Obviously, peanuts can be quite healthy for a human. You shouldn’t really be munching on them constantly, but a few peanuts in your diet every so often shouldn’t go amiss. What about chickens, though? We know that chickens can’t eat many foods that humans can. Can chickens eat peanuts?
That is what we want to take a look at on this page.
Can Chickens Eat Peanuts?
Yes, chickens can eat peanuts! There will be a few precautions that you need to take if you are planning on feeding them peanuts (more on that in the next section), but chickens do like to munch on a few peanuts every now and then.
As with most things outside of their standard chicken feed, you probably shouldn’t be letting your chickens munch down on peanuts too often.
As healthy as peanuts can be (in terms of the nutritional content that they boast), they are still going to be high in calories and fats.
These fats may actually be good if you want to create richer tasting eggs, but there is a fine line between giving your chickens enough fat, and too much fat.
Are Peanuts Bad For Chickens?
Now you know the answer to ‘can chickens eat peanuts’ is a yes, how many should you actually be giving them? Well, that is what we want to talk about here.
In our opinion, you should not be feeding a flock of chickens more than a couple of handfuls of peanuts at once. You should also be feeding them peanuts no more than once or twice per week.
This will allow you to mix and match up some of their other ‘treat foods’. You may even want to throw a couple of other nuts into the mix too. You just need to make sure that whatever you give them is safe for your chickens.
The only real precautions that you need to be taking here is to ensure that the peanuts are not salted and do not have any other flavorings added to them. These flavorings are going to be bad for your chickens, particularly with the quantities that are used with peanuts.
Basically, nothing salted, honey roasted, or anything like that. The peanuts need to be just as they came out of the shell.
Peanuts do not rot like other foods, so there is probably going to be no issue leaving some peanuts in the coop for a couple of days.
They won’t attract pests. However, if the chickens are leaving some peanuts behind after more than a few hours, you have probably given them too many. This means that you need to adjust the amount they are eating the next time you feed them.
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Conclusion
So, there you have it. Chickens absolutely can eat peanuts if you give them a few. There will be a few precautions that you need to consider.
However, for the most part, if you give your chickens a few peanuts every now and then, they are going to be perfectly happy with them! So, never more than once a week. Don’t forget to mix them up with a few other foods too.
See also: Can chickens have popcorn?
