Yes, chickens can eat celery. A lot of diligent chicken owners ask the question ‘can chickens eat celery?’ The bonus to this answer is that celery is full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fiber.
All of these things are necessary for raising happy, healthy chickens that lay an abundance of eggs. Chickens will most likely eat celery that has been prepared into tiny pieces. If you haven’t given your chickens celery yet, go ahead and give it a try and see if it is to their taste.
What this article covers
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Do Chickens Even Like Celery?
If your chickens are anything like mine, they can be picky about what they eat.
Its possible your chickens will not eat celery on their first exposure, depending on how this stringy and fibrous vegetable is prepared.
Therefore, you have to find ways to make it more appetizing to them.
Chopping up celery as small as possible will increase the chances they try this nutritious vegetable. We discuss this in more detail further on.
Is Celery Good For Chickens To Eat?
Yes, celery is a great food to give to your chickens to eat. Celery 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 celery to give you an overview of how good this vegetable food really is.
Nutrition Profile of Celery
Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 14
- Protein: Less than 1 gram
- Fat: Less than 1 gram
- Carbohydrates: 3 grams
- Fiber: 1.6 grams
- Sugar: 1 gram
Broccoli 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, antioxidants 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.
Celery also contains super nutrients such as Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Potassium, Folate.
These are very important vitamins for your chicken’s immune system, growth and egg laying potential.
The antioxidants contained in celery promote high productive and reproductive performance in your chickens. In this study chickens were given antioxidants to improve their health and reduce stresses found in a commercial poultry environment.
All in all, celery 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 Celery Should Chickens Eat?
There is no set rule of how much celery 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 Celery
There are two main ways you can prepare celery to give to your chickens. By chopping the celery stalk, feeding the celery leaves, or keeping the celery whole. We recommend chopping up the celery though to make it easier for your chickens to peck at. Celery can be tough and stringy so to increase the chances of your chickens eating it, its best to cop it as small as you can.
Chopping the celery stems before feeding it to your chickens will help your chickens use less energy to eat their food. Chop up the whole celery – including the nutritious stalk, for your chickens into chicken bite sized pieces. We love this kitchen tool at our place and use it for chopping our vegetables into small chicken friendly pieces within seconds.
Feeding your chickens celery will give them a very stimulating activity and keep them occupied for a long time.
Celery can be fed to chickens raw or cooked. It’s best to give your chickens celery without any salt or spices added to it as this can irritate the chickens digestive system. It’s safest for your chickens to give only plain and unseasoned celery to them.
So, Can Chickens Eat Celery?
Yes! Go ahead and given your chickens the delicious and nutritious benefits of celery. Just make sure that the celery is chopped up where possible into small pieces so its easier for them to eat.
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 celery – https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods/broccoli#nutrients
Fiber Study – https://jasbsci.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40104-021-00576-0
Antioxidant study – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7070479/
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.
