Top Five Summer Treats for Chickens
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During the season's heat, summer treats for chickens can provide mental stimulation, nutrition, and a cooling break. A cooling break? Yes! A fun trick for your chicken's summer snacking is to chill or freeze what you provide. Just like humans, chickens will appreciate a summertime cold snack.
Check out these top five frozen treats for chickens that can be the ticket for comfort and fun!
1. Treats for Chickens - Watermelon
Who doesn't love a good watermelon in the summer? Chickens are no exception which is why it's considered one of the top summer treats for chickens! First, chill a watermelon, cut it in half and give it to your birds. You don't need to buy the seedless melon since your birds aren't picky and will appreciate the seeds too. If you hit a watermelon sale and have too much to use all at once, don't worry! You can scoop the watermelon using an ice cream scooper and freeze the individual scoops. Pull them out on a hot day, and your chickens will love you. Besides the cooling effects of these chilled treats for chickens, watermelon also gives your birds extra hydration during the heat.
2. Treats for Chickens - Frozen Berry Treats for Chickens
Although berries with all their yummy goodness don't stick around long, be sure to hold a few back and chill or freeze them as treats for your chickens. Blueberries and raspberries aren't packed with calories but with nutrients that can benefit your birds. An easy homemade treat for chickens, freeze the berries with water into ice cubes and then let your flock pick the ice cubes as they melt to reveal yummy bites.
3. Treats for Chickens - Frozen Garden Greens
This time of year, gardens are at their fullest, so share that bounty with your chickens. Leafy greens like lettuce, carrot and beet tops, kale and broccoli leaves freeze quickly and provide your birds with xanthophyll, a naturally occurring plant pigment that helps keep your chicken's egg yolks nice and orange.
4. Treats for Chickens - Frozen Garden Veggies
Cucumber, summer squash, and zucchini are abundant this time, and chickens love these veggies. You can serve them whole and let the chickens peck to their heart's content. Or chop them up and freeze the bits with water into ice cubes. Let your flock pick the ice cubes to reveal yummy bites as they melt.
5. Treats for Chickens - Corn on the Cob
This is a human and chicken favorite! There's nothing better than fresh corn on the Cob! If you've got access to lots of corn, feel free to pick it right out of the field, shuck it and give it to your birds. They'll quickly get busy cleaning every morsel off the Cob. If you have a grill out, give your birds the leftover cobs from dinner; it's guaranteed they'll find the bits you missed!
Pro Tips:
While chilled and frozen treats for chickens can provide a welcome respite from the heat, be careful with giving too much all at once. This can cause shock to the system and be harmful to your birds.
Feed treats in the morning and late afternoon/early evening and try not to disturb your chickens during the hottest part of the day. During that time, you'll probably find them sticking to the coolest parts of your yard and trying not to be too active.
Remember, hot weather is harder on chickens than cold weather, so keep your feathered friends in mind as the mercury rises. Along with treats for chickens, keep them supplied with fresh, clean water throughout the day. If your chickens are free-ranging in the yard, be sure they have shady spots to rest and also have a nice dust bath. If your birds are confined, ensure all the windows to the coop are open, and there is ample shade to keep the coop from heating up.
7 comments
Wonderful information.
My 6 “LADIES” come in the house when it gets too hot. They also sleep in at night. I have huge dog crates and the Ladies, Larken, Lucie, Stevie, Baylon, Lark, and Lainey usually lay their eggs inside. I have straw indoor/outdoor rugs which clean up very easy. When the Ladies are out side they are completely FREE RANGE. I have a large corner lot that they can roam in.
They peck on the door and I also monitor every hour to make sure there are mud holes, and the plastic pool is filled with a small amount of water and ice cubes for the ones who choose to remain out in the heat longer.
What joy to have Ladies in my life at age 82 years young!
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My Pet Chicken:
What a heartwarming response to our blog- thank you so much for sharing! Your “Ladies” sound absolutely pampered and deeply loved, and we can’t help but smile picturing them tapping on the door for entry like VIP guests!
The way you’ve adapted your home to keep them cool—complete with indoor dog crates, rugs, mud holes, and even an ice-cube-filled pool—is inspiring. It’s clear that every detail of their comfort and well being has been thoughtfully planned. Chickens are such joyful companions, and your story (at 82 years young)
is proof that it’s never too late in life to welcome more joy.
Thank you for giving your Ladies such a wonderful life and for spreading the love of chicken-keeping!
I love reading about this topic. Cause down here in the south two things are real- BUGS and HEAT.
The chicken coop has three levels of shade that my flock has access to. Three levels are trees shade the coop that’s one, second is the roof on the coop and third is the coop was built off the ground so the chickens can go under their coop for three levels of shade. (The bottom of the coop has 1/2 inch hard wire cloth around the coop so the chickens can’t go out nor can the list of predators come in. )
I will spray down their run and make mud puddles. Who knew chickens love to play in the mud but they do. This cools them off.
I also provide them with ice cubes, electrolytes in their water, frozen vegetables from garden cucumbers, watermelon, herbs, squash, tomatoes. I buy frozen fruits or other from Sam’s blueberries, broccoli, raspberries and freeze them in water as well.
I have lots of ventilation inside the coop aka windows that I can open and close that are blocked off with 1/4 hardwire cloth. And three small box fans, one box puts in the cool air at night. One blows near the ground and the other sucks out the air in the coop.
So far my chickens are living the life. Which I love! Happy flocks lay more eggs!
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My Pet Chicken:
Wow—your setup is incredible! It’s so clear how much thought, love, and effort you’ve put into creating a safe and comfortable space for your flock, especially in that Southern heat.
Three levels of shade is such a smart strategy—and building your coop off the ground with hardware cloth for predator protection is top-notch flock security. Mud puddles, ice cubes, frozen fruits and veggies… your chickens are truly living their best lives! It’s amazing how something as simple as a cool, muddy patch can bring so much comfort and fun to chickens.
We also love that you’ve got multiple fans and adjustable ventilation—it’s such a crucial part of summer flock care that often gets overlooked. And you’re absolutely right: happy, well-cared-for chickens are more productive and just a joy to be around.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful routine! You’re an inspiration to chicken-keepers everywhere, especially those battling the bugs and heat of the South. Here’s to many more eggs and cool, content clucks this summer!
I have a flock of 35 and they live eating Watermelon in the summer. We give them the melon rinds in a super shallow kiddy pool of water – I find that this helps them to cool down in the heat.
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My Pet Chicken replied:
What a great idea! It sounds like you do an amazing job keeping your flock entertained and cool.
I bought solder flies dried for my girls but, as it turns out they’re not particularly crazy about them. They much prefer meal worms. I thought they would really like them but, they don’t.
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My Pet Chicken replied:
Chickens can be very particular and sometimes take a while to come around to trying something new. You could try mixing the soldier fly larvae in with the mealworms and they will most likely try them given some time. You could even mix a little in with their feed so they know it is a food item.
Watermelon absolutely. Chilled in refrigerator, cut in a half and served as a “bowl” – chickens love the juice. Corn: not sure. Corn is “candy”, same as sugar for kids, no nutritional value, it is OK only once a while and very little. Berries, cherries, absolutelly but expensive. I have hung a mist spray between two trees, shaded cool place and chickens’ favorite place to weather-out the heat. Coops are “ovens”. 100 degrees or more. People need to place thermometer to see the temperature inside of their coop, then add at least 10 degreed for the heat released by chickens. Then chickens have pretty good coat of feathers. Your chickens are baking! Help them people.