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Poultry

How to Prevent Frostbite in Chickens: Signs & Treatment

Combs, wattles and feet are prone to frostbite during cold winters. Adobe Stock

Knowing how to prevent frostbite in chickens plus the signs and treatment if it happens is important during the cold weather months.

Several years ago, just a few days before Christmas, a powerful cold front dipped down from Canada and sent most of the country into the single digits. As a cherry on top, it also brought with it howling winds, ice and heavy snow.

On our Tennessee homestead, we knew it was coming. We prepared with extra feed and bedding for our livestock and lined our coop with empty feed bags to cut out drafts.

However, despite everything we did to prepare and keep our flock protected from the winds, which hit negative 20°F during this storm, a few birds developed frostbite.

chicken suffering from frostbite even when keeper knew how to prevent chickens from frostbite
The author put her Welsummer chicken “Miracle” in a frostbite ICU after discovering her legs had been frozen. Photo by Heather Levin

One of our Welsummers froze in the snow after accidentally stepping in some warm water I had just put out. I was checking on the birds every hour and found her in the snow and wind, literally frozen in place and unable to get back to the shelter of the coop. The frostbite on her legs was so severe she had to be culled.

Some chicken keepers assume that frostbite is only a problem in northern regions with harsh winters. But frostbite can happen whenever temperatures drop below freezing and humidity is present. The lower the temperature and the higher the humidity, the bigger the risk.

SIGNS OF FROSTBITE

Frostbite occurs when blood and moisture in tissues freeze. Look for these signs:

  • gray, white, or yellowish tips on the comb or the edge of wattles, which can turn black days after exposure
  • reddish toes and feet
  • blistering, which can occur within 24 to 48 hours of exposure
  • listlessness and loss of appetite

There are several stages of frostbite, just as there are several stages of burns.

STAGE 1 is superficial frostbite, often called “frostnip,” and birds typically make a full recovery.

In STAGE 2, the skin hardens and freezes completely, but deep tissues aren’t affected. In extreme frostbite cases, the affected area can become necrotic, which means the cells in the deeper tissues die completely. This is considered third- and fourth-degree frostbite. It’s permanent and irreversible.

It can take several weeks for necrotic tissue to present. The dead tissue will eventually blacken, shrivel up and fall off, causing intense pain to the bird.

TREATMENT

Treating frostbite takes some care and patience.

First, don’t rub frostbite areas to restore circulation. This can do more harm than good, and it causes intense pain to the bird. Don’t use a focused heat source (such as a hair dryer or heat pad) on the frostbitten area to rewarm the tissue.

Instead, warm the area slowly if it’s still frozen. Put the chicken’s feet in warm water (not hot) for up to 20 minutes at a time. The comb and wattles can be unthawed with warm, damp cloths.

chicken foot with blisters from frostbite
Frostbite can result in blisters that should not be popped. Photo by Heather Levin

Once the tissue is unfrozen, apply a wound spray such as Vetricyn, or a healing herbal wound salve that contains skin allies such as calendula. If blisters develop, don’t pop them.

Another treatment option is St. John’s Wort oil, which is a fantastic natural wound healer and anti-inflammatory that will help alleviate pain, prevent infection, and speed healing. St. John’s Wort oil is specific for burns, which is what frostbite essentially is (just with cold instead of heat). This oil should be applied topically to the frostbitten area at least twice daily.

Keep the bird indoors in a warm room with food and water for several days. Don’t let the bird walk on frostbitten legs, as this can worsen damage. Provide soft bedding in a crate that forces them to lie down and rest.

HOW TO PREVENT FROSTBITE IN CHICKENS

Thankfully, there are several things you can do to prevent frostbite in your chickens.

IMPROVE VENTILATION: Chickens generate moisture constantly when they’re inside the coop from breathing and droppings. And it’s this moisture, coupled with cold temperatures, that causes frostbite.

It’s essential that your coop has good ventilation all year, but it’s particularly important during the winter months. Vents near the ceiling are best to help prevent moisture build-up.

CLEAN THE COOP: Keeping your coop clean during the winter is an essential part of preventing frostbite. Chicken droppings are mostly water, and when those droppings accumulate in the coop humidity levels rise.

An easy way to keep an eye on temperature and humidity levels in the coop is to purchase a wireless outdoor digital thermometer. Putting the sensor on the wall, right at roost height, can give you a clear picture of the internal environment and help you take action when temperatures drop and humidity rises. If you purchase a wireless digital thermometer, just make sure that the range of the device and the sensor will reach from the coop to your home.

Opinions differ on what humidity levels should be in the coop. The Department of Poultry Science at the University of Georgia recommends coop humidity levels of 50% to 70%.

If you do the deep-litter method during the winter, turn the bedding regularly and apply a dry top layer.

PROVIDE WIDE ROOST POLES: Providing your chickens with wide roost poles can also help prevent frostbite on toes and feet because chickens are able to use their entire body to cover their feet during the night. Wooden roost poles that are 3 to 4 inches wide or wider are ideal for winter roosting.

KEEP CHICKENS HYDRATED: Chickens that are dehydrated are at greater risk of developing frostbite. Chickens can quickly become dehydrated in winter when water freezes, or when chickens don’t want to walk through the elements to get to water.

During the winter months, it’s essential that you have some means of keeping a chicken’s water dish unfrozen. One of the best options is a heated waterer, which keeps the water temperature just above freezing. Small portable greenhouses can also help keep water from freezing when waterers are placed inside, especially when the greenhouse is placed on the south side of the run.

TURN TO CAYENNE: Cayenne is a very warming herb known to help improve circulation. You can sprinkle cayenne directly on their feed or add it to any cooked treats you give out to them.

All chickens, whether they’re classified as “cold hardy” or not, can develop frostbite. And while most instances of frostbite are mild and treatable, occasionally, severe drops in temperature can lead to permanent damage or even fatalities if you’re not careful. Even then, accidents can and will happen.

There’s still a lot you can do to prevent frostbite. Simple steps like regularly cleaning the coop and ensuring adequate ventilation can help ensure that your chickens make it through the winter healthy and whole.

This article about how to prevent frostbite in chickens was written for Chickens magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Poultry

Are Chickens Warm-Blooded? Know the Importance

understanding are chickens warm blooded means the black and white chicken and white chiken eating at a food container suspended from ceiling in an outdoor run are comfortable in many types of weather
Daniel Johnson

Are chickens warm-blooded? The short answer is yes. But the long answer means understanding how this impacts the behaviors and day-to-day care of your flock.

