Thought I Had a Great Idea

[ninnymary]

Digits...My conditions are nothing like yours. Like I said..they have it made here in California, especially in the bay area. Mine are always outside from 7:15a.m to dusk every day of the year. Very mild winters and they always get their same treats regardless.

The pumpkins did not have the seeds, they were already carved. I still have mine that I didn't carved, so maybe in December I'll cut it in fourths and leave the seeds in. I worry about the seeds. They look pretty large to me. Don't want anyone choking.
Well maybe just the one that is a year and a half and doesn't lay.

Mary

 

[digitS']

Yeah.

There's one I'd like to choke, too.



S'

 

[lesa]

The claim is that pumpkin seeds contain a natural deworming compound for chickens...

 

[ninnymary]

Lesa...The seeds aren't too big for them?

I'm very squimish and would not be able to perform CPR.

That's why I still have one that nobody wants, even for free. I would never be able to cull and just hope she goes soon of natural causes. I know, I'm mean to be thinking that!

She is a free loader and on top of that she's not very pretty!

Mary

 

[bid]

It's time to take the frying pan or the stew pot out there and show it to that free loader! Either you start laying some eggs... or... we're having yardbird for supper!

It doesn't really work, but it makes you feel better.

 

[lesa]

No, they eat the seeds no problem... Bid, I always threaten that I am going to start putting their feed in a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket!! I've actually got about 12 that aren't laying. Every morning that I eat oatmeal, I get madder and madder!

 

[simple life]

I think if you have whole pumpkins it would make a big difference.
I split whole pumpkins in half with a hammer and spread them around for the chickens.
They really love the seeds and the pulp of the pumpkins and jack ol anterns don't really have much for them to be interested in.
If they had the seeds and pulp to start with then they may continue to finish off the flesh and rind.
How old were these jack o lanterns?
It may be that they have been sitting around too long and the chickens can detect that something is off about them a slight smell or something.
Some chickens may eat anything but others will not eat anything that is even slightly starting to turn.
Mine eat the whole pumpkins down to nothing except a couple of small pieces of the skin and when the kids carve the pumpkins we throw them all the pulp and seeds.
Pumpkin seeds are a natural dewormer so its good if you can get some into them.
I decorate the yard with pumpkins and give the chickens one or two per week in October and November and if I have any left over I put them aside to feed to them during the winter months.
I don't cook them or anything, the cold weather keeps them pretty well.


Steve, have you thought about hanging treats inside the coop to keep them busy?
I hang cabbage or homemade seed balls from a string in the coop, I stick one of those tent stakes through them and the chickens love to jump and peck at them.
Purina also sells a 25lb feed block that keeps them busy and helps by allowing them to use their pecking instinct when they can't scratch and peck around outdoors.
I have to say, I must be lucky because most of mine love going out no matter what the weather.
If I leave the coop door open while I am feeding they will walk out in the snow and rain.
They are only in when there has been a snowstorm and we only shovel out a pathway to their door so we can take care of them. Even then there are always some chickens walking up and down the pathway from their coop to our backdoor.

 

[digitS']

I haven't hung anything except their feeder in the coop in a long time.

But for some time now, I've been thinking about how to attach a handle . . .

digitS'

 

[Collector]

ours liked the pumpkins who knows why some will like certain things and others wont. Steve , if you do get a clown suit for your chickens maybe you could come over and entertain mine also. I also have one hen that is not prodicing eggs.
I tell her all the time if she doesn't want to help out with breakfast, she is going to help us with dinner. LOL

 

[pharmerphil]

Our Buff's ate pumpkin and squash down to the rind...cooked scraps...the dang cats ate and chased the chickens off