Halloween & Pumpkins Can They Eat Them???

[gavinandallison]

We have just scraped out the insides of our pumpkin and they love it!! DW was cracking open the seeds to feed them the inners (yes they are spoilt)......

 

[featherbaby]

I remember one year my pumpkin began to rot inside and I didn't know it until I lit the candle......Ohhhh the smell would gag a CSI !

I assume no one would feed the parts of a pumpkin that had started to decompose, right?

 

[Yay Chicks!]

That was my question. If the pumpkin is good, I plan to make soup, but I would feed them the guts and seeds. Sometimes the guts get to that 'overdone' state. As long as it's not moldy is it okay? I also have a very large gourd that I plan to give them.

 

[Mogli]

ya there fine if there rwa and carved this is my 1st year with chickens and i gave them my carved pumpkins this evning it was very funny to watch them tday they would curiously walk up to the pumpkins and check them out peck at them alittle bit i turn one on its side and then they started clucking and then started to peck out the fleshy skin inside the pumpkin haha

 

[Muzzie]

Some chickens won't eat the pumpkin raw but will eat it cooked. You can also grind or chop the seeds and feed it to them if they won't eat them whole.

 

[Lbrad7]

Mine not only love the left over jack-o-lanterns, they devour them! Since Halloween was over I stopped by our local produce stand and bought more that they had on sale. (3 for 5 bucks) They were completely eating 1 large pumpkin a day. (I have over 100 birds) I dont know if too much of a good thing is healthy for them or not so I am going to start waiting a few days between pumpkin treats.

 

[Chris09]

Here's a basic breakdown of raw pumpkin:
Nutritional value per 100g (3.5 oz)
Carbohydrates 6.5g
Fat .1g
Protein 1.0g
Vit A 41%
B-carotene 29%
Thiamin 4%
Riboflavin 7%
Niacin 4%
Pantothenic acid 6%
Vit B6 5%
Folate 4%
Vit C 15%
Vit E 7%
Calcium 2%
Iron 6%
Magnesium 3%
Phosphorus 6%
Potassium 7%
Zinc 3%

Chris

 

[DutchieWannabe]

What about the mini decorative pumpkins.... can they eat those?

 

[7&8]

I have been putting out half a pie pumpkin (purchased at a local farm stand) for my eight chickens every ten days or so & they like it. They gut it over the course of a few days. If the shell fills with rain water, they drink it. From there, it goes to the compost, where they still work on it~

 

[jomercer]

Pumpkin is a big hit around here.

I cut one in half, microwave it, and serve it to the girls "on the half shell."

Then I have to chase the dogs away from it--they love it, too!

I cleaned out the freezer the other day and gave them a bag of freezer-burned choppped spinach. They looked at it, walked around it for a while, figured it wasn't going to jump up and eat them, and then gobbled it up.