feeding pumpkin to chickens?

[Beekissed]

If you freeze and then thaw it or cook it first, it converts the starches to sugars and should make your pumpkins more appealing to the picky eaters. Incidentally, it also provides more caloric intake. If you let it ferment a little this increases.

My chickens are more interested in pumpkins when fresh foods are scarce, so I save mine until winter time and they need something to do on snowy days or need some extra vitamins and nutrition when they are building up for peak laying in Feb/Mar.

I intentionally grow pumpkins each year for my sheep and chooks. This year we had a serious drought and I didn't get near what I planted, but I still gleaned plenty for storage.

This one came with a hood ornament!

 

[gryeyes]

That last photo is a PERFECT Halloween picture! I have a lovely black cat named Licorice, wonder if she'll sit on a pumpkin if I place it in the sun???

Thanks so much for sharing those photos! You sure got a great crop, despite the cruddy season!!!!

 

[BethieofVA]

Split one down the middle, they would not touch it.

 

[chicknmania]

We discovered yesterday that our peacocks won't touch pumpkin. We threw them some guts yesterday and they looked at it like "gross....are you KIDDING????" Even when the chooks wolfed it down!

Seems the peas are that way about a lot of things...they could take or leave apples, and are suspicious of (but will eat) watermelon. Cantaloupe and cantaloupe guts though? Yumyum!

 

[gryeyes]

This morning the Gang Of Seven discovered the pumpkin.

One of the youngsters with the pumpkin all to itself!

 

[Delta3013]

My flock devowerd my last pumpkin. Especially the little ones. They liked when I just cut off a little from the top so they can roost on it and reach in to get the "goods."

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Finally got around to giving pumpkin to the girls today. Cut into the biggest one and found mold

so that got tossed. But gave them half of a smaller one and they attacked it. They ate all the stringy stuff and the seeds first, but they've been going back and pecking at it little by little.
I've also got a large round gourd that I believe is edible. Anybody no for sure whether all parts of a big gourd are okay for the girls?

 

[yankiwi]

My chickens are coming any day so I don't know if they will like pumpkin, but a few years ago I left a big winter squash on top of an high outdoor shelf by my back door and went away for a month. When I came home and picked it up, it was hollow! Rats had climbed up the shelf and eaten it it from the bottom leaving a perfect looking squash shell. I'll be more careful with the next crop.

 

[ikatiemay]

Z what a great pic!! my girls like pumpkin, no time to cook it, i just drop it, it pops open and they enjoy. They really like the seeds and gooey stuff best. I was going to try a spaghetti squash, they like butternut also.

 

[papeine]

mine loved the pumpkins.. I cut them into 4 peices. I do like the idea of just putting the pumkin whole, in the coop..that would be a lonmger lasting treat for them...