Picture this. It’s Mexican Wednesdays at your place. You’ve just finished your quesadillas and soft tortilla tacos. 

As you lay back in your dining room chair rubbing your stomach, you see out of the corner of your eye, your chickens eagerly watching from the yard.

Do you feed them your leftovers? Do you give them a little bit of the tortilla? Do your chickens want to be a part of Mexican Wednesdays?

Fret no more. Here’s whether chickens can eat tortillas, whether it’s flour tortillas, corn tortillas, or even tortilla chips!

Can Chickens Eat Flour Tortillas?

There are really two parts to this question. 

Just to be clear, chickens absolutely love flour tortillas. Similar to how they take a liking to anything bready. 

But although chickens absolutely CAN eat flour tortillas, it is considered an unhealthy food for them.

Flour tortillas simply don’t offer your chickens enough nutritional benefit, and the refined white flour and other processed additives are just not good for them.

Nonetheless, in small amounts, flour tortillas will be absolutely safe for your chickens to eat, but should only be fed as a very rare treat and always in moderation.

Can Chickens Eat Corn Tortillas?

You would think since chickens can eat whole corn kernels, that corn tortillas would be OK for chickens to eat. Especially because corn is such a common ingredient in many chicken seed mixes.

Well, although they still aren’t considered healthy for chickens to eat, corn tortillas are much better than flour tortillas as they contain whole grains and corn rather than white flour and are generally less processed!

Corn tortillas have much fewer calories, and much less salt and carbohydrates. Plus they have way more fiber and most brands are completely gluten-free.

If you are going to feed corn tortillas to your chickens it’s still essential that it’s in moderation! But, a small amount of corn tortilla as a treat won’t be harmful to your chickens.

Can Chickens Eat Tortilla Chips?

Tortilla chips are normally made from corn, so that sounds like it should be OK for chickens to eat, right?

Wrong. Even though the tortilla chip itself is OK for chickens, it’s the salty, cheesy, and other added flavors which are unhealthy for chickens to eat.

For this reason, you should always avoid feeding your chickens any kinds of tortilla chips. The only exception to this rule is if they are plain, unprocessed, corn tortilla chips. Even then you would want to keep it in moderation!

Can Chickens Have Tortilla Wraps?

So, now that we’ve covered whether chickens can eat flour or corn tortillas (both in moderation, but corn is better), it’s to tackle the tortilla wrap.

This one is rather simple, but shouldn’t be overlooked. Take a good look at all the ingredients of your tortilla wrap. If any ingredients are in there that are not considered healthy for chickens to eat then you should not be feeding your chickens the tortilla wraps.

This includes things like sauces, onions, garlic, anything too salty, or anything too sugary, as it’s simply not healthy for chickens to eat.

Similarly, chickens should not eat tacos, taco meat, or taco bell.

Do Tortillas Have Any Nutritional Benefits For Chickens?

Let’s face it; tortillas are just bread. They don’t offer much nutrition for chickens (or humans, if we’re being real).

However, corn tortillas are significantly healthier than flour tortillas for chickens.

Even so, tortillas simply don’t offer your chickens enough of any of their macronutrients, namely protein, and aren’t filled with mountains of vitamins or minerals either, like fruits and vegetables are.

It’s completely OK to give your chickens small amounts of tortillas as a rare treat, but it should never be in place of their normal formulated feed or fed to them on a daily basis.

How to Serve Tortillas to Your Chickens

Whether you’ve got yourself some corn or flour tortillas, your chickens will be able to eat them whole. But, it’s a lot easier for them if you cut it up into bite-sized bits before giving them to your chicken.

You can also put a small number of cut-up tortillas into your next chicken-safe table scrap meal for extra energy and fiber (but not a lot else!).

If you’re giving your chickens leftover tortillas with filling inside just make sure to remove anything that’s not healthy for your chickens to eat. 

Also, just to note, if you’ve got leftover tortillas that have expired or are moldy, do not feed them to your chickens under any circumstances. Chickens cannot eat moldy food, as it’s considered harmful in large enough doses.

Final Thoughts

So look. I’m not going to beat around the bush. Tortillas aren’t exactly healthy for chickens to eat.

However, as long as you are only feeding your chickens tortillas as a rare treat they are absolutely OK. 

Although corn tortillas offer much more substance to your chickens, both flour and corn tortillas are safe for your chickens to eat in small doses. 

So yes, your chickens can join in the tradition of Wednesday’s Mexican night, but should only be given small amounts!