gallon-sized ziplock bag. They should keep for weeks, if not months. I will update this post when I test how long they're good for!
FAQ
Chickens love fresh fruits and veggies and lots of leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, and kale. They also adore corn, melons, pumpkins, squash, berries, peas, and cucumbers. Dried soldier fly larvae, cooked eggs, oatmeal, seeds, pasta, and cooked rice are also great treat options!
90% of the calories consumed by your chickens should come from a complete chicken feed/crumble. The other 10% can be made up of treats.
Some of the foods that you should not feed your chickens include
avocados (pits and peels), raw or dry beans, green potatoes, tomato leaves, and rhubarb leaves (they contain oxalic acid, which is highly toxic). You should also not give your chickens salty or sugary foods or chocolate and coffee; save those for yourself!
Watching the chickens try to eat the chicken treats suspended by the string reminded me of watching my kids trying to eat doughnuts hanging in the same fashion during the Halloween fair when they were little. Oh, the memories!
Pro Tips
- I found that my chickens preferred the treats to be on the ground versus hanging by a string. Try it both ways and see what your chickens prefer.
- If you decide to add other ingredients not listed in this recipe, do some research first to make sure that whatever you're adding is suitable for chickens to consume.
- You may want to store these chicken treats out of sight to keep an unsuspecting family member from thinking that they're bran muffins, lol!
More Homesteading Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Homemade Treats For Chickens
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 cups chicken scratch grain
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup dried soldier fly larvae
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- ½ cup pumpkin seeds
- ⅓ cup molasses
- ½ cup applesauce
- ¼ cup psyllium husk
- 4 large eggs
- cooking spray (to spray the paper cups)
Instructions
- Add dry ingredients to a mixing bowl, then mix the wet ingredients (molasses, applesauce, and eggs) in another bowl.
- Crush eggshells and add to the dry ingredients, then pour the wet ingredients over them and gently mix until combined.
- Line a muffin pan with paper cup inserts and spray cups with a light coating of oil. Add ⅓ cup of treat mixture into each cup and press down with a rubber spatula to compress into a disc.
- Bake in a preheated 325℉ oven for 20 minutes or until firm. Once completely cool, peel off the paper cups and store the cakes in a gallon-sized ziplock bag.
Notes
- Optionally, you can add 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes, which boosts the chickens' immunity, deters internal parasites, and improves circulation!
- If you plan on hanging the treats, make a hole in the center of each cake with a chopstick or a similar object before baking them.
- I found that my chickens preferred the treats to be on the ground versus hanging by a string. Try it both ways and see what your chickens prefer.
- If you decide to add other ingredients not listed in this recipe, do some research first to make sure that whatever you're adding is suitable for chickens to consume.
- You may want to store these chicken treats out of sight to keep an unsuspecting family member from thinking that they're bran muffins, lol!
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