This Woman Hilariously Let Her Chickens Carve Her Halloween Pumpkin
It’s fall, which means that it’s time to celebrate with the sights and foods of the season. For most people, that means adding pumpkins in and around their homes. But for those who like the look of a carved pumpkin but don’t like the mess (and work), there’s a fun new way to make your jack-o’-lantern.
Facebook user @oaknegg shared their fun carving trick online, and it quickly went viral. Of course, the reason so many people are falling in love with this idea (14,700 people, to be exact) is that the method incorporates some feathered friends.
That’s right, the Facebook user showed off how she got her backyard chickens, turkeys, and ducks in on the fun, letting them help out with the jack-o’-lantern process.
Not only did it make less work for the Facebook user, but it also left her with a truly unique-looking pumpkin and some very satisfied birds. Of course, this hack only works if you have chickens, but you may be able to tweak it to suit your needs if you want to try it another way.
Woman’s Pumpkin Carving Hack Goes Viral
The cute video shows how @oaknegg used a cheese grater to grate away some of the pumpkin’s outer layer in the shape of a smile, giving her birds an idea of where to focus their efforts. They then pecked away at the spot, eating straight through to the inside of the pumpkin as they went.
After the inside was gutted and the birds had gotten their fill, the Facebook user was able to add a small candle to turn her smiling pumpkin into a true jack-o’-lantern.
“Teamwork makes the dream work,” she captioned the post. “The ducks tried their best, but they just didn’t have the right tools for the job. They called in the heavy hitters to finish the job. The chicken crew created a work of art and the perfect jack-o’-lantern for the front porch.”
People Shared Their Thoughts in the Comments
It was clear that this was a popular idea based on the comments people were leaving, including those from folks who had tried this for themselves. “They understood the assignment,” one person captioned their own chicken-made jack-o’-lantern.
Then, there were those it didn’t work for. “Mine just end up eating the whole thing,” one person wrote.
Meanwhile, others had comments on how they had tried a different take on the hack, inviting other animals to join in. One person posted a photo of the work their bulldog had done, which included a very happy-looking bulldog (and a very sad-looking jack-o’-lantern).
Another woman shared the remnants of her pumpkin, which she had let the local wildlife carve. “I did that with squirrel,” she captioned the half-eaten pumpkin. “They were a little … overzealous.”
No matter which way you try to do this hack, the most important thing is going to be checking to make sure the animals in question can eat pumpkin. According to Cool Green Science, pumpkins are both safe and healthy for wildlife to consume as long as the pumpkins haven’t been treated or coated in any other substances.
That could include chemical preservation (like soaking them in bleach) or painting them. As long as they are free of both of those things, it should be safe for your little furry (or feathered) friends to get in on the fun. That being said, many local municipalities have rules about feeding wildlife, so double-check that it’s permitted in your area if you’re trying a non-chicken-related method.
