What a steal!!! Such a surplus of pumpkins!!

[DebbieDee]

Will the chickens eat them then. It does not sound too appetizing.

 

[Beekissed]

The fermented pumpkins are sweeter and softer....easier to eat and more appealing to the birds. They have to fight the sheep for them but they dart in and get their fair share!

It wouldn't sound good to us humans but we are discussing an animal that eats bugs, worms, and sometimes their own feces.

 

[mrs_ed]

great idea! hadn't thought of this! when we carve our pumpkins I will be sure to take all the nasties out to the girls!

 

[kuntrygirl]

Great idea.

I found a local pumpkin patch and I pick up FREE pumpkins every 3 days. My chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys love them. They have destroyed those pumpkins. I threw out about 25 pumpkins the first time and they cleaned them up within 3 days, so they will be getting pumpkins every week until the pumpkin patch runs out.

 

[7L Farm]

Quote:
Mine won't eat anything but the seeds.

 

[flowerchild59]

My husband raised an acre or so for the grandkids benefit and to sell the surplus. I have been tossing them pumkins for a month and they go crazy for them. I hope to have enough for another month.

 

[al6517]

I allways get the left over pumpkins from a store I regularly do biz with and sometimes bring home dozen's of big ones for free, every few day's I just carry one in the run smash it on the ground and watch the birds freak out, they do really like them. I have also heard they are a natural wormer but since my birds have never had worms there is no way for me to tell if it works on that.

 

[patti'speeps]

My husband and I also raised a pumpkin patch this year. I raise all sorts of birds and they all love the pumpkins. I have been cutting up and cooking the overstock of pumpkins to have for during the winter as treats for them. I just scoop out the seeds and meat after it is cooked and freeze it. The rest goes to my minipigs as a warm treat. Nothing goes to waste in this house.

 

[GardenState38]

I've found that my girls will devour pumpkin and winter squash innards and seeds.
While they won't bother much with the raw pulp, they scarf it up if it's cooked.
I just put a halved squash in the microwave for a few minutes, or roast extra when I'm making it for dinner.

I'm pretty leery about giving my pullets anything rotting--been reading stuff about botulism, etc. on this site that has made me nervous.

 

[Beekissed]

Rotting is not quite the same as fermenting~a little past that stage....but either way, chickens have the digestive systems that handle and do very well on "rotted" foods....fermentation is the stage that is the most beneficial, nutritionally speaking. The "mother" in unpastuerized apple cider vinegar that everyone crows about being beneficial? A yeast/mold glob of "good" bacteria and enzymes that aid the digestion and increase the absorption of nutrients consumed.

The vinegar that you use on salads? Rotted apple juice, essentially, that has been allowed to convert to alcohol and then to vinegar as a finished product.

Yogurt? Rotted, moldy milk. As is cottage cheese and any other kind of cheese. They call it "cultured"...but it is cultured with yeast/mold spores that increase the nutritive value and preserve the food in a different state.

Wine? Rotted grape juice.

My chickens regularly eat all the "rotting" fruit and veggies out of my garden and orchard with no ill effects because they are NOT humans and their digestive systems are designed for consuming these items. Same with dogs....they can drink stagnate water and eat rotten meats that we could not.

Gotta stop thinking human and think chicken, folks. We wouldn't thrive on eating our own feces either, but the birds do and gain added protein to their diets.