Pumpkin??

[allanb]

But, since we are on the subject of pumpkins and chickens, might I ask if anyone actually gives pumpkin to their chickens as a treat? I have too much pumpkin in the garden, but was thinking the seeds are too big for them and the meat too firm.

ETA: chickens in place of chicks.

I place a whole pumpkin in my run. The chickens will peck through the outside and eat the inside.

 

[Kiwibird]

I think it's very poor science to dismiss a traditional remedy because the research has not been done, but then recommend a commercial remedy on which the research has not been done. We know that curcurbitin kills worms in a test tube, that pumpkin and pumpkin seeds are safe foods, and that it is safe for poultry to carry a small to moderate worm load. These factors make personal experimentation with pumpkin seeds as a natural dewormer quite safe and sensible compared with most backyard health experiments.

Pumpkin seeds are a traditional dewormer, so I would start with traditional use. Traditional use in my family was to deworm children, in the years surrounding WW1. Only hulled pumpkin seeds were used - not gourds or summer squash or any other curcurbit. My great grandmother hulled the seeds by baking them until they split open when she used them as a dewormer, so cooked is okay by tradition. The seeds of a single large pumpkin that the family was eating for dinner were usually used to deworm five children, when they had symptoms commonly attributed to worms. Because of this, my youngest great aunt would always get the giggles when pumpkin seeds became popular as a snack and she was offered them to eat on social occasions - not really the expected context for deworming!

If the problem is a lack of research, let's do the research, including recording oral histories of the remedy from as far back as we can find them.

If you have access to fecal float tests, why not try them before and after administering pumpkin seeds to your flock? Then report back here.

 

[casportpony]

If you have access to fecal float tests, why not try them before and after administering pumpkin seeds to your flock? Then report back here.

yes, before and after fecal tests are needed.

 

[Debby R]

But, since we are on the subject of pumpkins and chickens, might I ask if anyone actually gives pumpkin to their chickens as a treat? I have too much pumpkin in the garden, but was thinking the seeds are too big for them and the meat too firm.

ETA: chickens in place of chicks.

I feed my chickens canned 100% pumpkin and they love it! I have pumpkins growing on the vine now so we'll see how they like that.

 

[Kiwibird]

Canned pumpkin is such a cultural difference!

 

[WildnCrazyChick]

I spoil my chicken (only 1 left) and she gets cooked pumpkin, loves watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, red tomatoes, etc....she loved the wheat from the field and some soybeans too (both green and ripe)....she was upset when they were harvested...but she managed to find some leftover....I have had leftover quiche, she ate that too, hard boiled eggs. Have not given her any meat...oh and she loves popcorn (not buttered or salted obviously).....gotta figure out what to give her next...lol. I am sure she would love some cooked rice, etc.

 

[Kiki]

I spoil my chicken (only 1 left) and she gets cooked pumpkin, loves watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, red tomatoes, etc....she loved the wheat from the field and some soybeans too (both green and ripe)....she was upset when they were harvested...but she managed to find some leftover....I have had leftover quiche, she ate that too, hard boiled eggs. Have not given her any meat...oh and she loves popcorn (not buttered or salted obviously).....gotta figure out what to give her next...lol. I am sure she would love some cooked rice, etc.

This isn't spoiling...feeding too many treats can actually be very bad.
You should stick to a complete balanced poultry feed.

 

[WGHowell]

Same goes for watermelon

 

[ChickenFlamingo]

I tried to grow pumpkins for the first time this year. It was a little experiment of mine, and the intention was to give any resulting pumpkins to my chickens.

But my chickens had other ideas and couldn't wait - they ate the plants!

 

[munchkinlover]

But, since we are on the subject of pumpkins and chickens, might I ask if anyone actually gives pumpkin to their chickens as a treat? I have too much pumpkin in the garden, but was thinking the seeds are too big for them and the meat too firm.

ETA: chickens in place of chicks.

I have bought a small pumpkin and cut the tough skin off like windows on 4 sides (but don't go through to the inside) and hung it in my run about eye level with the girls,. It takes them a while to get inside, but once they do, you end up with a pumpkin shell hanging there, completely cleaned out and them some.