Are Chickens Warm-Blooded?

Caring for livestock begins with learning the basics about your chosen species, but after a time, it can be beneficial to dig a little deeper into the physiology of your animals. We often first learn how to care for our livestock, but later, it can be useful to gain a deeper understanding of the whys.

To best understand a particular living creature, compare them to others and see where there are similarities and differences. For instance, what attributes do chickens share with, say, mammals? At first glance, it might seem like chickens and mammals have little in common because there are major differences such as feathers instead of fur and eggs instead of live birth. In fact, you could almost make a case that chickens have more in common with reptiles.

But the last item on this list — that chickens are warm-blooded instead of cold-blooded — is extremely important and has a large impact on the care and behaviors of your chickens. Don’t be fooled by the eggs or scaly legs: Because chickens are warm-blooded, their metabolism and lifestyle has more in common with mammals than reptiles. Understanding this fact can help you understand the whys behind a lot of other aspects of your chickens’ health and life — from calorie needs and shelter requirements to activity levels and mothering instincts to intelligence. Examining the biology behind the whys can help make you a better chicken keeper and help you enjoy your flock even more.

Your Active Chickens

Warm-blooded animals must maintain a specific body temperature to survive. For chickens, this number is about 105 to 107°F. Even if the air temperature is far colder — even below freezing — a chicken’s body temperature will consistently remain within that specific range. Where does that heat come from? It comes from metabolizing food — that is, taking the energy contained in food and converting it into heat.

The bodies of cold-blooded organisms such as reptiles (also amphibians and fish) don’t perform the work of converting food to heat in the same way. Instead, the bodies of these animals tend to be roughly the same temperature as their surroundings. This is why you see snakes or turtles sunning themselves on a dark rock in the morning; they’re trying to warm up enough to function effectively, and their body temperatures can fluctuate wildly throughout the course of a day in some cases. But the warm-blooded nature of birds and mammals means they can be much more active all day long and must eat throughout the day to power this activity. (Cold-blooded animals can eat much less often because they aren’t powering an internal furnace.)

For chickens, foraging can take up more than 60% of their active hours, but the muscles of cold-blooded reptiles can’t perform for long periods of activity; the energy just isn’t there. Chickens, on the other hand, love to explore and actively poke and peck at the world all day long; again, their warm-blooded physiology makes them behave more like mammals despite the other biological differences between the two.

baby chickens in the garden
Daniel Johnson

Parental Instincts

The warm-blooded nature of your chickens also plays a role in their parental behaviors. Think about reptiles or amphibians for a minute; most take an extremely hands-off approach to parenting. In many cases, reptile parents don’t linger after the nest has been created and the eggs laid, so the juveniles may hatch and start off life in the absence of a parent. (Alligators are an anomaly to this.)

On the other extreme, mammals are probably the most hands-on when it comes to caring for and raising their young. Chickens, being warm-blooded, have parental behaviors that are much closer to mammals. Besides the obvious “brooding” behavior of wanting to maintain a nest and incubate eggs, hens are also quite protective of their hatched chicks, constantly offering them a warm wing to hide under.

Hens serve as role models, showing their chicks how to forage effectively and demonstrating proper roosting techniques. The hen and her chicks form an emotional attachment, and the chicks learn to seek her guidance to differentiate threats from nonthreats. Hens teach their chicks to recognize her comforting clucking sounds as well as her warning calls. The term “mother hen” doesn’t exist for nothing!

And don’t forget the protective role a rooster plays as guardian of the flock. All these active parenting behaviors are possible because of the high energy levels that come with being warm-blooded.

Intelligence

By and large, warm-blooded animals — mammals and birds — are the most intelligent in the animal world. Their complex hearts and high metabolisms ensure that plenty of oxygen is available to power large brains. This means that you’ll find species such as raccoons and ravens on lists of the most intelligent animals, but you won’t find a single snake or salamander (though cold-blooded octopi are pretty clever). So appreciate the intelligence of your warm-blooded chickens; when compared to the vastness of the animal kingdom, chickens are actually quite smart!

Lori Marino, founder of the Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy, published a review article called “Thinking chickens: a review of cognition, emotion, and behavior in the domestic chicken,” (Animal Cognition, 2017). It showed that chickens can perform basic logical inferences, perceive simple concepts about time and numbers, exhibit positive and negative emotions, possess individual personalities, and may even be self-aware. So while your hens obviously won’t perform complex tricks at the level of a dolphin or dog, they are very intelligent — as any long-time chicken keeper will readily attest.

chickens in a snowy run attached to a chicken coop
Daniel Johnson

Cold Weather Needs

When cold weather approaches, snakes, turtles and other reptiles have different cold-blooded behavioral techniques to respond to winter. Often this involves burrowing and brumation — the cold-blooded equitant of hibernation. But the chickens in your flock don’t hibernate, can’t migrate out of the weather and, being warm-blooded, must stay active and warm all winter long.

We instinctively understand that our chickens need shelter in cold temperatures, but we don’t necessarily think through why this is the case. Part of the reason has to do with the original natural habitat of chickens; they’re native to the warm jungles of Southeast Asia. This means that while modern chickens can handle a certain amount of cold weather, they’re a prone to frostbite on their legs and combs and aren’t nearly as comfortable when it’s cold. So providing a warm winter shelter helps mitigate these issues.

But there’s another good reason why we provide our chickens with a shelter from the cold, and this has to do with the fact that your flock is made of warm-blooded creatures. A chicken’s body is going to do whatever is necessary to maintain its needed 105- to 107-degree Fahrenheit core temperature. So if a chicken is exposed unnecessarily to prolonged cold weather, extra calories are needed to order to metabolize enough heat to keep the chicken alive. Extra calories mean extra feed requirements, so farming costs increase.

If a chicken’s body is working extra hard in the cold to maintain core temperature, the body may scale back on energy-demanding biological functions — such as egg laying. Providing a warm shelter means that the chickens are more comfortable and their bodies are more efficient because biological functions don’t need to expend as much energy just maintaining a constant body temperature.

Chickens also have several biological ways to keep their body temperatures under control on hot days; they can constrict or widen blood vessels to either keep heat in or help it disperse. They can increase blood flow to their combs and wattles to help dissipate heat and fluff up their feathers to permit extra airflow. Too much heat isn’t a good thing for warm-blooded animals either.

For chicken keepers, it’s important to study housing requirements, winter needs and how to keep humidity in the coop at a proper level. This will all help to keep your flock healthy.

