Feeding hens watermelon

[BonDEEroo]

Good point

 

[jeria]

Lots of watermelon questions re: chicken deaths also on the recent treat thread. Many comments re: possible pesticides on the watermelon. Watermelons are targets for lot of various bugs while growing so commercial ones are often sprayed pretty heavily with pesticides. Just food for thought. No experience except reading other's posts and trying to grow watermelon organically. From comments mine may get the flesh but no rinds and organic if possible (hard to find around here)

 

[chickengeorgeto]

After some thought I do remember watermelon killing a chicken. It was over 65 years ago and before returning to the cotton field we were all eating homegrown watermelons at my granny's house. Granny's chickens were running around us as we spit out the seeds and tossed away chunks of rine. One pullet in it's hast to get it's share of watermelon got too close to my Granny and in a flash she grabbed the pullet and wrung its neck. So eating watermelon definitely can lead to a chicken's death.

 

[chickenE]

Could their deaths have been heat related? Maybe you were more likely to offer melon on a hotter day?

 

[NanasChickies]

Thanks for letting us know! I don't think mine have ever had a problem with watermelon (over 7 years of keeping chooks), but usually they just get the shells after we eat most of the red flesh. They seem to prefer the white rind part and keep eating the shells for days till just paper-thin green skin is left. If they eat too much red flesh they get diarrhea. And we only give it to them occasionally as a treat.

CAUTION - Recently, 3 of my hens nearly died from too much watermelon. Yes, I had given them melons before, the melons are organic from my own garden, and it has been extremely hot. I've been reading numerous posts to see if anyone else has had a similar experience. Several posts mention diarrhea from melon and that is what happened to my girls. Their butts were dirty, they were dehydrated, and they were definitely overheated. In desperation, I tried a trick for curing broody hens and put them in room temperature water to cool them off and clean their butts.
One was in such bad shape, it took three days before she was strong enough to go back in with the flock. Now, the whole flock has slacked off and, despite cooler weather, I am only getting 1-2 eggs from 15 hens. I hope they will start laying again, but I am afraid I nearly killed 3 with kindness and have damaged the rest.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

First, sorry to hear of anyone’s loss or illness in their flocks.

I’ve fed watermelon for years with no issues. That being said, here’s a few possibilities:

1.If a chicken never had watermelon, then gorged on it, could it cause acute digestive issues.

2. Where are the watermelon from? Maybe some country is using a new pesticide that is poisonous to chickens.

3.Could be just coincidence.

No idea which is more likely in any of the situations reported.

 

[Flockincrazy]

The watermelon should be seedless i noticed that they don't digest the seeds all that great

 

[StacyMc]

HI - I have kept hens for nearly 10 years - almost 8 weeks ago my little boys gave the hens a watermelon half - within 4 hours 3 hens were dead! We didnt give them anything fruit based since. This am my husband mistakenly gave the hens a half a melon, including the skin - within 2 hours I have found a dead beautiful French Copper Black hen - I have noticed that you list watermelon as a suitable treat for the hens - WHY IS THIS KILLING MY HENS and should we all stop feeding them watermelon - panicing!

I’ve read Chinese watermelon is often injected with a toxic chemical that cases the melons to grow and be harvested before ripe. In such a small animal it can cause sudden illness