Christmas treat cake for chickens! (and Valentines heart!)

The holidays are coming and what better way to show your loved ones how much you care than by making them homemade treats? While you're baking for your friends and family, why not throw something in the oven for the chickens too?

This Christmas tree cake is actually cornbread which is much lower in sugar then cake. It also has all kinds of healthy chicken favorites included in it, like pumpkin and yogurt! So don't feel too guilty about making them a cake ... It's actually good for them! 

Plus, it's super easy. Just start with a store bought mix, make a few substitutions and chop a few things for garnishes.

Cake for chickens

To add nutrients to this cake, I swapped pureed pumpkin for the butter called for in the cornbread mix. Pumpkin is a great source of antioxidants, fiber and vitamin A which is an essential vitamin for chickens. 

If you were going to make this for human consumption you would want to leave at least some fat in it to make the texture and consistency more palatable.

When swapping out all of the butter or oil for pumpkin it'll be a slight bit drier than we would like, but the chickens don't care! Besides, it's getting covered with yogurt so that will make up for the moisture issue.

Instead of cake frosting, I used plain Greek yogurt. The yogurt I bought has live and active cultures. This adds probiotics to their digestive system. Greek yogurt is also high in calcium and protein.

I chose cranberries because they are cheap right now and in every single store. However, they are high in vitamin C, fiber and vitamin A, so still a good choice. 

You could use grapes or other berries if they're more readily available. Don't use chocolate though, since it's toxic to chickens.

I went with kale because it's the last green thing growing in my garden but it's usually fairly cheap at the grocery store. Cut kale with herb scissors instead of chopping ... It's so much faster! Sounds easy, right? Here's the directions....

Buy packaged cornbread mix. The ones I used were $.50 each at Walmart.

Make the cornbread according to package directions except substitute pumpkin puree for the butter or oil. The package I used called for 2 Tbs butter, so I just used 2 Tbs Pumpkin puree instead. I used homemade pumpkin puree, but use the canned kind if it's not exactly pumpkin season.

Once the batter is mixed, fold in some chopped fresh cranberries. Don't over mix.

Prepare your baking pan according to package directions. Pour into prepared baking pan. I have the Wilton tree pan, but you could use any shape. Bake as directed on cornbread package.

When the baking time is up, remove cornbread from oven and turn out onto wire rack immediately. Let cool.

Once completely cool, open the yogurt and mix till smooth. Use this to ice the cake. Add cranberries, scratch and kale for decoration.

I choose scratch as a decoration on the cake because sometimes chickens are afraid of new foods. Tossing a little scratch on top gets them started eating. Once they get a few bites in, they realize that this stuff is good!

Don't forget to take lots of pictures of your flock enjoying their treat! They look so darn cute with cake face!

I hope your flock loves this fun Christmas chicken treat!

Update: Since my chickens loved this treat so much I decided to make them one for Valentines day too! Just use a heart shaped pan instead, and cut up some strawberries since cranberries aren't in season right now.

I also added some blueberries that were a little overripe and then filled in the blank spots with some bird seed They loved it! I could probably do this for every holiday!

~L

Want to get your coop in the holiday spirit too? Decorate your coop with these Christmas stockings made from feed bags.

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