Two pumpkin recipes your chickens will love...

...plus a purée base you can freeze.

Looking for a fun, healthy way to spoil your flock this autumn?

Pumpkins are not only seasonal and inexpensive, they're also packed with nutrients that boost your chickens' health during moulting, cold (or hot) snaps, and other times of stress.

I’ve put together two simple recipes my hens love: a poultry pumpkin pie and crunchy pumpkin cookies.

And if you’d like to keep those benefits going all year round, I'll also show you how to make and freeze a quick pumpkin purée to use as a base for other flock treats.

🪶 Featherlight Takeaways.

Quick insights from this article – especially helpful if you’re short on ideas for healthy seasonal flock treats.

🎃 Pumpkins are a nutrient-rich, seasonal food that can support immunity during moulting and cold weather.

🥧 Two easy recipes: poultry pumpkin pie and crunchy pumpkin cookies, both tried and tested on my own flock.

❄️ Plus a simple pumpkin purée recipe which can be frozen and used in treats year-round.

⚖️ Both recipes are higher in fat than fresh pumpkin, so feed in moderation, always alongside regular layer feed.

🍂 Perfect for Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving, or any time your flock deserves a boost.

🎃 Want to Know Why Pumpkins Are Good for Chickens? Click Here!

Before you start...

Purée recipe: both these recipes use pumpkin purée. You can make your own in minutes: see my Quick Purée How-To guide further down this page before you start cooking.

Amounts: the ingredients for these recipes are enough to feed a flock of ten. Both are freezable if you have a smaller number, or batch bake and save for when you don’t have time to make more.

Caution: they are high in fat, so should be fed only in moderation and after the chickens have had access to their own feed.

Poultry Pumpkin Pie.

Ingredients.

🐥 A note from my flock: mix and match any or all of these ingredients, and anything else your chickens love. This was the line-up for my last batch, including some winter pansies for added colour!

Poultry pumpkin pie can include whatever you have in your store cupboard!

1 small pumpkin (or 1 can unsweetened pumpkin purée)
1 cup oats (or wheat or barley)
1 cup layer feed
0.5 cup dried berries
0.5 cup mealworms
0.5 cup sunflower seeds (or clover, quinoa or flax)
1 whole garlic bulb, minced
1 tablespoon fresh, chopped mint (use dried if you have no fresh)
1 tablespoon of any other herbs your chickens like
1 cup of chopped dandelion, clover, rose or marigold petals. In winter, pansies are good.
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
0.25 cup coconut oil
1 tablespoon of treacle (molasses). Reduce to a teaspoon for smaller batches.

Method.

Scoop out the pumpkin flesh and blitz into a purée. (If you’re using fresh pumpkin, see the Quick Purée How-To below.)
Mix the purée with the other ingredients until combined. Add extra coconut oil if it looks too dry.
Spoon into the hollowed pumpkin shell (or onto a platter) and serve.

🐥 A note from my flock: this is my chickens' favourite autumn treat! It’s full of healthy extras like herbs, seeds, and berries, and it’s simple to put together with things you probably already have.

I tend to batch cook. I feed one tray to my flock and cut a second into squares, freeze and bag them up for later when I'm short of time.

It will keep in the freezer for several months.

The pumpkin pie recipe cut into small squares.

Cut the pie into small pieces, freeze and then bag for later.

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Crunchy Pumpkin Cookies.

Ingredients.

I made this recipe with a gourd but pumpkin works as well.

1 small pumpkin or gourd, blitzed or puréed, or 1 can unsweetened pumpkin purée
1 cup oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
0.5 cup nuts, chopped
0.5 cup dried berries or raisins (optional)
0.25 cup melted coconut oil
1 tablespoon treacle (U.S. molasses)
2 eggs
0.5 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves.

Method.

Preheat oven to 175ºC (350ºF; gas mark 4)

Prepare a baking tray by lining it with baking parchment

Mix dry ingredients in one large bowl, wet ingredients in another.

Combine by folding in well until all the dry ingredients are bound together. If it looks too wet, add more oats.

The wet and dry ingredients mixed together.

This consistency is about right for the pumpkin cookie mix.

Flatten on your work surface; don't make it too thin or it will not rise.

Have fun creating as many shapes as the dough allows.

If you’re thinking of hanging them, use a skewer to put a hole at the top of the cookie. Trying to do that after they’re cooked won’t work - they’re too brittle.

Bake for 15 minutes, then allow to cool in the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

These cookies will keep for about a week in an airtight tin, or several months if frozen.

Two of my Red Stars fight over the same Hallowe’en cookie!

There’s plenty, but everyone wants the same one!

🐥 A note from my flock: these fun little cookies make a great seasonal snack. I sometimes cut them with Hallowe’en cookie cutters for extra effect – though I’m not sure the flock cares!

If you have unsweetened pumpkin pie spice, substitute all the spices below with 1.5 teaspoons.

Because this recipe makes cookies (I hang them in the run!) the pumpkin shell is left. Add it to your compost heap to avoid waste.

One of my Red Star chickens looking at the pumpkin cookie.

Claudia chicken contemplates one of the pumpkin cookies.

Quick Pumpkin Purée How-To.

Fresh pumpkin purée is the base for both these recipes. It's easy and inexpensive to make your own, and it freezes beautifully for quick future treats.

Cut a pumpkin in half and brush the flesh and seeds lightly with oil.
Place flesh-side down on a baking tray.
Roast at 175°C (350°F; gas mark 4) for abut 30 minutes, until soft.
Turn the flesh and seeds into a bowl and mash (or blitz) into a smooth purée.
Use straight away, or freeze in small batches so you can defrost just what you need later.

🐥 A note from my flock: how much is enough?

Pumpkin treats are packed with nutrition, but they should always come after your flock's regular feed. Think of them as a supplement, not a replacement.