Do the chickens actually drink the cocktails?

No. The chickens are photo companions only, and the brand is explicit that giving alcohol to chickens or any animal is bad for them, so the drinks are always for people.

Is this the same as National Cocktail Day?

No. National Cocktail Day is a separate, general drinks observance on March 24, while this day is specifically about cocktails photographed with backyard chickens on May 23.

National Drinking with Chickens Day

Next celebratedSunday, May 23, 2027

A fun observance on May 23 celebrating the pairing of craft cocktails with backyard chickens as photogenic companions, never as drinkers.

See how to celebrate

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Last updated February 7, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?

YEARLY DATEMay 23

OBSERVED INUnited States

CATEGORYFun

SUBCATEGORYSilly

ORIGIN

Individual Initiative

FOUNDING ENTITY

Kate Richards

FIRST OBSERVED

2019

“Kate Richards registered May 23 in 2019 through an online national-day service: "I have a certificate and everything."

HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

A blogger declared her own national day, certificate and all.

Los Angeles writer and photographer Kate Richards created the day herself in 2019 by registering it through an online novelty national-day service, then promoted it through her Drinking with Chickens brand. It is a self-registered observance, not a government or official designation.

INTRO

The cocktail blogger whose hens pose but never sip

The chickens never touch the drinks. That is the whole trick. A Los Angeles writer named Kate Richards spent years photographing craft cocktails next to her live backyard hens, who strut, peer, and pose beside a finished drink while the cocktail stays firmly out of their reach.

The bit grew into a real following and then into a real book. In April 2020, Running Press published "Drinking with Chickens: Free-Range Cocktails for the Happiest Hour," a 192-page hardcover with more than 60 seasonal cocktails built from a Southern California garden.

National Drinking with Chickens Day is the calendar offshoot of that running joke. It lands every May 23, and the premise is exactly as advertised: you mix a nice drink, you take a photo with the birds, and you drink it yourself.

ORIGINS

Drinking with Chickens Day history

INTRODUCTION

The day did not arrive first. The brand did. To understand why May 23 exists at all, you start with a blog, a backyard, and a writer who liked her cocktails and her birds in the same frame.

Kate Richards launched the Drinking with Chickens blog in March 2016 from a century-old farmhouse in Los Angeles. The premise was simple and a little absurd. She would build a cocktail, then photograph it next to a hen.

CHAPTER 01

From blog to award to book

The joke had legs. In 2017, the project won the Saveur Magazine Blog Awards Reader's Choice for Best Drinks Blog, and Richards picked up a Shorty Award nomination in Food and Drink. The brand had crossed from a backyard hobby into a recognized name.

The cocktails themselves leaned on what was growing nearby. Richards calls the approach garden-to-glass: a Lilac Apricot Rum Sour here, a Meyer Lemon and Rosemary Old Fashioned there, drinks pulled from a Southern California garden's harvest.

CHAPTER 02

One declared day, certificate included

The holiday came in 2019. Richards did not petition a city or wait for a proclamation. She registered the day herself through one of the online "declare a national day" services and is cheerfully blunt about it: "you can do it on the interwebs...I have a certificate and everything." May 23 was hers.

The first big celebration was a sponsored affair. Richards partnered with New Belgium Brewing for an official party at "DWC headquarters," pouring a custom Mural Shandy and giving away a neon chicken sign. The bird, per her own account, did not get to sample the wares.

CHAPTER 03

The brand outlasts the joke

The 2020 cookbook turned the running gag into a 192-page hardcover from Running Press, with more than 60 garden-to-glass recipes. It arrived as backyard chicken-keeping was having a national moment.

The day still gets marked. In 2025, the brand threw a "Caftans, Cocktails, and Chickens" Soiree, its first in-person celebration in five years, and described the observance as having "grown into a giant, viral thing."

BY THE NUMBERS

National Drinking with Chickens Day by the Numbers

0.8%: US households that keep chickens
~4%: Non-owners planning to within 5 years
400%: Pandemic chick seller sales jump
60+: Cocktails in the DWC cookbook
192: Pages in the DWC cookbook

TIMELINE

Timeline

The blog launches

Kate Richards starts Drinking with Chickens in March 2016, pairing cocktail photos with her backyard hens.

Saveur award win

The blog wins the Saveur Magazine Blog Awards Reader's Choice for Best Drinks Blog.

The day is registered

Richards declares National Drinking with Chickens Day for May 23 through an online national-day service.

