feeding pumpkin to chickens?

[chicknmania]

Ours have decided they love pumpkin. Found that out when they attacked a carved one....

 

[Mervin]

I gave mine the guts out of a jack o' lantern last evening. They really seemed to like it, except they didn't eat the seeds. I have a few more that might get ripe yet that they'll probably get. I gave them a butternut (raw) last week. It took them a bit, but eventually they devoured it. I was thinking about stopping to see the Amish to see if they had any left after Halloween. I figure I could store them in the cellar and pull them out every once and a while for treats.

 

[animalloverabh]

ok i must try this! i've got the biggest pumkin you've ever seen it about twice the size of the normal sized ones. And im going to carve it this week, i will give my birds some. you say its a natural wormer? i could feed it to my peachicks too then...

 

[PetRock]

Quote:

That would have made a good video!

 

[Moabite]

The kids carved Jack'o lanterns yesterday and I put the guts, seeds and left overs in for the chickens. This morning, all the stringy stuff is gone but some of the pumpkin meat and most of the seeds are still lying in the run. It is because my girls are spoiled rotten.

 

[pips&peeps]

If you chop up the seeds, it is a natural wormer.

The "seed cover", not the hull, contains a property which paralyzes worms. I believe the pumpkin also has laxative type properties, all combined together expell the little wormies....

 

[chicknmania]

Quote:

That would have made a good video!

My pumpkin had a tongue. It WOUlD have made a good video since that's the first thing they tore out, then they ran around the yard with it with me in hot pursuit....sigghh...

 

[endicott83]

pips&peeps :

If you chop up the seeds, it is a natural wormer.

The "seed cover", not the hull, contains a property which paralyzes worms. I believe the pumpkin also has laxative type properties, all combined together expell the little wormies....

Do I just cut the seeds in half? This is new to me but I can't wait until the weekend. I am going to give my birds some and watch them. LOL

Is there a limit to how much pumpkin I can give?​

 

[chicknmania]

I have been trying to find out the answer to that question too. How many seeds per bird?

 

[Downshifting]

Is there trouble lurking in giving them the seeds whole? I picked up a couple of the little eatin' punkins' at the Farmers Market this weekend and just cut one in half and placed it (seeds...innards...and all) in the run yesterday. They didn't hesitate and were still working on it this morning.

Edited to add: I sprinkled some extra git in the middle just to make sure they had plenty of grit to grind up the seeds. Maybe I'm being paranoid...