Are Chickens Warm-Blooded? A Better Understanding

Studying the physiology of your chickens and their contrast to other animal classes may seem a bit superfluous, but it can really help you gain some insight into why your birds act the way they do. The naming and classification of animals has a long history and is certainly among humanity’s oldest scientific endeavors; taxonomy (in a way) is mentioned as far back as the Biblical Genesis.

The type of scientific exploration into your birds shown in this article can give your another “layer” of enjoyment with them. Chickens are amazing creatures and a deeper exploration into their interesting lives can be well worth the time and effort.

This article about are chickens warm-blooded was written for Chickens magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Animals

Livestock Health Monitoring: Know Vital Signs

goat and chicken on meadow
Adobe Stock/Carola Schubbel

Livestock health monitoring is critical even if you’re lucky enough to have a fabulous veterinarian who treats the myriad critters you have on hand. However, even if your vet’s incredible, learning to recognize that an animal is ill or unwell will go a long way to ensuring you’re not the owner who cries wolf and monopolizes your vet’s time with issues that aren’t actually issues.

Learning how to take an animal’s temperature, pulse and respiration rates can give you insider information as to whether an animal is well. Comparing the numbers you gather while livestock health monitoring with values deemed normal for farmyard friends can tell you immediately if a call to the vet is crucial.

While the information provided in this article offers ranges of values considered average by species, it’s helpful to take the pulse, respiration and temperature of each animal you own a few times over the course of a few weeks so you can determine what is normal for your herd. Some individuals run hotter or colder than average or their heart may beat slower or faster than what the guidelines deem as normal. This in and of itself isn’t cause for concern; if you consistently replicate the same or similar values, those numbers are just what makes your animal a unique individual.

When referring to what’s deemed typical, consider other parameters as well, such as the animal’s age and phase of life. For example, how old an animal is and its size may affect how often it breathes or how fast its heart beats. Newborn animals will have higher heart and respiration rates than adult animals, and larger livestock tend to have slower heart rates than those that are smaller in stature.

livestock health monitoring by veterinarian taking the respiration rate of a chicken with a purple stethoscope
Adobe Stock/wifesun

LIVESTOCK HEALTH MONITORING

TEMPERATURE

An elevated temperature is often the first indication that something is amiss with an animal’s well-being. However, things such as season, time of day, weather conditions and exercise may influence an animal’s body temperature.

Livestock owners should use a digital thermometer to take their animal’s temperature; though it can be tempting to use the no-contact thermometer, these tools have proven inaccurate on animals (most likely because of the fur, feather, fiber or hair covering most of the animal’s body). The end of the thermometer must be placed inside the animal’s rectum to get an accurate reading of the critter’s core body temperature.

Placing a thin layer of lubricant such as petroleum jelly on the end of the thermometer will make taking the animal’s temperature more comfortable. It’s vitally important that the person doing the temperature-taking not stand directly behind the patient to avoid getting kicked. Most animals do better when someone who isn’t the temperature-taker is restraining their head.

To take the temperature of a four-legged animal, grasp the tail at its base and gently shift it to the side, the slide the thermometer into the rectum, ensuring no force is used. Once the thermometer has beeped that a temperature has been determined, remove the thermometer.

PULSE

Locating an animal’s pulse can be a bit trickier than taking its temperature, and finding the heart rate of larger livestock can sometimes be easier than locating it on smaller animals. To take an animal’s pulse, find a large blood vessel close to its skin. Pressing hard enough that you can feel the rhythm of blood in the animal’s artery, count the beats for 15 seconds and multiply by four. A heartbeat has two distinct sounds:a “lub” and then a “dub,” but the two together (“lub-dub”) is one heartbeat.

There are multiple places you can check your horse, donkey, mule or cow’s heart rate, including under the jaw, beneath the tail bone or on the fetlock. If you have a stethoscope, find the animal’s pulse behind the point of the left elbow. No matter where you find the animal’s pulse, count the beats for 15 seconds, then multiply by four.

An elevated pulse (or respiration rate) doesn’t always indicate illness; it could be simply that the animal is fearful or excited.

RESPIRATION

Respiration is the act of inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. To get an accurate respiratory rate, the animal should be quiet; it shouldn’t be taken immediately after the animal has exerted himself.

Often an accurate respiration rate can be obtained by simply observing the animal, counting the number of times his nostrils flare or his ribs expand. If you’re struggling to see either of these, you can also place a hand in front of the animal’s nose to feel him exhale. Determine how many times this happens in a 15-second period, then multiply by four.

Respiration rate should never exceed the pulse rate.

LIVESTOCK HEALTH MONITORING: ANIMAL AVERAGES

The accepted average ranges for temperature, pulse and respiration rates for common hobby-farm livestock follow.

HORSE

Temperature: 99 to 101°F

Pulse: 28 to 44 beats per minute

Respiration: 8 to 14 breaths per minute (at rest)

The easiest way to take an equid’s pulse is to place your fingers under the jawbone and press lightly toward the cheek, like where you would find the pulse in your neck. The artery will feel like a piece of thin rope; you’ll feel the blood flowing through the vein by applying gentle pressure.

MULE

Temperature: 99 to 100°F

Pulse: 29 to 36 bpm

Respiration: 11 to 24 breaths per minute (at rest)

While mules are not a species (they’re a hybrid of a horse and a donkey), information on clinical parameters such as temperature, pulse and respiration in mules is incredibly scarce. When looking at recent studies, heart rate in mules appears slower than in other equine, but respiration rate appears to be comparable to those reported in horses.

DONKEY

Temperature: 97.2 to 100°F

Pulse: 36 to 68 bpm

Respiration: 12 to 44 breaths per minute (at rest)

If you’re handling an animal that is unfamiliar with having its temperature taken, assess its pulse and respiration rates before taking its temperature. This will eliminate the possibility of these rates being falsely elevated by stress from the introduction of a new procedure.

PIG

Temperature: 101.5 to 103.5°F

Pulse: 55 to 86 bpm

Respiration: 8 to 18 breaths per minute (at rest)

An arterial pulse cannot be found on a pig; his heart must be felt directly to check his pulse. It’s worthwhile to train your pig to lie on his back so that when you need to feel his chest for his heart rate, the position won’t be completely foreign.

DAIRY CATTLE

Temperature: 101 to 103°F

Pulse: 48 to 84 bpm

Respiration: 18 to 28 breaths per minute (at rest) Respiration rate in cattle is often taken by counting flank movements more than the flaring of nostrils. Start timing on an exhale.

