Will birds eat pumpkin innards?

[TinyOcelot]

If I put the insides of my children's Halloween pumpkins out in the garden will I just be making a mess for myself to tidy up or will birds actually eat them?

We mainly get blackbirds, thrushes and starlings in our garden so I'm particularly wondering if anyone has successfully fed these kinds of birds with pumpkin? I know they enjoy apples as that's what I usually put out for them over the winter.

No they won’t touch them. They only animal I’ve known to eat pumpkin is pigs

I don't think it's very good for them if they do. Better to eat it yourself or just throw away in the food waste.

Ah OK good to know! I was googling things to do with the insides rather than just throw them away and couldn't be bothered roasting the seeds but bird feeding was suggested.

I was a bit sceptical as my garden birds are rather fussy in my experience and don't eat a lot of things that the internet says they ought to. That's why I wanted first hand experiences!

You shouldn't put them on the ground as it will make any hedgehogs ill, apparently.

There aren't any hedgehogs here (Europe but not UK) but that is good information to know as well, thank you!

No the birds won't eat them.

Pumpkin flesh can give hedgehogs and deer terrible diarrhoea and weaken them just as they are going into winter.

Dispose of with kitchen waste to be safe if you're not able to use yourself (soup, pies)

There was something in the news today ( ipaper) that warned about rats eating pumpkins!

I was going to comment the same as @oneearringlost We left a pumpkin in the garden and when I looked out, three fat rats were gnawing on it 😱

Not helpful but we have a worm farm and worms go absolutely nuts for pumpkin!

Just vermin 🙈

I bet hardly anyone knows this sadly. I hate the pumpkin waste

I made a pumpkin meringue pie a few years ago with the flesh. The pastry was great, so was the meringue but the pumpkin bit was revolting

I actually heard that 'carving pumpkins' are different from 'eating pumpkins', some kind of cheaper, more watery variety that aren't really supposed to be used for cooking.

I couldn't understand why Americans were eating pumpkins until I read this!

I will put the goop in with the kitchen waste as normal. I think my cat would appreciate a few rats about the place but not me so will also be careful to dispose of them in good time (I always do this to be fair).

I guess it would be perfect compost if you do that