The cookbook arrives

Running Press publishes the 192-page Drinking with Chickens cookbook in April 2020.

Backyard chicken boom

Pandemic demand surges, with one California chick seller reporting a 400 percent sales jump.

Caftans, Cocktails, and Chickens

The brand hosts its first in-person Drinking with Chickens Day celebration in five years.

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about National Drinking with Chickens Day

The day was self-registered for a fee

Richards bought it through an online novelty service, in her words with "a certificate and everything." No government or legislature was involved.

The chickens are forbidden from the cocktails

The brand's own site warns: "Do not let chickens on, near, or in your drinks or food. They are filthy animals and they will get you sick."

Los Angeles has no chicken limit

The USDA notes that Los Angeles, where Richards keeps her flock, permits chicken ownership with no cap on the number or type of birds.

Some of her cocktails are literally chicken

A few recipes call for egg whites for that silky foam, which Richards has pointed out is a real, edible chicken connection.

A pandemic sent chick sales soaring

One California seller reported a 400 percent jump in 2020, selling out of baby chicks as backyard flocks spread.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why We Love National Drinking with Chickens Day

RECOGNITION

A hens-and-highballs gag won a national drinks award.

The Drinking with Chickens project took the Saveur Magazine 2017 Reader's Choice award for Best Drinks Blog. A photo gag about hens and highballs earned recognition in a serious drinks category.

TREND

Backyard chickens are genuinely on the rise

A USDA study found nearly 4 percent of non-owning households planned to get chickens within five years, rising to 7.4 percent in Denver. The day rides a documented move toward urban farming.

RESPONSIBILITY

The birds are props, not partygoers

The brand is explicit that the hens pose and never drink, calling alcohol "bad for them." The day is built on a clear line between a photogenic companion and an actual cocktail.

GET INVOLVED

How to Celebrate National Drinking with Chickens Day

Mix a garden-to-glass cocktail

Build a drink from whatever is growing nearby, the way Richards does with citrus and herbs. Think a rosemary old fashioned or a blackberry sage spritz.

STAGE

Stage a photo with the flock

Set your finished drink in frame and let the chickens do their comic, curious thing. The hens are there for the picture, not the pour.

KEEP

Keep the birds away from the booze

The brand is blunt that alcohol is "bad for them," so the chickens never sample anything. Drink it all yourself and let them stay sober.

COOK

Cook up the cookbook

Work through a recipe from the Drinking with Chickens cookbook for the full effect. It carries more than 60 seasonal cocktails.

Follow along with the brand

Check the official Drinking with Chickens page for how the founder marks the day. Past celebrations have included sponsored parties and giveaways.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know National Drinking with Chickens?

1 / 8

Who created National Drinking with Chickens Day?

Answer

No. It is an unofficial observance that founder Kate Richards self-registered in 2019 through an online novelty national-day service, so it carries no government or legislative status and is a normal working day.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

10sources

6primary records

5independently dated

Primary records

Drinking with Chickens

National Drinking with Chickens Day

The founder's own account of declaring the day and her first sponsored celebration.

View source

Drinking with Chickens2025

Drinking with Chickens Day Soiree 2025

Recap of the 2025 Soiree and the founder's note that she first registered the day in 2019.

View source

Drinking with Chickens

Site sidebar and disclaimer

The brand's warning that chickens are filthy and should never go near drinks or alcohol.

View source

Hachette Book Group2020

Drinking with Chickens (Running Press title page)

Publisher page listing the 192-page book, its April 2020 release, and the author's Saveur win.

View source

Drinking with Chickens

The book.

The brand's garden-to-glass concept and sample seasonal cocktail names.

View source

USDA APHIS2012

Poultry 2010: Urban Chicken Ownership in Four U.S. Cities

Survey finding 0.8% of households kept chickens and Los Angeles sets no flock limit.

View source

Additional coverage

ThriftBooks

Drinking with Chickens: Free-Range Cocktails for the Happiest Hour

Product details confirming Running Press, April 2020, 192 pages, and 60-plus cocktails.

View source

HGTV

House Tour With Kate Richards of Drinking With Chickens

Feature noting Richards launched the blog in March 2016 from her Los Angeles farmhouse.

View source

Patch (Los Angeles)2018

Patch Tastemaker: Drinking With Chickens Blogger Kate Richards

Richards on the hens as comic relief and the egg-white cocktail connection.

View source

CBS News2020

Pandemic boosts demand for backyard poultry flocks

A California chick seller's reported 400 percent sales jump during the 2020 pandemic.

View source

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