BEEF CATTLE

Temperature: 100 to 102.5°F

Pulse: 50 to 70 bpm

Respiration: 10 to 30 breaths per minute (at rest)

A cow’s pulse can be taken by feeling the artery along the lower edge of the mandible or by feeling the coccygeal artery near the base of the tail. It can also be taken by placing a stethoscope on the left-hand side of the cow, behind his elbow.

SHEEP

Temperature: 101 to 104°F

Pulse: 70 to 80 bpm

Respiration: 12 to 20 breaths per minute (at rest)

The pulse of sheep and goats is often most accessible by feeling the saphenous artery, which runs down the inside of the hind leg. A sheep’s heartrate may increase by more than 50 percent if handling causes him stress, but it will return to near-normal in 5 to 10 minutes.

GOAT

Temperature: 101 to 103.5°F

Pulse: 60 to 90 bpm

Respiration: 12 to 20 breaths per minute (at rest)

Goats and sheep should have noses that are cool and dry; healthy animals will frequently lick their noses with their tongues. A goat that sneezes occasionally is nothing to worry about; goats sneeze when they sense danger to alert other herd members; young goats may sneeze while playing.

LLAMA & ALPACA

Temperature: 99.5 to 102°F

Pulse: 60 to 90 bpm

Respiration: 10 to 30 breaths per minute (at rest)

When checking for the respiration rate of any animal, determine if the animal is struggling to get air into or out of its lungs. Begin by looking at its nostrils and note if they’re flaring (indicating the animal is breathing hard) and if there is any discharge. Is he coughing or sneezing?

Work your visual assessment backward, to the abdomen: Does the animal appear to be struggling to either get air in or expel it from his lungs? Does the animal make any noise while he’s breathing? Any wheezing, snuffling, rattling or groaning is a sign something is amiss; normal breathing is silent unless the animal is exerting itself.

CHICKEN

Temperature: 105 to 107°F

Pulse: 250 to 300 bpm

Respiration: 12 to 37 breaths per minute (at rest)

Like a dog, chickens don’t sweat, so if a hen is breathing through her mouth, she’s likely trying to regulate her body temperature. However, this can also be a sign of stress or illness.

A chicken’s temperature is often more easily taken when there are two handlers: one who can restrain the chicken and one to insert a digital thermometer about an inch into the chicken’s vent.

Livestock health monitoring is relatively easy and few tools are needed other than a keen eye and a watch with a second hand or timer. However, it’s important to know what “average” is for the animals you have. Additionally, as individuals can have their own “normal” that is unique to them, knowing each individual animal’s routine pulse, respiration rate and temperature is key to ensuring you know when something is amiss.

This article about livestock health monitoring was written for Hobby Farms magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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Farm & Garden

What Sells Best at Farmers Markets in the Fall

carrots and veggies pictured on a table are what sells best at farmers markets in fall
Suzie's Farm/Flickr

Knowing what sells best at farmers markets in the fall can be difficult. During this time, the customer population tends to decrease. But as many growers know, the fall can also be the most bountiful time in the garden. This provides lots of incentive to make the most of the fall market table.

For that reason, it’s worth considering some ways to make the most of the customers who do come. You want to sell a nice heaping load of vegetables (or whatever you produce) every week. Here are four helpful tips.

1. Consider Gifts & Decorations

Some farmers might complain that what sells best at farmers markets in the fall is not primarily food but rather holiday gifts or décor for the holiday table. Rather than complaining about this, see it as an opportunity. Decorations you might provide include gourds or the Thanksgiving cornucopia, garlic braids for the kitchen or wreaths for the door. Some customers might simply want something to give the foodies in their lives—a locally produced basket of storage crops and preserves, or maybe some local honey.

Some customers might want to sign up a friend or relative for a CSA the following year—so you can display information and label it “Give the Gift of a CSA.”

Having some form of gift on your table might be a bring customers in for the food, or have them buy a little (or big) something extra on their way out of the booth for their family or friends. Get creative here. T-shirts, totes, homemade goods and wool are farm-made items that make great gifts.

2. Keep Quality High

One thing I notice about what sells best at farmers markets in the fall is that lots of people bring greens such as kale and collards, but lots of farmers also allow these items to sit on the table and wilt. In the fall, any extra effort stands out, so any products you bring should look fresh, vibrant and healthy. Always keep a cooler of ice and keep swapping out any rough-looking greens, and remember to mist them with clean and fresh tap water regularly so they look happy.

3. Keep Summer Crops Coming

Certainly, customers expect and want tables piled high with carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli and Brussels sprouts, but as long as you can keep tomatoes coming, they won’t complain. We always like to do a late planting that, in our region of 6b, will produce in the field up until the first frosts (early to mid-October). Not everyone does that, so it’s one way, of many, to help you to stand out with what sells best at farmers markets in the fall.

4. Make Your Inventory Look Plentiful

No matter what you put on your table, try to put out a lot of it. Figure out ways to keep your display looking heaped and bountiful; customers always respond better to a full table of goods than a thin or bare one. Be creative here, too, though. Don’t stack more than you can sell and end up wasting food. Try to elevate the stacks of food with boxes and non-food items to make each pile of greens or whatever more visible and appealing. If you get customers into your booth and keep your food looking fresh, having a successful fall market should be a breeze—a nice, cool, welcome one after a long, hot summer.

This article about what sells best at farmers markets in the fall was written for Hobby Farms magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Poultry

Warm Squash and Oatmeal for Chickens in Cold Weather

chicken eating warm squash and oatmeal for chickens

Warm squash and oatmeal for chickens make wonderful breakfasts to warm your birds from the inside out during cold weather.

As the days get shorter, we chicken keepers start heating the coop waterers. Our chickens are adapting to the changes in weather and temperature, and though they’re hardy animals, it doesn’t mean they’re always comfortable in the cold especially if some are molting late in the season. A warm meal can ease the shock and make the weather a bit more bearable.

Cooked Winter Squash

Pumpkin, like other winter squashes, is high in vitamin A, vitamin C and beta-carotene. It’s just as healthy for chickens as it is for us (when we don’t purée it into a custard full of sugar).

To cook a ripe pumpkin, break off the stem, stab a few holes around the top, and bake at 350°F for one hour. To contain the mess, put the pumpkin in a 9-by-13″ pan lined with aluminum foil. After an hour, turn the oven off and leave the pumpkin in the hot oven for 20 minutes or so, just to make sure it’s nice and soft. After the pumpkin cools enough to touch, slice it into quarters, let it cool a little more, and then serve it to the chickens.

