Can Chickens Eat Cheese?
In moderation Chickens can eat a little hard cheese, but they cannot digest lactose well and cheese is high in fat and salt, so a few small cubes now and then is the limit.
How much cheese can chickens have?
Treats of every kind put together should stay under about 10 percent of what a hen eats in a day. An adult laying hen eats roughly 113 g of complete feed, so that comes out around 11 g per bird per day, and this site is more cautious again with cheese, halving it to 6 g because of the fat and salt it carries. That is a planning figure rather than a measured limit, and it is the budget for everything the flock gets besides its feed, not an extra allowance for cheese on its own. Six hens share about 36 g a day. Enter your own flock size:
Per bird per day6 g (0.2 oz), about 1 small cube
Whole flock per day36 g (1.3 oz)
Fine as an occasional treat: keep it to this amount no more than 2 to 3 times a week.
Which parts are safe
Fine to feed
- Hard aged cheese (cheddar, parmesan) in small cubes
- Plain cottage cheese in small amounts
Keep out of the run
- Soft and blue cheeses
- Processed cheese slices and spreads
- Anything salty, flavoured or mouldy
- Milk and cream
How to serve it
Cut hard cheese into pea-sized cubes and scatter a few, no more than two or three times a week. Skip it entirely in hot weather when birds are drinking heavily; salt matters more then.
Why dairy is a poor fit for a bird
Chickens are not mammals and never drink milk, so they produce little of the lactase enzyme that breaks down lactose. Milk in any quantity gives a flock diarrhoea. Hard aged cheeses are the exception that makes a small treat possible: most of the lactose is fermented away during ageing, and a cube of cheddar carries very little of it.
What cheese does carry is fat and salt. Cheddar is a third fat by weight and has around 620 mg of sodium per 100 g. Poultry tolerate far less salt than people do, and a hen that gets a decent lump of cheese every day is getting a steady salt load she has no use for. That is why cheese sits in the moderation column rather than the safe one.
How much is a little
This site halves the usual 10 percent treat allowance for moderation foods, which gives a hen about 6 g of cheese, one pea-sized cube, and only a few times a week. The protein is real, around 23 g per 100 g, and some keepers reach for cheese during a moult for that reason. Mealworms or a handful of scrambled egg do the same job without the salt.
Which cheeses to avoid entirely
Soft cheeses such as brie and fresh mozzarella keep more lactose. Blue cheeses are grown with mould on purpose; those moulds are chosen for safety in humans, not birds, and there is no reason to test it. Processed slices, spreads and flavoured cheeses add salt and additives on top. If you are going to feed cheese at all, plain hard cheese is the only sensible choice.
Cheese: nutrition per 100 g
| Nutrient | Per 100 g, raw |
|---|---|
| Calories | 403 kcal |
| Protein | 23 g |
| Water | 37% |
| Fat | 33 g |
| Sodium | 620 mg |
For comparison, layer feed is about 16 percent protein and is formulated to be the whole diet. Whatever cheese adds, the feed still has to do the work: see the chicken feed calculator for how much a flock eats and the water calculator for how much it drinks.
How we calculate it
Planning estimate, not a measured threshold. The published guideline is that treats, scratch and scraps together stay under 10% of the daily diet; applying that to an adult laying hen's roughly 113 g of feed gives about 11 g per bird per day for all treats combined. For foods marked "in moderation" this site halves that again to 6 g, which is our own more cautious choice rather than a published figure. Item counts divide that by an estimated 6 g per small cube and round DOWN, so a shown portion never exceeds the allowance.
Based on:
- Nutrition per 100 g, raw (USDA FoodData Central)
- Scratch, grains and kitchen scraps should be provided at no more than 10 percent of the daily diet (Oklahoma State University Extension)
- Excess table scraps and greens reduce egg production; keep supplements to a small share of the diet (Poultry Extension)
- A laying hen eats about a quarter pound of feed a day; avoid high levels of human food or scraps (Penn State Extension)
Figures are typical guidelines for planning. Your birds, breed, climate, and feed will vary.
Frequently asked questions
Can chickens eat cheese?
A little hard cheese, yes. Chickens digest lactose poorly and cheese is high in fat and salt, so keep it to a small cube per bird a few times a week.
Can chickens drink milk?
No. Chickens lack the enzyme to digest lactose and milk causes diarrhoea. Yoghurt has less lactose but the same problem in quantity.
Is cheese good protein for moulting hens?
It contains protein, but the salt and fat come with it. A higher-protein feed, mealworms or scrambled egg are better ways to support a moult.