Can Chickens Eat Corn on the Cob?

Chickens: the wonderful backyard garbage disposal.

Surely your chickens get to enjoy your leftovers- I know mine do!

One of the hot topics regarding chicken feed is corn…

Corn is known for fattening animals, especially pigs, for various reasons.

Many mammals will put on a lot of weight with corn, mostly in the form of fat.

However, corn is NOT a primary component of chicken feed. It is generally used as a cheap alternative to chicken treats.

So, can chickens eat corn, from the kernel and cob to the husk and the stalk?



can chickens eat corn on the cob
This chicken is in corn cob heaven… And in typical chicken fashion, she has poo-bombed the corn.


Can Chickens Eat Corn on the Cob?


Corn on the cob is rather delicious. I’m sure you’re growing it on your homestead (or, are planning to!), especially since it’s a popular request from children. Sweet corn is one of the “treats” of the vegetable world and one of the few veggies most kids will eat willingly. Therefore, you’re likely to have a TON of cobs on hand when processing!

When you strip corn off of the cob (using handy, cheap corn strippers like this), there is usually quite a bit of corn left behind. This is also true when you physically eat the corn off of the cob! Rather than tossing this extra food into the compost pile, you could chuck it into your chicken pen! Chickens eat corn on the cob quite readily, and it will not hurt them.







Does Corn Offer Any Nutritional Benefits for Chickens?


Corn offers both potassium (#17 vegetable for potassium for people) and a little bit of protein for chickens, but it also offers carbohydrates and some fiber. Chickens don’t require much fiber like grazing livestock do, and they don’t “fatten up” in the way that other livestock does, either. Rather than carbs for building fat, chickens require protein for building muscle.

Therefore, the nutritional benefits of corn aren’t very beneficial if the corn interferes with the chicken’s desire to eat higher protein feed. Corn is much like candy to a chicken; it won’t help to hold their body condition. Corn can add a bit of fat to the chickens during a cold winter, but they will require higher protein feed most of all. If your chickens don’t receive enough protein, they may peck each others feathers out, lay fewer eggs, or struggle during molting.







Do Chickens Eat Corn Stalks?


Corn stalks can be a very useful source of fodder on the farm, especially for pigs, cattle, and goats. However, the stalks won’t have much to offer for chickens. Chickens tend to eat more of what they need (or what tastes good!), and corn stalks simply aren’t going to cut it.

Chickens will scratch and peck at the stalks, searching for delicious little tidbits. This could be a missed ear of corn (yum!), ear silks, or delicious little bugs that are hiding within the leaves of the corn. Corn stalks are an excellent enrichment toy for chickens, but if you would like to use the stalks in a more meaningful way, I would recommend feeding them to another form of livestock. Or, you could sell the stalks to local businesses!





Can Chickens Eat Corn Husks?


Again, I hate to inform you that this part of the plant isn’t exactly the most palatable in the eyes of a chicken. The husk has little to offer, unless there is an ear hidden inside. Or, delicious bugs! If you are offering the chickens whole ears with husks intact, the husks will not hurt them. They’re a fun challenge, forcing the chickens to work for those delicious kernels hiding within the husks. However, the husks could be used as a form of bedding for the birds, or as a mulch for the run if you are shucking hundreds of ears of corn!






Can Chickens Eat Deer Corn?


During the late summer and fall, many feed stores begin to prepare for deer season. They will have lots of treats, scent concealers,  camouflaged hunting gear, and plot seed mixes or deer feed. Among these is deer corn. Deer corn is used to keep deer around a particular hunting location while also fattening them up. This corn is typically packaged whole, and is frequently cheaper than feed corn.

Some people like to feed this deer corn to their free range chickens during the winter months, and it could have some benefits when mixed with the highest protein grower feed available (as well as oyster shell offered free choice). This, of course, requires that you evaluate the nutritional needs of your chickens against available forage, laying condition, and body condition. There was once a time when commercial chicken feed was not available, and corn could be a good player in a strategy to keep birds healthy through the challenging winter months.

Without further ado, let’s enjoy this video of some chickens eating corn on the cob, because why not?