If you try baking a fresher pie pumpkin or other winter squash, like butternut or spaghetti squash, you’ll find they’re very tough to cut into with a knife. In these cases, grab a drill and make two holes in the top of the squash using a 1/2-inch drill bit. This not only saves fingers, but it lets the steam escape the squash so it doesn’t explode all over the oven.

Some people feed their jack-o’-lantern pulp to their flocks when they’re carving pumpkins for Halloween, but I haven’t had success with this. My picky flock will only eat pumpkin seeds if they’re cooked. If you find your flock is like mine, and you can get to your jack-o’-lantern before it starts to decay, cut it up and steam the pumpkin flesh for your flock so it doesn’t go to waste. It’s a great supplement, low in calories and makes a small dent in feed costs.

Warm Oatmeal for Chickens

What I love about feeding warm oatmeal for chickens to my flock, especially on the coldest mornings, is that it’s cheap, it’s hydrating and I can mix in kitchen scraps to make it a little more exciting for the foragers.

I don’t bother cooking the oatmeal because then I have to wait for it to cool. Instead, I put about one cup of old-fashioned oats into a glass bowl, then simply add hot water from the tap. I let the oats soak for a few minutes and sometimes add a little more water.

I always stick my finger into the oatmeal to see if it’s warm enough. If not, I’ll microwave it for 30 seconds, but not more without checking the temperature. I don’t want to risk burning the chickens.

This article about warm squash and oatmeal for chickens was written for Chickens magazine. Click here to subscribe.

Categories
Farm & Garden

Halloween Pumpkins: 9 Uses After the Holiday

birds eating at halloween pumpkins made as a bird feeder
Adobe Stock/KP Images

Halloween pumpkins can have lots of uses after the holiday is over. Instead of throwing away a porch-worth of jack-o’-lanterns, here are nine uses for them beyond Halloween.

Halloween Pumpkins 101

First, let’s discuss the pumpkin. Chances are that you bought or grew a large pumpkin to carve and decorate as a jack-o’-lantern. These pumpkins are a different variety than the type we normally use for pie. Pie pumpkins, sometimes called sugar pumpkins, are generally a smaller variety with dense and sweet flesh. They have fewer seeds and tend to be less stringy. Pumpkins made for jack-o’-lanterns, on the other hand, are larger pumpkins that have a thinner wall of flesh under the skin. They tend to be more stringy, have more seeds and contain more water than pie pumpkins. That said, you can still eat jack-o’-lantern pumpkins, though.

Here’s a list of uses for your jack-o’-lantern pumpkin after Halloween.

1. Save the Seeds for Eating

jack-o-lantern pumpkin seeds
Melissa Griffiths

Once you have a hole cut in the top of your pumpkin, scoop the seeds into a bowl. There’s no need to put them right in the trash. When you have scooped out all the seeds, fill the bowl with water and use your hands to separate the seeds from the stringy flesh. Place the seeds in a colander and spray or rinse them in water, using your hands as needed to remove any additional stringy flesh, until they are cleaned. Set them aside to dry. You can roast them in all sorts of way. My very favorite way to eat saved pumpkin seeds is to make honey roasted pumpkin seeds. They’re easy, healthy, full of fiber and excellent on salads!

2. Save the Seeds for Planting

jack-o-lantern pumpkin seeds
Joanne/Flickr

Treat the seeds the same way you did to prepare them for eating except don’t cook them. Once the seeds have been washed, lay them on a towel to dry. Pick out a nice selection of the largest blemish-free seeds. Let the seeds air-dry completely and then store them in a brown paper bag. After a month take a look at your seeds. This will have given your seeds time to fully dry. Discard any seeds that show signs of rot or mold. Label your seeds and store them in a dark, cool place until you are ready to plant them in the spring.

3. Cook With the Extra Jack-O’-Lantern Flesh

halloween pumpkins flesh used for cooking
Cascadian Farms/Flickr

While you are carving your jack-o’-lantern you might end up with some extra flesh. Once the slimy parts and seeds have been removed, you might want to remove some of the extra flesh to make carving easier. I like to use a sturdy spoon or even an ice-cream scooper to scrape some of it away. Keep the flesh in a bowl and rinse off any extra seeds or stringy parts. You can use the flesh by microwaving it, boiling it or roasting it until it is fork tender. Turn the cooked pumpkin flesh into pumpkin purée by running it through a food mill, blender or food processor, and then use it in your favorite pumpkin recipes.

Avoid using the flesh of a pumpkin that’s been sitting on your porch and is starting to turn black. This could be harmful to your health.

4. Pickle the Rind

Have you ever tried pickled pumpkin rind? Any pickle lover will tell you it is delicious. You can pickle the rind of a very recently carved pumpkin—one that shows no signs of rot or mold—or you can save the pieces that you carved, like the smile, eye and nose of your jack-o’-lantern that you no longer need.

To pickle the rind, use a vegetable peeler to remove the outer orange skin of the pumpkin. Cut the rind—this will be an inch-thick section right under the skin—into 2-inch squares. For each pound of pumpkin, use 2½ cup of sugar, 2 cups white vinegar and a 1-inch piece of fresh ginger. A cinnamon stick is good, too. Put the sugar, vinegar and spices in large pot, bring to a boil, add the pumpkin, and cook until the pumpkin is tender. Chill overnight before serving.

5. Compost It

halloween pumpkins in the compost
kitty meets goat/Flickr

Pumpkin is such a great addition to your compost pile. If you’re using a heap method to compost, just toss your pumpkins on the pile. If you are using a more delicate method, you might want to cut your old jack-o’-lanterns into smaller pieces before adding them to your pile.

6. Bury Your Jack-O’-Lantern Leftovers

If composting isn’t your thing but you have a garden, dig a hole, toss them in, and let nature take over. By simply burying your leftover jack-o’-lanterns you will easily amend your soil. When it comes time to till the soil in the spring, you won’t find many jack-o’-lantern leftovers. You may find a few volunteer plants later in the season, though, if there were any seeds left in the pumpkin!

7. Feed Your Livestock, Chickens or Worms

Livestock love pumpkins! So do chickens and worm farms. Did you know that pumpkins can be used as a natural dewormer? Here’s what Lisa Steele from Fresh Eggs Daily has to say about that, “The pumpkin seeds (as well as the seeds of other members of the cucurbitaceae family, such as winter, summer, zucchini and crookneck squash, gourds, cucumbers, cantaloupe, and watermelon) are coated with a substance called cucurbitacin that paralyzes the worms. The larger fruits and vegetables contain higher levels of cucurbitacin, while the smaller cucumber contains far less.”

