Two pumpkin recipes your chickens will love...

...plus a purée base you can freeze.

Pumpkins are seasonal, often inexpensive and contain valuable nutrients, including carotenoids. Research into pumpkin ingredients in poultry diets has also found promising effects on antioxidant levels and egg quality.

Three chickens pecking at a pumpkin. Pin for later.

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

Pumpkins are seasonal, inexpensive, and full of useful nutrients including caretenoids.

Research into pumpkin ingredients in poultry diets has also found promising effects on antioxidant levels (natural pigments that can help protect cells from damage) and egg quality.⁽¹⁾

They're also a delicious ingredient for homemade chicken treats, whether it's Hallowe'en, Thanksgiving or just because it's pumpkin season.

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 beyond autumn, 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 treat which can help support your flock's immunity.

🥧 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 whenever you fancy making something special for your chickens!

🎃 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 around ten adult, large breed chickens. 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: these recipes are higher in fat than plain pumpkin, 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 any chicken-safe treats your flock love. This was the line-up for my last batch, including some winter pansies for added colour!

The ingredients for one of my poultry pumpkin pies, including winter pansies from my garden.

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 tablespoon finely minced garlic, or half of garlic powder
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.

Prepare your pumpkin purée using the Quick Purée How-To below, or use a can of plain, unsweetened pumpkin purée.
Mix the purée with the other ingredients until well combined. If it looks too dry, add more pumpkin or water rather than adding extra oil.
Spoon into the hollowed pumpkin shell or onto a platter and serve.
Remove any leftovers before they spoil, or attract unwanted visitors.

🐥 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.

Mine kept in the freezer for several months without spoiling.

The pumpkin pie recipe cut into small squares.

Cut the pumpkin pie into small portions, freeze them, then bag them up for later.

Want more chicken-keeping tips and free recipes?

I often share printable recipes, checklists and other useful extras with my Chicken Digest newsletter subscribers.

The two pumpkin recipes on this page are also available as a handy, text-only PDF, which I share with my pumpkins recipe newsletter.

If you'd like seasonal chicken-keeping tips, practical advice and occasional subscriber-only downloads, I'd love you to join our friendly community.

Click here to join for free.

Crunchy Pumpkin Cookies.

Ingredients.

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

1 small pumpkin or gourd, blitzed or puréed, or 1 can unsweetened pumpkin purée
1 cup oats
1 cup wholemeal (US: whole wheat) flour
0.5 cup unsalted, unseasoned nuts, finely 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 and cloves.

Method.

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

Line a baking tray with baking parchment

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

Combine the two mixtures by folding everything together 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 the mix on your work surface: don't make it too thin or it will not rise.

Use season-themed cookie cutters to create as many shapes as the dough allows.

If you’re thinking of hanging the cookies, use a skewer to make a hole near the top of each one before baking. They're too brittle to do that afterwards.

Bake for about 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 to go round, 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 plain, unsweetened pumpkin pie spice without added salt, you can use 1.5 teaspoons of that rather than all the individual spices in the recipe.

I often hang these cookies in the run for my chickens to peck at. And because the pumpkin shell is left over, it can be added to your compost heap rather than be wasted.

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; scoop out the seeds and stringy centre. Save the seeds separately if you'd like to use them in another recipe – or feed them fresh to your chickens. They love them!
Place both halves flesh-side down on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Roast at 175°C (350°F; gas mark 4) for between 35 and 40 minutes, until soft. Large pumpkins may take longer
Allow to cool, then scoop the flesh away from the skin 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 is a nutritious ingredient, but homemade treats should always be an occasional addition to your flock's regular feed. Think of them as a supplement, not a replacement.