Can My Chickens Eat Lawn Grass?

When your chickens come outside on your lawn, they can and should eat grass.

Not only can your chickens eat lawn grass; they should eat it and other greens as a normal part of their healthy diet. While baby chicks may be started on starter feed from a store, chickens are actually omnivores.

Function

Lawn grass, weeds, alfalfa, clover and just about anything green that catches their eyes will appeal to chickens as part of a normal, healthy diet. Like humans, chickens need roughage to keep their digestive systems moving. Chickens also naturally eat some gritty things like dirt so their gizzards can help them grind their food.

Considerations

If your area experiences harsh enough winters that grass stops growing, you may need to supplement your chickens with store-bought chicken feed during the winter. Chickens will naturally forage if allowed to roam free, but cannot find grass if it's buried under snow.

Additional Benefits

While you may love your lawn, you may not love insects like ticks, grubs, flies, gnats and mosquitoes that are commonly found in lawn grass. The good news is that your chickens will happily gobble those up, too -- just give them the chance.

References

• "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life"; Barbara Kingsolver, Camille Kingsolver, and Steven L. Hopp; 2007.
• Grit: Save Money in 2009 -- Raise Your Own Chickens
• Grit: Raising Chickens And Poultry For Home Pest Control