8. Turn It Into a Planter

halloween pumpkins turned into planters
gardenworkscanada/Instagram

Keep your jack-o’-lantern around longer by turning it into a planter. After you’ve carved your pumpkin, dip it in a large bucket of vinegar solution: one part vinegar to four parts water. This will help slow the decay process. After Halloween put a layer of burlap or landscape cloth inside the jack-o’-lantern where you’ve carved the face—this will help to keep the soil from falling out. Fill the pumpkin with soil and add a fall plant. Mums are inexpensive this time of year and make a great choice. Plant the mum, or plant of your choice, and water well. Place the planted jack-o’-lantern on your porch with the carved part facing the house so you don’t see it as well.

9. Make a Pumpkin Bird Feeder

pumpkin jack-o-lantern bird feeder
Dreamy Whites Lifestyle/Instagram

This is a really fun craft project with kids or grandkids. You can simply fill up your old Halloween pumpkins with a layer of bird feed and put them somewhere you’ll be able to watch the birds come and go. You can get more creative by hanging pumpkins. You can also carve out a large section of the back of the pumpkins so that you can see more of what the birds are doing inside. The birds might eat a bit of the pumpkin, as well as the seeds.

Don’t stop there! There are all kind of ways you can use your Halloween pumpkins after Halloween. Let this list be your springboard, the possibilities are endless.

This article about Halloween pumpkins was written for Hobby Farms magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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Poultry

Rhode Island Red: Chicken Breed Profile

rhode island red rooster in coop with other chickens
Adobe Stock/Jared S Davies

Rhode Island Red chickens are an iconic American breed. This barnyard hen is an excellent brown egg producer with a friendly personality and has much to offer the backyard flock owner. 

History

This breed was first developed in Massachusetts and Rhode Island in the nineteenth century by crossing Brown Leghorns with Javas, Malays, and Cochins. Although no one knows who created the first Rhode Island Reds, this breed soon increased in popularity nationwide. In the early twentieth century, the Rhode Island Red made its way to England, where it was met with great enthusiasm.

The breed was first admitted into the American Poultry Association in 1904.

Appearance

Rhode Island Red chickens come in one color: red. Hens sport dark red feathers, with some individuals appearing almost black. Tail feathers are black, giving these beauties an eye-catching appearance. As with all red chicken breeds, no two hens are colored the same. In general, roosters’ feathers are slightly darker than the females.

Both hens and roosters have single combs and red ear lobes. The beaks are a reddish horn color, while the feet and shanks are yellow. The toes and sides of the shanks may also have red markings.

Today’s Rhode Island Reds are slightly paler in color and smaller in size than the original birds. However, heritage strains of Rhode Island Reds are available for purchase as Heritage Rhode Island Reds at a local hatchery or through a breeder.

Rooster Weight: 8.6 pounds

Hen Weight: 6.6 pounds

Production

The Rhode Island Red is an excellent egg producer, with egg colors ranging from light to dark brown. Each hen produces an average of 4-6 large/extra large eggs weekly. (An average of 260-300 eggs annually).

Hens of this breed produce eggs for two years before production begins to slow. However, exceptional egg-layers may lay a couple of eggs each spring for ten years.

Known as dual-purpose chickens, these birds can be raised for meat and eggs. Some small-scale farms raise the pullets for eggs and cockerels for beef, but these days, Rhode Island Red chickens have been bred smaller and are usually kept for eggs rather than meat production.

Temperament

Hens are active and confident and dominate the top of the pecking order in a mixed flock. While they can bully other more docile breeds, if kept happy, most Rhode Island Reds will find their way to the top due to their confident nature, not their bullying habits.

When handled frequently, these hens are friendly and love to snuggle on their favorite human’s lap. They are energetic, curious, docile, and sweet, making them an excellent addition to the family.

Rhode Island Red hens are ideal pets, although their food-motivated personality may make them less ideal for families with small children. Because of their love of food, they are more apt to peck at your hands than other breeds, so care should be taken to discourage this behavior.

Roosters are usually more aggressive than other breeds, so they may not be the best option for individuals seeking a pet rooster. However, roosters are individuals, and some do make excellent pets.

Life Expectancy

The Rhode Island Red chicken’s average life expectancy depends on the quality of nutrition fed and the strain. Feed hens a complete layer ration supplemented with probiotics, prebiotics, and herbs to help them live longer, healthier lives. When kept safe from predators, the average lifespan of production strains is about five to eight years (the average lifespan of most backyard chickens), while heritage strains average 9-10 years. Some hens may live as long as fifteen years.

Health Concerns

Rhode Island Red chickens are known to be quite robust and hardy, although they should be checked regularly for lice, mites, and internal parasites.

Like other high-producing breeds, hens of this breed can be prone to several severe egg-laying disorders, such as egg yolk peritonitis, egg binding, and ovarian cancer. Egg production should be monitored closely. Take your hen to a qualified veterinarian at the first sign of an egg-laying disorder.

Due to their extra large combs and wattles, roosters of this breed are susceptible to getting frostbite. During the winter months, protect the combs and wattles by rubbing a little coconut oil over these sensitive areas. Extra caution must be used to ensure that the feathers do not get coconut oil on them, as the oil could damage them.

Keep hens and roosters inside their coop whenever temperatures dip below 30°F to keep anyone from developing frostbite. Like all clean-legged fowl, don’t forget to check the toes for frostbite.

Fun Facts

Golden Comets. Photo by Erin Snyder
  • Golden Comet hens are often referred to as Rhode Island Red hens. Golden Comets have red and white feathers whereas Rhode Island Reds have red and black feathers.
  • Rhode Island Reds are one of the most popular chickens kept for egg production worldwide.
  • Golden Comets chicks are crosses between Rhode Island Red roosters and White Leghorn hens.
  • Rhode Island Red hens are seen frequently at petting zoos due to their friendly disposition.

The Rhode Island Red is as American as its name depicts. With their friendly personalities and excellent egg production, it’s easy to see how they have grown in popularity and will for years to come.

This article about Rhode Island Red chickens was written for Chickens magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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Poultry

Black Chickens: Popular & Perfect for Spooky Season

black chickens walking in a woodsy area
julochka/Flickr

Black chickens are popular breeds for backyard flocks and they are downright perfect for spooky season, but they can come with a significant hit to your pocketbook.

What Makes Black Chickens Black?

Fibromelanosis is the technical term for what causes a black chicken to be black. It is a genetic mutation that causes hyperpigmentation, an abnormal accumulation of melanin. This produces a bird with fibromelanistic traits — all black tissues, from feather to bone.

