Are coffee grounds dangerous to chickens? I went to Starbucks and got bags of free coffee grounds to improve the soil of my raised beds--but I was going to do the tractor thing with my new chickens in a few months (when they are old enough) and I don't want to poison them with caffeine. Will the grounds break down enough to be safe if I apply them now and dig them in?
Coffee grounds and chickens?
I think it would be fine. A few times my compost bucket has been dumped into the chicken coop with coffee grounds. They didn't seem too interested in the coffee. They played more with the coffee filter. The chicken version of capture the flag!
By the time they get into the area with the coffee grounds I think they will have been mixed into the soil, anything still laying around the chickens will mix in even more.
Laura
Thanks, Laura. I feel better--it does seem that most of the caffeine should be extracted from the grounds when they are brewed. And since you mentioned that your chickens don't seem interested--it is probably true that they taste pretty "fowl" :-). I am going out right now and turn them under!
i always toss mine out with the chicken scraps. they eat what they want, and the grounds get scratched in!