Can You Feed Kitchen Scraps to Chickens? What the Law Says

Feeding leftovers to the hens is one of the oldest bits of backyard folklore there is — and in some countries it's been illegal for over two decades, whether your flock is three pet hens or a commercial operation.

Poultry is named explicitly, not swept in by accident

The UK's Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) doesn't leave this to inference: its guidance names “livestock such as pigs and poultry, even if they are being kept as pets” as covered by the catering waste ban. APHA, catering waste ban. It became illegal to feed catering waste to farmed animals in the UK in 2001, and the ban was later adopted across the whole of the (then) European Community in 2003.

What counts as catering waste

Catering waste means all waste food originating in restaurants, catering facilities and household kitchens — not just cooked leftovers. APHA's guidance specifically notes that even a vegetarian kitchen is covered, because of cross-contamination risk from animal-derived products like milk used in food preparation. The vegetable peelings from your own dinner count, not just meat scraps.

Why a pig-triggered rule covers chickens too

The 2001 foot and mouth outbreak that led to the ban is widely thought to have started with pigs fed undercooked catering waste — but the ban itself was written to cover farmed animals generally, not just the species involved in that outbreak. APHA's Veterinary Director Simon Hall has described the catering waste ban as “a national barrier to the introduction of potentially devastating animal diseases” across livestock as a whole, and poultry is named explicitly in the guidance rather than swept in by a broad definition.

What you can do instead

Feed a proper layer ration sized to your flock, not kitchen leftovers. Our feed guide gives age-banded intake figures, and the feed cost calculator turns that into a daily, weekly and monthly budget.

The US: no equivalent federal rule found

The US federal law governing garbage-feeding, the Swine Health Protection Act, is specific to swine and doesn't extend to poultry. We haven't found an equivalent federal restriction for chickens, which doesn't mean there isn't one at state level — check your state department of agriculture and any local rules before feeding kitchen waste to a backyard flock.

Sources: Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), “APHA warns not to feed kitchen scraps to farm animals because of disease risk” (11 January 2017): gov.uk. Sources checked: September 2026. This is general information, not legal advice.

Common questions

Is it illegal to feed kitchen scraps to backyard chickens in the UK?

Yes. APHA's guidance explicitly names poultry alongside pigs as covered by the catering waste ban, and states it applies even to birds kept as pets — a small backyard flock is covered the same as a commercial one.

Is throwing garden vegetable peelings to hens the same as kitchen scraps?

If it's been in a kitchen, yes. APHA's definition covers all waste food originating in household kitchens, not just cooked leftovers — a vegetable peeling from your own kitchen counter is catering waste under the rule, even from a vegetarian household.

Why does a rule triggered by a pig disease outbreak apply to chickens?

Because the ban was written to cover farmed animals generally, not just the species involved in the 2001 outbreak that triggered it. APHA's own guidance names poultry specifically as covered livestock, regardless of which disease or species caused the rule to be introduced.

Is there a US federal rule for feeding chickens food scraps?

Not one we've found. The federal Swine Health Protection Act that regulates garbage-feeding is specific to swine — we haven't found an equivalent federal rule for poultry, so check your state department of agriculture and local rules directly.