Rare Black Chickens

This trait is causing big interest among chicken keepers—or a big-money interest, anyway. Those fuzzy-looking Black Silkie bantams are common to the U.S., but two other breeds exhibiting fibromelanosis are quite rare. The Ayam Cemani, hailing from Indonesia, and the Swedish Black Hen, from Scandinavia.

Both breeds have been imported by rare-chicken breeder Greenfire Farms in Midway, Florida. Owner Paul Bradshaw, who has been working with rare breeds since 2007, is attracted to these chickens because of their “un-chicken-like, exotically beautiful and vaguely sinister appearance.” He continues: “In a world of beige Ford Fiestas, the Cemani are black Lamborghinis.”

They’re priced like Lamborghinis, too. Prices started out in the thousands when they were first introduced. Today, more breeders are carrying them, so the prices have come down, but are still much higher than purchasing a less trendy breed.

While an egg is an egg, what about the meat from these birds? Ewe Crazy Farms owner Bryce Everett says, “I do have several friends who have tasted the meat and describe it as having a slightly gamier flavor compared to regular chicken. Most compare the taste to game birds, such as dove, quail or pheasant.”

Ayam Cemani

The Ayam Cemani—which means “completely black chicken” in Javanese and Indonesian—is from Indonesia. The USDA has banned the import of chickens from Indonesia, but Bradshaw was able to get his Ayam Cemani from a breeder in the Netherlands. According to Cemani Farms, a breeder in Indonesia, Ayam Cemani are renowned as having mystical powers in their native country.

Like many Asian chicken breeds, such as the Aseel and the Malay, the Ayam Cemani has a game-fowl-like appearance. Its feathers are black with a metallic-green and -purple sheen, and the black coloration continues to the skin, muscles, bones and organs. The average weight is only 2¼ to 4 pounds.

Hens lay about 60 eggs per year. They go through a laying cycle of 20 to 30 large, cream-colored eggs, and then they stop laying for three to six months.

Swedish Black Hen

Called Svart Höna in Swedish, Swedish Black Hens are super rare. According to the Greenfire Farms website, a national poultry census confirmed fewer than 500 Swedish Black Hens in Sweden. Developed in a Nordic climate, Swedish Black Hens are cold-hardy and do well free-ranging.

“The Swedish Blacks (or Svart Höna) actually were not originally in my line of sight during the first [rare-chicken] import,” says Everett, who has been working with rare poultry since 2012. “My main concern was importing various colorations of English Orpingtons, and my contact providing the Orpingtons happened to also raise Svart Höna. One step led to another, and I eventually imported both eggs and adult Svart Höna from England after seeing photos of the stock. I was really lucky to find a breeder who was willing to export stock despite these birds being extremely rare, even in Europe.”

Swedish Black Hens have the same fibromelanosis trait that makes their feathers, skin, muscles and bone black, though some individuals have mulberry-red skin. The birds weigh only 5 to 7½ pounds, and hens lay 140 cream-colored eggs per year.

Making the Investment in Black Chickens

The price tag on popular black chicken breeds can scare farmers away as most are looking at a cost-effective way to deliver eggs and meat for their families and customers.

“Like most pursuits, the more sophisticated and knowledgeable you become about your interest, the greater lengths you must go to in order to satisfy it,” Bradshaw says. His typical customer is a sophisticated chicken fancier who is drawn to the black chickens’ exotic look.

Everett only sells Swedish Black Hens that are high-quality representations of the breed to others who are interested in breeding the chickens.

“I’ve been amazed at the number of people who have stepped forward and offered assistance in preserving rare breeds by breeding and showing,” he says. “As more people get involved, the rare breeds have a chance to become established in the U.S., which helps move these birds off the ‘endangered’ breed list.”

A word of caution before spending a few thousand dollars on a starter flock: Breeders might claim to be selling a certain rare breed, but you should do your research and verify the integrity of the breeder. “The single most important piece of evidence to support their claims would be a valid USDA import permit showing the origin of their breeding stock,” Bradshaw says. “Buyers should always ask for a copy of this permit.”

Even if black chickens aren’t the next animal you’ll be adding to your farm menagerie, learning about rare breeds, like the Ayam Cemani and the Swedish Black, can open to your eyes to a whole new (and colorful) world of livestock.

This article about black chickens was written for Chickens magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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Farm & Garden

Fall Vegetable Garden: 11 Crops to Plant

leeks fall garden crops
liz west/Flickr

A fall vegetable garden is the perfect place and time for getting your favorite root vegetables in the ground and seeding perennial staples. While you plan and tend to your fall garden, it’s also the time of year to leaf through catalogs and order seeds for early spring planting.

Why to Plant in a Fall Vegetable Garden

By taking advantage of autumn’s cooler temperatures and bouts of rain, you can extend your garden season quite a bit. Although North America offers a huge range of winter temperatures, in all but the coldest regions, it’s often possible to harvest crops right through December, January and February—that is, if you select the right ones. Some crops, such as members of the onion family, like a blanket of snow, and even tender crops such as spinach and lettuce, as well as many herbs, can handle sub-freezing temperatures, especially if you grow them under row covers or in cold frames.

If you’re working on a plan to put your summer growing space to bed and need some help determining which crops to include in the fall garden that can take you into the cooler months, here’s a quick guide for planting and transplanting.

1. Garlic

If you want to harvest big, juicy heads of garlic in July, you need to plant them in October. It’s important to order seed garlic—large heads of garlic that are free of sprouting inhibitors—from seed companies in late-summer to early fall, as supplies often run low. Separate the garlic bulbs into cloves, leaving the skin on, and plant each clove with the pointed side up and the blunt side down 1 to 2 inches deep in well-worked soil. Cloves should be spaced 4 to 6 inches apart in rows 1 foot apart.

Plant shallots for the fall garden using the same growing instructions.

2. Leeks

Other members of the allium family—onions, leeks, chives and shallots—all do well in the garden over the winter, as well. Leeks especially love the cold weather, so sow seeds directly in the fall vegetable garden or start seeds in peat pots in late summer for fall transplant. Space the plants 4 to 6 inches apart in rows 1 foot apart, and mound dirt around the stalk every couple of weeks to encourage the white end. (The part of the stalk that grows above ground will turn green.) You can harvest leeks when the base of the stalk reaches 1 to 2 inches in diameter.

