You may have seen the viral videos of chickens carving pumpkins! Chickens, descending from the red junglefowl of Southeast Asia, are natural foragers who love scratching, pecking, and exploring.

That instinct is what makes them perfect pumpkin carvers. It’s a great source of mental stimulation and enrichment for the chickens while being a good source of vitamins and nutrition, too.

But…do you think your local birds could do the same? We’d like to put that to the test!

It’s a lot of Halloween fun for the whole family and you get your very own pumpkin a la Picasso!

Can chickens eat pumpkin?

Yes! Many North American birds, including chickens, love pumpkin! Pumpkin and unsalted pumpkin seeds are a healthy treat for them and other wildlife. It’s a great source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and phosphorus.

Can chickens carve pumpkins?

Yes, chickens can carve pumpkins by pecking into them. Their wild junglefowl relatives spend hours each day foraging for seeds, bugs, and tender shoots. Pecking at a pumpkin taps into that same ancestral behavior, keeping your flock engaged and happy.

Choosing the right pumpkin for chickens

This activity is best when the pumpkins are fresh, before frost, and when chickens are still active. Make sure there’s no signs of mold or rot. Don’t pick painted pumpkins or anything with bits of plastic or screws working into it. Those could harm the birds.

The avian artists will require a large canvas, even for simple Jack-o’-lantern designs. We recommend picking a medium to large size pumpkin. A pumpkin too small may end up looking like a cyclops because the chickens’ designated pecking areas are too close together.

If you choose a more complicated design, let us know how it turns out!

How to prep your pumpkin for chickens

Here’s a video on how to prepare the pumpkin for your chickens.

Step 1

Cut a hole large enough to fit your hand in around the stem. This will act like a lid or stopper later. Gut your pumpkin using a beveled spoon using a large spoon or ice cream scoop.

Gutting your pumpkin is optional by the way! The chickens can eat all parts of the pumpkin but we recommend this step so you can roast the pumpkin seeds and put a candle in it for Halloween!

Step 2

Use a small sharp knife or pumpkin carving kit. You’ll be back carving your pumpkin which is when you remove the skin and just enough of the pumpkin for the light to shine through without going all the way through the pumpkin.

Bonus

A fun activity is to use the pumpkin guts for an outdoor food fight. It’s a fun fall activity for kids who like getting messy! In fact, I did this with my best friend when we were kids. Make sure to wear a cap or you’ll be washing pumpkin out of your hair for weeks.

Make the pumpkin stable for your chickens

Place your pumpkin on flat ground for your chickens. Make sure to monitor their progress to remove the pumpkin before they devour the whole thing. Because they appreciate the food more than the art, they will keep pecking past the point where you carved it if you don’t remove it in time.

Reminder: chicken pumpkin carving and bird pumpkin carving is for fun and enrichment. It’s NOT replacing proper nesting, feed, or care.

What if I don’t have chickens?

Birds of all kinds enjoy pumpkin! You can try this with the birds in your backyard by tweaking the steps above. In fact we’d love for you to share your results with the birding community on the Sparkbird app!

Following the same steps above you’ll need to pre-carve the features you want the birds peck.

Instead of cutting a hole in the top for gutting we recommend waiting until after the birds carve it so other animals don’t eat the lid.

Be mindful that pumpkins can attract wildlife like raccoons, deer, and mice.

Where to place your pumpkin

You can perch it on a patio table or hang it near a bird feeder. We suggest hanging it from a tree or near an existing feeder like in this easy hanging planter tutorial to help keep squirrels away.

You can use any kind of twine or rope as long as it’s strong enough to hold the pumpkin. This macrame cord is a versatile and natural fiber like the one used in the tutorial above.

Filming the artists

Use the Sparkbird app on your phone to capture what birds show up to carve your pumpkin. All you need is an iPhone and tripod. Alternatively, capture photos and videos with another camera and upload them to Sparkbird.

You can share pictures of the birds carving your pumpkin with other birders on the app, our Facebook page, or subreddit. We’d love for you to tag us!

Hanging pumpkins as bird feeders

Alternatively to getting the birds to carve a pumpkin, you can make a pumpkin bird feeder.

Cut the pumpkin in half and gut it entirely. Fill with bird seed and hang using the macrame tutorial linked above.

Light it up

Your freshly carved pumpkin is almost ready for Halloween. Put a candle or battery-powered light inside your pumpkin so it can be seen at night. We’d love to see photos of your masterpiece on Sparkbird.

Feed your pumpkin to the birds after Halloween

Once you’re done enjoying your bird carved pumpkin you can put it out for the birds to eat. Leave it as is, or better, cut it into smaller pieces and place it near a bird feeder.

You can also compost your pumpkin to make nutrient dense fertilizer for a spring garden.

Happy Halloween!