I’d never thought about milking a chicken before, but I was surprised at the number of people who asked about it. 

I dismissed it out of hand at first, but then my mind started spinning. 

Was it possible to get milk from a hen? If so, I needed to know how to milk a chicken. 

Chickens do not produce milk and therefore can’t be milked in the traditional sense. Chicks eat little bits of grain and insects as full-grown chickens do. Chicken milk itself is a real thing, and it’s a product made by blending up chicken meat until it’s a liquid. 

Let’s learn more about the topic in the rest of the article to make sure we understand what chickens are and aren’t capable of. 

can you milk a chicken

Can You Milk A Chicken?

Chickens do have breasts, but they don’t have mammary glands. 

The breasts are muscles, and they don’t produce milk. 

As such, it’s impossible to milk a chicken. 

Chickens are birds, and most birds don’t produce milk for their young. 

At most, birds will partially digest and then regurgitate their food for the babies. 

Chickens don’t even do this. 

Once born, the chicks are mostly on their own. 

Yes, they’ll pair with some mother hens if allowed to and follow them around, but chickens aren’t the most loving of mothers. 

They’ll watch out for the chicks to a certain extent, but they’re fairly hands-off when it comes to food. 

For the most part, all they’ll do is show the chick how to scratch at the ground for bugs and bits of grain or seed.  

What Is Chicken Milk?

Chicken milk is a liquid product made from boiling and blending chicken meat over and over until it’s smooth. Essential nutrients are added to make it more nutritious. Flavors are also added to make it more like other types of mammal milk.

In texture and color, it comes out to look like vanilla-flavored milk. 

It may seem like a gross product, but in terms of nutrition, it’s just as nutritious as cow’s milk. 

However, the main audience for this “milk” is human babies. 

There are babies with lactose intolerance that makes it difficult for them to drink human or cow’s milk without stomach pain due to gas. 

There are even some babies with allergies and can’t drink it at all. 

Chicken milk is one of the best solutions for infants who can’t take in any milk or even formula. 

It’s more expensive, sure, but you do what you have to do. 

Do Chickens Have Nipples?

Nipples are almost entirely exclusive to mammals, so chickens don’t have nipples. Nipples serve the purpose of feeding milk to their young, but chicks don’t get fed by their mothers. They eat insects and seeds right from the beginning. 

With a lack of mammary glands in their species, there’s no need for them, so chickens never developed them. 

Remember, breasts don’t mean nipples. They refer to muscle. 

Do Chickens Breastfeed?

As chicken breasts don’t produce milk, they can’t breastfeed. 

Like most birds, chickens don’t provide direct food to their young. 

Chicks are born with the ability and instincts to find their own, though it’s great to help them along. 

Chicks are more like toddlers than infants. 

Their infant stage comes during their time in the egg. 

At this time, the fluids inside the egg provide the nutrition to grow, similar to what breastmilk would do for a mammal. 

Read more in our dedicated article on chickens and breastfeeding.

Why Do Chickens Have Breasts But Don’t Breastfeed?

Don’t fall for the trap of confusing breasts for nipples and mammary glands. 

In our language, we use the two interchangeably, but the truth is that breasts refer to a system of muscles on a creature’s chest, while nipple and mammary glands are what produce and give milk. 

The chicken breast we eat is these muscles they have across their chest. 

What Do Mother Hens Feed Their Baby Chicks?

Mother hens feed insects and grains to their baby chicks. They don’t bring them directly to the babies, but the hens have a specific cluck to get their attention and show them how and where the food is. It’s less amount giving them food and more about showing them how to find it on their own. 

Even without mother hens, chicks will instinctively know how to scratch at the ground and what to eat. 

But they’ll learn better ways to find things faster if they have a mother chicken to watch. 

Interestingly enough, chickens don’t care much about which chick is actually theirs. 

Mother hens will watch over any chicks, despite their parentage. 

How To Feed Baby Chicks

Baby chicks need to eat a steady diet of grains, insects, and seeds. In captivity, some owners used to use bread and a little bit of meat. In the modern-day, a chicken starter or chicken grower feed is more than enough to take from hatching to adulthood. 

Chicks need water all of the time, non-stop, because dehydration is one of the most common reasons babies die. 

Check out our detailed article on how long chicks can go without water for watering tips.

Chicken starter is the best option hands-down for feeding baby chicks. Yes, it’s possible to get away with a more natural diet, but the truth is: there’s no better way to lower the death rate among chicks than through starter. 

It’s packed with the right nutrients to grow quickly while still simulating their natural foraging foods, so they still learn to peck and scratch. 

The Manna Starter Crumbles are what I used for my chicks based on the recommendation of several chicken farmers.