3. Onions

Onion sets, or bulblets, are widely available in fall, and by planting as cold weather approaches, you may get fresh scallions over the winter. In the coldest regions, the sets may hibernate underground in winter, but they will pop up in the spring. Plant onions 1 to 2 inches deep in soil mixed with some compost—a pH of 6.0 to 6.5 is preferred. Avoid burying the neck of the plants too deeply to avoid rot, and provide consistent irrigation until the bulbs get bigger.

4. Chives

Chives can be seeded in the fall vegetable garden. You can also split existing clumps to transplant in the garden or pot up to bring inside for year-long use. Snip chives for use in cooking 30 days after transplanting or 60 days after seeding. If you cut the chives down 1 to 2 inches from the base, you should be able to get three to four harvests per year.

5. Strawberries

Young strawberry plants are typically sold for spring planting, but plenty of companies sell them in the fall, as well. With this seasonal jumpstart, you may be able to pick up a whole season of productivity. Many gardeners pinch off all the blossoms during the first season to allow the plants to put energy into root development; fall vegetable garden planting lets you leave the spring blossoms on and harvest a crop the first year.

6. Rhubarb

Late fall is a great time to split existing rhubarb crowns. If you don’t have plants of your own, seek out a friend who can share their wealth. Divide the crown into sections that contain one to three buds, and replant about 2 to 3 feet apart before the bulb dries out. Amend the soil with a 12-12-12 fertilizer, compost, bone meal or rock phosphate, and cover the area with mulch. Rhubarb takes a few years to get established, and fall planting lets the harvest begin a year earlier than otherwise.

7. Horseradish

Like rhubarb, horseradish can also be divided in the fall vegetable garden and will take a couple years of growth before you can harvest. It likes very cool temperatures for root growth and flavor development, so it’s an excellent choice for cooler climates. It’s also fairly drought-tolerant, but regular irrigation will help prevent woodiness.

8. Greens

Spinach, chard, kale and lettuce are must-haves in the fall garden. Plant seeds in late-summer to early fall for a quick crop of these greens—the cool weather sweetens them and prevents them from bolting. If you happen to get seeds in the ground too late, do not worry. Look for the sprouts to come up in spring.

9. Radishes

Radishes are famous for their speedy growth—as few as four weeks from planting to harvest for some varieties. Those planted from seed in the fall vegetable garden will provide a nice crop of rosy roots and edible greens after summer crops are through. The cool weather enhances their flavor, and you can sow them successively for a constant crop.

10. Cilantro

Lacy and delicate, cilantro is really pretty tough. It sprouts quickly from seed, producing edible leaves in a few weeks, followed by the seeds, known as coriander. If planted in late fall, cilantro seeds may stay dormant over winter and sprout quickly in spring. The plants will also frequently self-sow.

11. Parsley

Parsley is another great cool-weather crop for the fall vegetable garden. While growing it from seed can take forever, you can transplant clumps in fall that may stay productive much of the winter.

Protecting Your Fall Vegetable Garden Crop

It’s a good idea to protect fall-planted areas over the winter with a layer of straw to provide a layer of insulation and prevent frost heaving as soil freezes and thaws. Frost heaving is not as big a big concern with small seeds and seedlings as it is with crops like rhubarb and horseradish, which have larger roots. Don’t lay the straw down in a thick layer; rather, remove sections from the bale and fluff them up and sprinkle the loose material over the soil.

Avoid adding too much water and fertilizer to the soil in the fall. You don’t want too much tender growth too fast. Frail stems are susceptible to the cold.

This article about what to plant in the fall vegetable garden was written for Hobby Farms magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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Poultry

Pumpkins for Chickens: 4 Ways Your Birds Can Benefit

chicken chickens pumpkin pumpkins
Blessings Captured/AdobeStock

Pumpkins for chickens should be top of mind in the fall with creative carving and pie baking in full swing. With all those yummy human uses, make sure not to waste any of the remnants of this nutritious gourd. They’re great for our flocks. Here are four pumpkin parts and how they benefit our birds.

#1 Pumpkin Skin

While professional pumpkin carvers (like those seen on Food Network’s Outrageous Pumpkins) and bakers using fresh pumpkins prefer to pare the skin off the gourd, pumpkin skin is actually full of fiber. If thin enough, pumpkin skin can be eaten raw by your flock. It can also be roasted in an oven until dry, then crumbled and offered as a treat.

When using pumpkins for chickens, be sure to offer pumpkin skin in moderation, however. Its high soluble fiber content can quickly curb your birds’ appetite, keeping them from eating their regular rations.

#2 Pumpkin Pulp

The stringy, slimy guts of a pumpkin are typically quickly discarded by humans but quickly gobbled up by chickens. Pumpkin pulp’s purpose is to bring nutrients to the pumpkin seeds which results in its high water content. This is actually quite flavorful and can be boiled to make a flavorful vegan broth.

Fortunately, when feeding pumpkins for chickens, they will happily ingest what we humans barely care to touch.

#3 Pumpkin Flesh

Pumpkin is considered a superfood. Its orange flesh is packed with vitamins and minerals, including beta-carotene (which converts into Vitamin A), potassium and Vitamin C.

Chickens require Vitamin A for reproductive health. A deficiency in this crucial vitamin can lead to impaired reproduction and infertility. Research has also shown that a Vitamin A deficiency can lead to an increased occurrence of blood spots in eggs.

Potassium, meanwhile, is important for proper cellular electrolyte balance, while a boost of Vitamin C—which chickens naturally produce in their kidneys and liver—helps birds during times of high stress.

Not that your birds care about any of this. They just think pumpkins for chickens are delicious. Because pumpkin flesh is high in soluble fiber (approximately 60 percent), be sure to only offer your flock pumpkin in small amounts so that it doesn’t replace their regular feed.

Read more: Follow these tips for preparing leftover pumpkins for your chickens.

#4 Pumpkin Seeds

Packed with protein and such minerals as zinc, magnesium and phosphorus, pumpkin seeds are truly a hidden treasure when feeding pumpkins for chickens. While we humans prefer our seeds completely free of pumpkin pulp, then roasted and flavored, our flocks aren’t as picky. In fact, they’ll eagerly pick out the seeds of any pumpkin they’re given.

Pumpkin seeds’ boost of protein is very welcome during the molting season when chickens’ protein levels are focused on the production of new plumage. Supplemental zinc has been shown to improve poultry growth and immunity, while magnesium and phosphorus are crucial to chickens’ bone development and density.

In other words, pumpkin seeds are ideal treats for chickens. Moderation is important when offering your flock pumpkin seeds, however, as research has shown that pumpkin-seed meal decreases feed intake.

This article about pumpkins for chickens was written for Chickens magazine. Click here to subscribe.