Fall Chicken treats

[PoppasGrill]

So this morning we went a picked up donated pumpkins for our Nephew’s school band fund raiser. Got 60 of them donated and the kids will be selling them for a little over what the store is pricing them as, but it’s for the kids, so most people will pay a little more.
My question is this,
Do you put a whole pumpkin out for the chickens and let them worry their way through it?
Or do you cut it up?
Or do you boil it up to soften it for them?
We are putting some chunked pumpkin out , with seeds and slime, but gotta keep the donkeys from chasing the chickens of to gobble it all.
And yes, we are paying for our pumpkins for the ladies.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

So this morning we went a picked up donated pumpkins for our Nephew’s school band fund raiser. Got 60 of them donated and the kids will be selling them for a little over what the store is pricing them as, but it’s for the kids, so most people will pay a little more.
My question is this,
Do you put a whole pumpkin out for the chickens and let them worry their way through it?
Or do you cut it up?
Or do you boil it up to soften it for them?
We are putting some chunked pumpkin out , with seeds and slime, but gotta keep the donkeys from chasing the chickens of to gobble it all.
And yes, we are paying for our pumpkins for the ladies.

Last year we got a ton of pumpkins I would cut one pumpkin in half and let them eat the middle out of both sides. They really liked it!

 

[The Welch Chickens]

So this morning we went a picked up donated pumpkins for our Nephew’s school band fund raiser. Got 60 of them donated and the kids will be selling them for a little over what the store is pricing them as, but it’s for the kids, so most people will pay a little more.
My question is this,
Do you put a whole pumpkin out for the chickens and let them worry their way through it?
Or do you cut it up?
Or do you boil it up to soften it for them?
We are putting some chunked pumpkin out , with seeds and slime, but gotta keep the donkeys from chasing the chickens of to gobble it all.
And yes, we are paying for our pumpkins for the ladies.

We gave them the whole raw pumpkin after making jack o' lantern eyes on it; the chickens "carved" the rest.

 

[Farmgirl283420]

We gave them the whole raw pumpkin after making jack o' lantern eyes on it; the chickens "carved" the rest.
View attachment 3653416

Oh my goodness what a great idea! And your birds are gorgeous!!!

 

[The Welch Chickens]

Oh my goodness what a great idea! And your birds are gorgeous!!!

Thank you!
We entered the picture in the Poultry Pecking Pumpkins Contest
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ultry-pecking-pumpkins-photo-contest.1599120/

 

[tlcmurphy]

We gave them the whole raw pumpkin after making jack o' lantern eyes on it; the chickens "carved" the rest.
View attachment 3653416

I tried that last year. My girls just stared at it, then at me, “Cut it Woman!”

 

[PoppasGrill]

Last year we got a ton of pumpkins I would cut one pumpkin in half and let them eat the middle out of both sides. They really liked it!

They are enjoying it

 

[thecatumbrella]

I put a whole pumpkin in... no punctures, carvings, etc... took them 3 minutes to blow a hole in it. I would suggest limiting pumpkin time, as mine would happily eat pumpkin 24/7 and completely ignore their crumble. They even went on a hunger strike when I took it away

 

[Tstraub]

I tried that last year. My girls just stared at it, then at me, “Cut it Woman!”

My chickens did the same they just looked but no real interest. So I rolled the pumpkin on its back with the face up and put a little black soldier for larvae in the cutouts. They all came for the larvae and realized the pumpkin was edible too and carved it out pretty quick.

 

[The Welch Chickens]

I would suggest limiting pumpkin time, as mine would happily eat pumpkin 24/7 and completely ignore their crumble. They even went on a hunger strike when I took it away

Ours too.