Pumpkins Everywhere!
We went to the pumpkin patch today and had tons of fun. We picked out pumpkins for the chickens and Largo, our service dog, got to show us the way through the huge corn maze.
October Changes
October comes and so does the rain and cold! I can tell you I am a lot less happy about going out to lock up the chicken coop at night. I keep going over ideas in my head on how to make the duck house and chicken coop close up automatically at dusk!
There are some great things about October though. I love the colors, the leaves and the smell of potential snow! It also means we spend more time at home and I've already come up with a list of home made meals I want to try out. Squash is my new favorite ingredient to cook with and I am getting excited to try out different homemade soups.
The flock is excited about different things though....
Slugs and Snails
The dewy mornings have brought out the snails and slugs. What I once saw as pests are now a hot commodity. I've starting leaving cup with a few pellets of wet chicken feed in them, out in the yard under logs. It works! Within and hour there are slugs and snails in there. I give them to the hens and the ducks. The ducks are crazy about slugs and snails. They swallow them down in one go and are off to find more. We are going to try beer traps to see if we can catch more that way. We will put a little beer into some cups, put them in the ground so the top of the cup is level with the ground, and then wait! The slugs and snails will be attracted to the sweet smell and drown in the beer. I've read that a lot of people do this and it is safe to give them to your flock. I might try something non alcoholic though, I don't want the dogs getting into it on accident.Pumpkins
Not just decoration anymore. It turns out that pumpkins are great.. for everyone. I've always known the digestive benefits for dogs and cats. There are tons of reasons to feed pumpkins to hens and ducks too! Even our goats will benefit from a little October snack.
Our girls love the pumpkins! This might be the favorite treat of the flock. Well, besides live treats! It definitely is well appreciated. In addition to it being yummy and healthy, they seem to really enjoy the activity of devouring those pumpkins.
Pumpkin is a great source of vitamins A, E and C.
This little pumpkin didn't stand a chance. It was completely carved out in under 20 minutes!
We know by pumpkins orange color that it is a great source of beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is a precursor to Vitamin A - for healthy skin, eyes and vision, mucus membranes and immunity. It is also and antioxidant. This goes for squash too!
Pumpkins are also a source for another carotenoid, Lutein. This helps with the rich orange yolks that we love to see! Lutein is found in dark leafy greens and - eggs! It helps with eye health. That means giving your chickens pumpkin is not only helping them, it is helping you!
Nutritional facts aside, they love it. That is reason enough for me.
Pumpkin Seeds
Now this is a bit of nutritional info I was really interested in. Pumpkins seeds have been known for a long time as natural dewormers! Cucurbitacin is an amino acid that coats the pumpkin seeds. Cucurbitacin actually paralyzes the internal parasites in your chickens digestive tract and they are flushed out with your chickens droppings. Safe, healthy, chemical free dewormer! It is also an anti inflammatory and an antioxidant!It's not just pumpkin! Cucurbitacin is also found in the seeds of squash, gourds, cucumbers canteloupe and watermelon.
Candy Corn
Did you know Candy Corn was originally called "chicken feed"? It was created back in the 1800s and their was a rooster on the package! Don't go feeding these little treats to you hens though, save them for the trick or treaters.
