chicken feed

noun

slang
: a paltry sum (as in profits or wages)

Examples of chicken feed in a Sentence

The project cost almost a million dollars, which isn't exactly chicken feed. Ten bucks? That's chicken feed!
Recent Examples on the Web The theory gained steam on Facebook, TikTok and Twitter in recent weeks, with some users reporting that their hens stopped laying eggs and speculating that common chicken feed products were the cause. Josh Kelety, Anchorage Daily News, 6 Feb. 2023 Nation/World Social media users claim to have found a new culprit for sky-high egg prices: chicken feed. Josh Kelety, Anchorage Daily News, 6 Feb. 2023 The studies cited in the video discuss feed efficacy and poultry breeding, not RNA sequencing in chicken feed. Hannah Hudnall, USA TODAY, 30 Jan. 2023 The price of shipping and packing materials, chicken feed (impacted by the war in Ukraine), and fuel prices (used for transportation) are also at an all-time high, impacting egg prices even further. Christina Montoya Fiedler, Better Homes & Gardens, 5 Apr. 2023 Yet Jason Ruppert, vigneron for Ardure Wines in California, said that pomace usually goes to a compost management facility where it is turned into soil, or is used for chicken feed or for the vineyard’s own compost, which helps with regeneration the following year. Janna Mandell, Washington Post, 4 Oct. 2022 Want artisan chicken feed? Dallas News, 17 Aug. 2020 Prices have soared as inflation pushed up the price of chicken feed, transportation, and labor, but the main factor has been an outbreak of bird flu. Harold Maass, The Week, 6 Feb. 2023 Higher prices for things like corn and soybeans, for instance, are driving up the cost of chicken feed. Michelle Cheng, Quartz, 24 Jan. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chicken feed.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1834, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of chicken feed was in 1834

Dictionary Entries Near chicken feed

Cite this Entry

“Chicken feed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chicken%20feed. Accessed 23 Sep. 2023.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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