can chickens eat pumpkins?

[Hinotori]

Mine don't like big seeds when they are dry. I'm not worried about them, though. I've seen them swallow whole young rats and adult mice.

 

[farmchickutah]

Fed mine the guts from the Pumpkins we carved yesterday and oh my they went crazy! Ate every bit of it!

 

[Bella54330]

I'm also wondering if you must cook the pumpkins before freezing them? I was thinking that with pumpkins so cheap, why not buy a few for my girls and freeze them, but I have too much to do to worry about cooking them 1st.

Also- how much is too much?

I have 4 hens and gave them the insides of one pumpkin yesterday and the insides of another today. I was planning to set one pumpkin cut into quarters in the coop overnight, and do the same with my remaining pumpkin when they finish this one. Is this too much pumpkin? Will they get diarrhea?

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Percheron chick]

Just cut the pumpkin into quarters. Freeze them on a sheet pan than put them in Ziploc bags. Toss them a piece when they need a treat. If the skin is intact, it should keep like a winter squash for months in a cool, dark cupboard.

 

[flickerloo]

My kids carved up quite a few pumpkins and saved the guts for me. Today I ground them up coarsely in the food processor with some apples, bagged it all up and put in the freezer. I mix the purée with various things.... Scratch, cottage cheese, etc for a treat.

 

[AxisOfBeagles]

Just cut them in half and let them go at it.  They will eat everything but the skin, which they will just leave.

That's our experience. The broken or damaged pumpkins from the garden get broken in two and tossed on to the compost pile - it's one of the flock's favorites.

 

[nab58]

Just let them compost outside. They like them better if they're squishy.

 

[Bella54330]

Just a thought--- I've had a lot of friends ask me if I'd like to have their carved pumpkins now that Halloween is over. I of course ask if they have treated the pumpkin with any chemicals to deter the rats, mice, or squirrels, and turns out that most of them have. Everything from spraying it with Windex to Pledge to Rat-Away, these pumpkins are NOT good for my chickens to eat.

Bottom line- if you're getting free pumpkins, make sure to ask if they have been treated with chemicals before you consider them for your chooks!

 

[jtakacs]

My flock of two days have ignored the pumpkin...

So far. They ignored the tomato for a day but no its gone.

 

[Bella54330]

I went ahead and roasted 14 lbs in the oven because they didn't like it raw, but they really liked it cooked. I then cut it into small 1"-2" pieces because they didn't want to eat it in larger pieces. Boy, they have me trained well...