If you grow radishes in your garden you likely want to use every part of the plant. Radishes can be a great addition to soups, tacos, roasts and even tea sandwiches. Radish recipes usually call for the use of the vegetable, not the greens.

However, radish greens don’t have to be thrown away or tossed in the compost heap, your animals can eat them and benefit from the variety of nutrients delivered by the plant’s greens. If you own chickens, you may be thinking ‘do chickens eat radish greens’ this article explores this question 

Chickens can definitely eat radish greens, these greens may be bitter to humans but some chickens enjoy them. The greens can deliver a variety of nutrients to chickens including calcium, antioxidants, vitamin C, iron, B vitamins vitamin K, magnesium, and potassium to name a few. 

Do chickens eat radish greens?

What a chicken eats directly affects its health. You as a bird owner need to ensure that your bird gets exactly the right combination of vitamins and minerals to maintain good health.

Chickens do well on a diet of grains, fruits, and vegetables. Radishes are vegetables that can be fed to chickens and the greens can be fed to these animals as well. 

Chickens generally enjoy radish greens. These greens add variety to the bird’s diet and can be entertaining to eat.

Benefits of chickens eating radish greens:

This food offers chickens a variety of nutrients including antioxidants, folate, potassium, calcium, magnesium, vitamin B6, vitamin B3, vitamin C, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, and vitamin K in smaller quantities.

 

Antioxidants:

Antioxidants are important as they help to maintain good bird health. Antioxidants fight off free radicals which would otherwise cause the bird to develop heart disease and cancer.

They are also beneficial to chickens as they help to maintain healthy feathers.

Calcium:

Calcium is an essential nutrient that chickens need. This nutrient ensures that the bird lays eggs with good, strong eggshells.

In addition, calcium maintains and builds good bones throughout the bird’s life 

Iron:

Iron is what carries oxygen all through the chicken’s body. It ensures that all parts of the bird’s body receive oxygen, more importantly, the muscles, brain, and all moving parts of the chicken.

A lack of sufficient iron in a bird’s body can result in anemia 

Vitamin C:

Vitamin C has many uses in chickens, it helps maintain a good eggshell quality, maintains good bone development, alleviates any signs of stress, maintains and enhances the bird’s immune system, and helps the bird manage heat stress 

Note: Not all chickens love radish greens, although some of your chickens may flock to eat this food, some chickens will keep away, this is because the greens have a bitter taste.

Birds keeping away from this food doesn’t mean that there is something wrong with it, simply that some chickens would prefer to eat something else.

Do chickens eat radishes and radish seeds? 

Chickens can definitely eat radishes. If you aren’t a fan of this vegetable you can still grow them to give to your chickens.

Radishes can deliver zinc, riboflavin, and potassium to your chicken’s body. They also deliver high amounts of water to your bird, it is said that radishes can have a water content of up to 95%.

If raw radishes are too spicy for your chickens, then you can cook them to tone them down a bit. You can give chickens radishes as is or you can chop, slice or grate them before serving to your birds 

Chickens will also eat and enjoy radish seeds. This food can be mixed up with your chicken’s usual feed mix, the chickens will eat this food all the same. You can also sprinkle these seeds onto the bird’s regular serving of vegetables.

How to serve radish greens to chickens 

Chickens are simple creatures, they will eat almost anything you throw at them prepared in any way.

Feeding radish greens to chickens can involve tossing the greens on the ground and letting the birds feed or placing the greens in the bird’s feeding bowl.

You can also chop the greens up and serve them in the chickens feeding bowl along with their regular feed or their regular serving of vegetables 

Conclusion

In conclusion, yes chickens can eat radish greens. Radish greens are not enjoyed by humans but chickens tend to like them very much.

These greens pack a powerful punch when it comes to nutrients and these nutrients will boost and maintain the health of your bird.

The greens can be tossed to your chickens or cut up and fed to the birds. Chickens can also eat radishes and radish seeds 

If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other chicken related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in:  Do chickens eat rabbit pellets?, Do chickens eat raw red potatoes? , Do chickens eat tortilla chips?, Do chickens eat tortillas?,