Pumpkins?

[The Chicken People]

Mine got pumpkin today as well served raw no cooking here!

 

[bjash]

Same here. 2 large pumpkins going in. In about a week, 2 picked clean stems will be coming out!

 

[viktoriacl]

Is there a limit? I have two big pumpkin that I cut up in fouths. I only have four girls. Is there "Too much" pumpkin?

 

[Yay Chicks!]

I have the same question as the poster above. I have three pumpkins and a large round gourd, and 4 birds.

 

[bjash]

I have found that mine eat as much as they want (that's why it will take about a week for my 11 girls to devour it). Sometimes they'll pile onto it and sometimes they'll ignore it and come back to it later. Eventually it does get eaten.

If you notice orange poo, you might want to hold off for a bit.

 

[Lbrad7]

Mine LOVE raw pumpkin and they have eaten a ton of it this fall. I hope the dewormer is true...would be a great natural way to take care of worming without having to give up eating your eggs for two weeks.

 

[MissJenny]

Mine are not even remotely interested in pumpkin. I thought they'd go nuts... um, nada.

They don't like it cooked either. I have some goofy birds.

Jenny

 

[maggiemooscluckers]

Mine are in the process of finishing off the last one for a while. They take several days to totally finish it off.

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Quote:
Same here!

 

[Casey3043]

Our town sells pumpkins every October in the center of town, across from the feed store. Large grassy area between the railroad tracks and the feed store is covered with thousands of pumpkins, with a small tent for sales. The day after Halloween, I was at the store buying feed and asked about the pumpkins that were still left. There were at least a hundred scattered around, all sizes. They said they were free, so I took three. They must have hardened sitting out in the sun for a month, because they were hard as a rock. I couldn't even stick a knife into them. Just when I was about to take a chain saw to the buggers, I was able to penetrate one with my best Cutco paring knife. I hacked it into pieces and baked it.

The chickens loved it. For the next one, a couple of days later, I cut the top off as though it was going to be a jack-o-lantern and baked that one too. After it was cooked, it was much softer, and I was able to cut it up easily.

The last one was REALLY hard. All I managed was to cut a small hole in it for an air vent, not knowing whether it would explode if cooked whole, LOL. Even after cooking, it was hard to cut up, but the chicks finally got their third pumpkin. With 29 hens and one roo, there was a big crowd trying to get some, so that's why I wanted to cut it up. Otherwise the bullies (make that "top of the pecking order") hog it, and only a few get any.

Next year, I'll get them earlier, or grow my own! These were so hard that if I hadn't baked them, the chicks would have broken their beaks.