Yes, chickens can eat bananas. A lot of curious chicken owners ask the question ‘can chickens eat bananas?’ The bonus to this answer is that banana is full of vitamins, minerals and fiber.

All of these things are necessary for raising happy, healthy chickens that lay an abundance of eggs. Most chickens love banana but some chickens may be picky about eating bananas due to its stickiness.

If you want your chickens to eat banana, you may have to prepare them in a particular way. If you haven’t given your chickens banana yet, go ahead and give it a try and see if it is to their taste.

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Do Chickens Even Like Banana?

Most chickens like to eat banana due to its softness and sweetness. However, if your chickens are anything like mine, they can be picky about what they eat.

Its possible your chickens will not eat banana on their first exposure, but there are ways to prepare banana to make it more appetizing to fussy chickens.

We discuss the ways to prepare banana and how to feed it to your chickens further on.

Is Banana Good For Chickens To Eat?

Yes, banana is a great food to give to your chickens to eat. Banana is full of fiber, minerals and vitamins that help your chicken’s growth and provide them with optimum egg laying nutrients.

We researched the nutritional profile of banana to give you an overview of how good this food really is. 

Nutrition Profile of Banana  

Serving Size: 1 medium ripe banana

• Calories: 110
• Protein: 1 gram
• Fat: Less than 1 gram
• Carbohydrates: 28 grams
• Fiber: 3 grams
• Sugar: 15 grams
• Potassium: 450mg

Banana has a high water content as well to help keep your chickens hydrated and is also a great source of nutrients and fiber. 

A diet high in fibre and nutrients contributes to a well functioning immunity, optimal growth, healthy egg production and numerous other beneficial health functions for your chickens. 

This study found that fiber is super important to aid healthy digestion and bowel function for chickens. The same study also found that fiber aids in cleaning the gut and that chickens with a fiber-rich diet release less ammonia in their poop.

Banana also contains super nutrients such as Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Potassium, Folate, Manganese, Vitamin B6.

These are very important vitamins for your chicken’s immune system, growth and egg laying potential.

All in all, banana is a bit of a super vegetable and is worth giving to your chickens as part of a healthy and well rounded diet. Just ensure you are also giving them a variety of other nutritional foods and high quality feed as well, such as this one we love for our own girls. 

How Much Banana Should Chickens Eat?

There is no set rule of how much banana you can feed your chickens but it should be fed in moderation. A high quality feed such as this one should make up 90% of their diet.

A variety of other fruits and vegetables such as scraps and treats should also be given as part of their diet. A diverse variety of food sources ensures your flock gets all the necessary vitamins, minerals and nutrients they need in their diet for great health. 

How to Feed Chickens Banana

There are several ways you can prepare bananas to give to your chickens. By chopping the banana up, peeling the banana and feeding the banana whole, or what I like to do – mixing the banana it in with oatmeal.

Chopping the banana up before feeding it to your chickens will help your chickens use less energy to eat their food. Chop up the whole banana, for your chickens into chicken bite sized pieces.

Feeding your chickens whole banana will give them a very stimulating activity and keep them occupied for a long time as they demolish it bit by bit.

My chickens are a bit fussy so I like to mix any leftover banana I have into some raw oats and feed it to them like this. They actually go crazy for this mixture and eat the banana no problem this way.

Can Chickens Eat Banana Peels?

Chickens can eat bananas peels.

However whether they will or not is going to depend on how fussy your chickens are. For example, my chickens will not eat banana peels because they have other foods on offer that they prefer and find much easier to eat. From what I have seen and read from other chicken owners, their chickens are generally not a fan of banana peels either.

Banana peels can also contain high concentrations of pesticides. The banana fruit is often treated with pesticides and chemicals when in storage and these are concentrated on or in the skin.

The skins of bananas are mostly fibre or cellulose which has very little if any nutritional value to add to a chickens diet anyway.

So, Can Chickens Eat Bananas?

Yes! Go ahead and given your chickens the delicious and nutritious benefits of banana.

Just remember that the vast majority of their diet should come from a high quality commercial feed with other fruits and vegetables given as well. 

Chicken Care Shopping List

Are you looking for a shopping list of everything you need when caring for your precious flock? We have put together an easy reference of items for your convenience. 

• Chicken coop
• Wood shavings bale
• Feeder
• Waterer 
• Nesting Box
• Perch
• Layer pellets
• Chicken scratch/grain
• Shell grit
• Chicken Safe Disinfectant
• Coop cleaner
• Chicken dust
• Wormer
• Multivitamin
• Calcium supplement
• Insecticide
• Mealworms

Wanting to know if chickens can eat broccoli? Read on here!

References

Nutrition of banana – https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/bananas/#:~:text=One%20serving%2C%20or%20one%20medium,fiber%2C%20and%20450%20mg%20potassium.

Fiber Study – https://jasbsci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40104-021-00576-0

Chicken Care Shopping List

Are you looking for a shopping list of everything you need when caring for your precious flock? We have put together an easy reference of items for your convenience.