Mugs Monday

Chickie-Chick
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Goldie
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A couple of tiger chickens
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Pepper-Larry
Poor gal is moulting bad
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It's Simply Amazing
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She is walking around, eating scratch, and drinking the cat's water. I just can't believe it. It truly is a miracle.

Here she is drinking water just after starting to move around again.

 
In years past, my crew will eat a pumpkin....eventually....(30 some odd birds vs 1 large pumpkin) took them something like a month for most of it, then they'd come back to the skins occasionally.

If you go off the premise that chickens, when allowed to forage, will eat things they NEED the nutrients of.....my crew need the potassium (or something else) of bananas but are meeting the nutritional needs that pumpkins supply. Meanwhile certain other groups (@BY Bob cough) that don't eat bananas are getting that nutritional need met through other finds, so when they're offered, turn their beaks up at them. And why they'll eat something at one point, but refuse the same thing at another: either their nutritional needs don't need what it supplies or the nutritional profile of the food has changed, rendering it unnecessary.

With my crew, I suspect that pumpkins supply something they DO need, but that need is small so a little goes a long way. I haven't gotten any pumpkins yet. I'm waiting for them to go on sale. BTW, Sherlock loves cooked pumpkin but won't touch raw pumpkin. Does the cooking change the nutritional profile or make it more efficient for the body to process?
I once read a researched article about this. They SPECULATED that humans were able to develope a larger brain (huge energy suck) because they started cooking food. It makes calories more available/more efficient to process. They proved that foods became more calorie available when cooked...they didn't prove that that was what allowed human brain growth - but it supposedly coincided with the use of fire in our ancestors.
(unfortunately, that was many years ago, I can not find it anymore in a google scholar search. I believe it was a dr. & anthropologist together??? Someone with a nutritional background and someone I would think of as anthropollogist background...but, again, that was probaly 15+ years ago, and my brain dothe forget details.)
That said, mine have always been interested in the 'guts', and will always peck some at the 'meat' of a pumpkin. But, I will now frequently partially cook the pumpkin (throw the whole pumpkin in the oven at 250 degrees, and leave for about an hour (these are HUGE pumkins, btw. If/when I get smaller ones, they are left in less time). I cook them so they are 'aldente' type cooked. Kind of like how you might cook a potato that you will later use to make homefries. (I call it the same as how I like my veggies: crunchy cooked - still crisp, but not hard as a rock)

It initially gets guts and seeds cleaned out and a bit around the edges (huge pumpkins I cut into quarters so no one or two chickens and 'hog' it), the next day they will work on the softest places and make the disappear (where the pumpkin 'meat' is thinnest and most cooked). It then takes them a couple more days. (or up to a week - depending on if I really didn't cook it much or not) and it is just skin left. Often, they will eat pieces of the skin around the edges when they are just pecking at what is left.

I always have some chickens who are more 'gung-ho' about it than others - as with everything, each has their own preferences...but it always goes!

It is interested watching the ducks and geese try to eat it! Once the guts (easier pickings) are gone, the geese will try to grab the edges with the side of their beaks to rip some off. The ducks really can only eat the softer parts.....both the ducks and geese have rounded bills, so they go nuts when it gets put out with the guts, but then they struggle when it gets down to the hard 'meat/flesh' if it isn't cooked (or not cooked much)
 
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I left the pumpkin for a long time, until it got covered with run litter & dirt & started to look nasty and I worried about mold.
I hang mine to avoid that. I use the hanging plant 'extender hooks'. I use a knife through the skin to poke a bit of a hole to get it started...and hook the piece of the pumpkin...use the other end of the hook to hook it on the fence at about head high. It keeps it out of the litter and keeps them from stepping on it with poopy feet (and from pooping on it!)
Black Iron Extender Hook 594209 ...

I usually get mine at the Dollar Tree (2 hooks to a package) or at Ocean State Job Lot. Both quite reasonable - and I can get a variety of sizes...I use some longer ones to hang from eye bolts on my curio cabinet turned chicken enrichment , etc.
 
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It's Simply AmazingView attachment 4240616

She is walking around, eating scratch, and drinking the cat's water. I just can't believe it. It truly is a miracle.

Here she is drinking water just after starting to move around again.

Is that poop on the floor behind her in the standing picture? :celebrate If so, it is small but looks normal in terms of color and consistency. Of course, it. may be just flower petal or something:idunno
 

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