Donut Treats for Chickens

Updated: Aug 28, 2020

I took one very large step in the crazy chicken lady direction and made baked treats FOR my chickens. Like any good chicken mom, I like to spoil my feather-children with treats, snacks, and lots of cuddles. They love the snacks and tolerate my cuddles.

This recipe is a collab* with Faith and Farms, who makes and sells herb supplement blends for chickens that are great natural ways to proactively improve the health of your chickens. These are meant to be sprinkled into feed and nesting boxes, but I thought it would be fun to get creative with the herb blends. I’ve been obsessed with baking with fresh flowers recently -- see Lemon Verbena + Chamomile Shortbread Cookies and Rose Pistachio Cardamom Buns -- so why not do the same and bake treats for my chickens instead of humans?

According to the packaging, Faith and Farms’ Herbin’ Well-Being blend is a “balanced blend of herbs, spices & wildflowers to help with boosting the immune system. This blend has antiviral, antibiotic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic, antitoxins, and anti-inflammatory properties to help with prevention and/or recovery from poultry ailments. The blend contains fennel, anise, marjoram, rosemary, alfalfa, echinacea, basil, cayenne, chickweed, red pepper flakes, ginger, turmeric, hyssop, peppermint, thyme, red clover, garlic, orange peel, oregano, parsley, sage, spearmint, borage, calendula, catnip, bay, cinnamon, and lemon balm. Natural herbal plant medicine, I’m on board!

*Faith & Farms kindly sent me free product to use for this collaboration.

plate of donuts next to bag of dried herbs

What Are Good Treats for Chickens?

Usually, I give them fruit and vegetable scraps, clippings from the garden, or any bugs I come across. I’ll buy black sunflower seeds, mealworms, and scratch. Chickens are voracious little eaters who gobble down all the snacks but they should get no more than 2 tablespoons of treats per chicken per day.

It’s important that they eat their layer feed for nutrients and calcium to maintain overall health and lay eggs. Too many snacks can result in obese or overweight chickens. Chubby chickens carry their weight on their undercarriage and it’s hard to see under all that feather-floof, which can lead to illness or death. Everything in moderation and balance! Just like people.

For more frozen treat ideas for the summer to help keep your chickens cool and prevent heatstroke, check out my blog post “Frozen Summer Treats for Chickens, You, Dogs, and Kids!”

Treats - Feed This, Not That

Chickens like meat, fruit, and veggies. Corn and scratch is a great treat but don’t feed corn during hot summers, it increases their body temp and can have a higher likelihood of heatstroke if it’s too hot. Corn is great for winter months! Dairy and bread should be given sparingly, they don’t digest dairy well but yogurt has beneficial probiotics to help treat runny poops and diarrhea. No processed sugar. Nightshade plants are not good for chickens (tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes). No chocolate, caffeine, onions, citrus, apple seeds, rhubarb, avocado, dry beans or uncooked rice.

Check out this comprehensive list of what is okay and not okay to feed to chickens on Heritage Acres Market.

Making Treats For Chickens

Other treats you can make at home for your chickens include Flock Block (to keep your chickens busy and occupied so they don’t get bored in the winter), Molt Muffins (increased protein for when your chickens are molting and regrowing feathers), Suet Cakes, Popsicles, Granola, and Oatmeal. Remember treats are to be fed sparingly and not as a replacement for their regular layer feed. As much as we all like cake, we can’t eat only cake or we’d get sick from malnutrition.

This recipe is similar to my Peanut Butter Apple Dog Treat recipe! If you have a good pupper at home, maybe they would like some homemade dog treats too?

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Well-Being Donut Treats for Chickens

Donut-shaped treats made with a blend of herbs, flowers, and spices from Faith and Farms’ Herbin’ Well-Being Blend for your backyard chicken flock that promote overall well-being, immunity, and health. It’s a hearty treat dipped in yogurt and sprinkled with an herb blend. Great boredom buster and cool treat for your spoiled feather-children. A Baking With Chickens Original Recipe

Time to Prepare: 1 hour

Makes 10 donuts

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup black oil sunflower seeds

1/4 tablespoon cinnamon

1/4 tablespoon tumeric

1/2 tablespoon flaxseed

1 tablespoon Well-Being Herbal Supplement Blend from Faith and Farms

2 eggs

1 banana, mashed

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup coconut oil

1 1/2 cup yogurt, no sugar added (I like the European style yogurt or Greek yogurt)

1 tablespoon Well-Being Herbal Supplement Blend from Faith and Farms (for sprinkling)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Stir until everything is mixed well and incorporated.

3. Grease a donut pan with coconut oil, fill the pan with the mixture. You can fill all the way up to the top, the mixture will not rise during baking. (If you don’t have a donut pan, you can make these in a muffin tin, they just won’t look like donuts.)

4. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes.

5. Take the donuts out of the pan and cool on a cooling rack.

6. Pour the yogurt in a small, shallow bowl that’s large enough for dipping. Dip the cooled donuts into the yogurt and place on a small baking sheet. Sprinkle the Well-Being Herbal Blend on top of the donuts so the stick to the yogurt.

7. Freeze the pan of donuts for 2-3 hours or overnight so the yogurt hardens and will be less messy to serve your chicken overlords. Once frozen, store the donuts in an airtight container in the freezer.

8. Present your donut to your feather-children on a gilded platter and watch them eyeball it suspiciously before they devour it like a horde of zombies.