Will They Eat Cantaloupe?featured

by Scott Thompson on March 18, 2023

We often take special treats to the chicken yard. Some foods are very popular while others are not appreciated. The purpose of this category of blog posts is to record our successes and failures with our Speckled Sussex hens as we try and cater to their “discerning taste.”

Cantaloupe Slices

Honestly, we knew the answer on this food already. Though out last summer, we routinely brought cantaloupe to the hens as a special treat. When we moved them into their permanent pasture with their new chicken coup, they shared the space with a collection of cantaloupe vines. It would have been nice to enjoy some of the melons as they ripened, but no melon survived the ladies. As soon as the melon was mature, the odor would attract the hens. Normally we would just find the skins as evidence of their crime. And don’t even get me started on what they did to our watermelons! Lesson learned – Hens cannot share space with a garden.

Six Speckled Sussex hens completely destroying a bin of juicy cantaloupe!

I was not prepared for the ravenous manner in which they ate the entire melon! As I entered the chicken yard, the hens were already jumping up to try and get at the fruit in the bin. When I sat it on the ground, they tore into the fruit like a pack of wolves on a fresh kill. Their efficiency at devouring the melon was unreal! The entire fruit was gone in less than 5 minutes.