Can Chickens Eat Peas? (Snow, Frozen, Sugar Snap) -

Can chickens safely eat snow peas? How about sugar snap? Frozen? Fresh? Yes! Here’s why peas can be a great part of your chicken’s diet.

sweet pea hanging rough and tumble farmhouse

Can Chickens Eat Snow Peas?

The short answer is, yes! Chickens of any breed can eat peas! You’ll find that a lot of poultry feed and supplements include peas of some kind. These will typically be a type of field pea, either a green or yellow variety.

Nutritional Value of Peas in Chicken Feed

Peas are an excellent source of protein for chickens, offering 23% crude protein. They also are easily digestible by poultry and offer a large amount of calories (also referred to as being high energy). In fact, according to the University of Kentucky, field peas can make up to 40% of a layer ration and up to 20-30% of a broiler’s diet.

Of course, as with all plants, their nutritional value can be vastly different from year to year depending on things like weather conditions, soil, etc. When it comes to field peas, the specific variety doesn’t affect the general nutritional value all that much.

Your average sweet pea, either with or with out an edible pod, will be lower in protein than field peas, but still are a highly nutritious snack for any kind of poultry.

chickens grazing in grass rough and tumble farmhouse

Feedings Peas as Treats

Many chicken keepers can offer fresh peas from the vegetable garden to their chickens as a tasty snack. Chickens (and ducks too!) love sugar snap peas, which are sometimes called sweet peas, that have an edible pod. Shelling peas, also sometimes called English or Garden Peas, have inedible pods. These can be fed to chickens too, though you might need to crack open a pod or two so they figure out there are edible peas inside.

If you do feed shelling peas to your chickens, make sure you clean the empty pods out of your chicken run as they will eventually start to rot and make a mess in the coop. It’s a lot of work to shell all those peas and to clean up the pods (if your girls are in a contained area anyway) so I personally recommend growing a variety where they can eat the pod as well.

If chickens have access to young pea plants, they will eat the tender shoots and leaves.

Pea Varieties to Grow for Chickens

Just about any variety of sweet pea will be gobbled up by your chickens! Some of my favorites from Johnny’s Selected Seeds are Calvin and Sugar Ann.

Frozen Chicken Treat

When the weather gets very hot in the summer, you can make a giant pea popsicle for your chickens! Get yourself a large bowl and fill it 3/4 up with water. Add in a bag or more of frozen peas, depending on the size of your bowl. You can also mix in frozen corn or fruit if you really feel like spoiling your chickens. Freeze this for 24-48 hours. Larger bowls will take longer to freeze.

When you are ready to give it to your chickens, bring it down to the farmyard and let it sit in the heat for a few minutes to thaw before turning the bowl upside down and releasing the giant popsicle! I like to flip it out onto a five gallon bucket lid. The chickens go nuts for it and they get a nice way of cooling down during those hot summer days.

can chickens eat peas pinterest graphic rough and tumble farmhouse

Natural Chicken Favorites

One of my favorite places to get treats and supplements for my chickens is Strong Animals Chicken Essentials.

They are made right here in Minnesota by a family-owned company, using organic herbs and essential oils in their recipes. Use code Farmhouse20 for 20% off your first purchase! This is an affiliate code, which means I do get a small commission if you purchase with the discount code.