Spooky season is upon us, featherless friends! Halloween is a special time for us hens and not just because we get to peck the trimmings from family pumpkin carving night! Halloween represents everything chickens stand for! Yummy spiders, decadent creepy crawlies, and leftovers from the Halloween party! Honestly, how much more Halloween chicken fun could a girl ask for?
In honor of my favorite holiday, I've compiled a guide of fright-night themed puzzles, games, and treats to bring a bit of magic to your henhouse! From pumpkin piñatas to a worm graveyard, we're sure this Halloween will be the best yet for your flock!
Ghastly Feasts & Eerie Enrichment 👻
Everyone knows the best part of Halloween is all the themed treats. Bring that same spooky energy to your coop with these fun and interactive snacks! Because the truth is, Darling, the only true horror is a dull coop!
Piñata pumpkin time!
Spooky Piñata Pumpkins🎃
Nothing says “party” quite like a piñata. (I never understood why these are reserved just for birthday parties?)
Bring the spooky festivities to your coop with an edible piñata pumpkin for your flock to peck and play with!
Carve a simple face in it to give your chickens access to the delicious meat inside or stuff it with goodies to up the yum factor!
Loop some twine or rope through the pumpkin and hang it from the coop rafters or their favorite roosting post for a tasty and fun sensory experience. Make sure to record your flock's reaction and tag us on TikTok or Instagram!
Ghoulish Trail Mix🧟♀️
Don't feel up to stringing up a piñata? Hollowed-out pumpkins and acorn squash make a delicious and eco-friendly serving vessel for a fright–night feast.
Open your pumpkin like you would to carve it, scoop out the guts (you can freeze these for another yummy chicken treat later on!).
Fill your gourds with a mixture of fruit, veggies, and Grub Bugs for a seasonal and sophisticated treat!
Graveyard sensory bin
Graveyard Sensory Bin🪦
Darling, a distinguished hen like myself loves nothing more than fresh–turned earth and a smorgasbord of insects. The thrill of the hunt, the chase that ensues when one hen finds something the others want, and scratching our toes in that soft earth—it's therapeutic, really.
An activity like this is entertaining for chickens who don't get to free-range often and can be done in a short bin or in a hole in the ground.
Fill your "grave" of choice with a layer of cool, damp soil (or soaked oats with a splash of black food dye!) to provide the foundation. "Plant" a few sprigs of vegetation as grave markers. Then, let your hens exhume the buried treasure: a cache of grub bugs, mealworms, or crickets!
Pumpkin Carving Contest🔪
If you don't want to go to the trouble of sticking goodies in the skin of a pumpkin, try just making a few holes or cuts on the surface of the pumpkin in the shape of a face, and let us go to work!
In a matter of minutes, we will furiously peck the open flesh. You'll have a freshly carved pumpkin (and we'll have our crops full!).
Henrietta peering into the cauldron of curiosity
The Cauldron of Curiosity🧙♀️
Locate a suitably witchy-looking black pot (a deep ceramic bowl will do). Fill it with a "potion" base of water, oatmeal, and/or plain yogurt.
Next add mix-ins—sticks, feathers, seeds, floatable fruit (like apples or strawberries), crinkly leaves, plastic eyeballs, and/or dried flowers. (We recommend Small Pet Vital-icious Herbal Blends!). The options are endless!
They will peer, they will peck, they will ponder the arcane secrets within. Is it a snack? Is it a toy? The mystery is the point.
We used a base of water and greek yogurt!
Adding the mix-ins!
This was the Featherbottom Flock's favorite activity!
The Puzzle Pumpkin 🔮
Challenge us for a real thrill! Take a medium-sized pumpkin and drill holes of various sizes all over its surface. Stuff it with grapes, peas, and sunflower seeds, making us work for supper, manipulating the gourd to release the prizes within.
Adding treats to the puzzle pumpkin!
The Haunted Hay Bale 👻
A simple bale of straw becomes an epic landscape of adventure. Bury treats deep within its golden web. They must scratch and dig like our distant dinosaur ancestors, unearthing morsels from the spooky depths.
The Case of the Vanishing Treat 🪄
Here's a spooky game that's fun for the whole family, even the kiddos will want to get involved!
Arrange three identical overturned cups in a row. Under one, place a prized treat—a piece of dried shrimp or a grub bug, perhaps. Allow your ladies to observe. Then, slowly and with great theatricality, shuffle the cups. (This is where your human kiddos come in!)
Can your hens deduce which cup holds the reward? Or will they be fooled by sleight-of-wing?
Henrietta gearing up for Halloween!
Well, there you have it, my Halloween chicken! Seven fright–night activities to thrill your coop. Will your flock get their treats or fall for all your tricks? There's only one way to find out!
Planning to try some of my eerie enrichment ideas? We want to see! Tag us in your social media posts so we can see all of the Halloween chicken fun!
Yours in mystical wisdom,
Henrietta Featherbottom
