On a farm at night, some chickens run in fear from a giant, chicken-like monster. The farmer hears their noises and tells his wife Maude that something is "stirring up the chickens", so she goes out to investigate. She is ambushed by the chicken monster and when she comes back, her eyes are red and she is speaking in clucks. She then shapeshifts into another chicken monster and eats all her husband's popcorn.
At the firehouse, Peter and Ray are taking out the trash and complaining, because it was meant to be Egon's night to take out the trash (and do the dishes, which Winston is doing instead) but he's busy working on something. The phone rings and it's the farmer, claiming a giant chicken ate his wife, so everyone except Egon drives to the farm.
There, Maude, still in chicken form, lays an egg and flies off, while her husband tells the Ghostbusters about what happened. Winston and Peter think that the farmer is hallucinating, but Ray thinks that "were-chickens" are real. They spot giant chicken footprints and follow them to the large egg, which Peter and Slimer decide to take home for analysis. Peter hands it to Egon, while Winston and Ray search around. They find the were-chicken that bit Maude and zap it, causing it to turn into a green creature, which they then trap.
Egon and Slimer go to bed, but the latter wakes up hungry after dreaming about food and tries to bake the were-chicken egg. The egg hatches and Slimer flies away into the bathroom, where Egon is showering. He tells him there's a monster in the kitchen, so Egon gets dressed and goes to check it out, but the baby were-chicken bites him and he turns into a were-chicken.
Slimer tells Peter about the monster and he tries to zap the transformed Egon, only for Ray (who has now arrived home, along with Winston) to stop him. Winston, Peter, Ray, and Slimer hide in the closet, where Ray explains that Egon turned into a were-chicken, but that he will change back when the moon isn't up. Sure enough, he turns back when the moon goes behind a cloud, and the others explain the situation to him. Ray looks were-chickens up in a book and finds that there's an antidote, which the non-Egon Ghostbusters and Slimer whip up (while Egon becomes sweaty and unwell). He starts to change form, but luckily, Winston brings the antidote up and has him drink it.
Unfortunately, it only partially works (with Ray explaining that it's due to the missing "chicken-bane") resulting in Egon having his own head but a chicken's body, but he's confident that there'll be a logical solution. The rest of the Ghostbusters chase the were-chicken that bit Egon down into an area just outside a supermarket, where they found that it's grown to be thirty feet tall.
Back at the firehouse, Janine has discovered Egon's condition and asks what happened, but he only responds with, "It's a long story" and has her give him his coat so he can go to a meeting.
The giant were-chicken stomps around NYC and the non-Egon Ghostbusters zap it, which turns it to also turn into a green creature. They try to trap it, but the trap explodes because it hadn't been emptied, then the were-chicken turns back into itself. It starts climbing up a skyscraper, and when Peter makes a joke about "putting it on ice", Winston and Ray decide to freeze it using the weather balloon Egon had been experimenting with. While Egon shows off his weather balloon at the meeting, Slimer alerts him, and Peter and Egon use the weather balloon to make it snow on the were-chicken, freezing it.
Then, Maude makes "chicken-bane soup" to cure herself and Egon of their chicken lycanthropy. A howling noise is heard in the lab, but it turns out to be Slimer listening to a song.
This episode provides examples of
- Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Egon still wears his glasses even as a were-chicken.
- Anthropomorphic Food: Slimer dreams about dancing food and drink.
- Arbitrary Skepticism: Despite ghosts and demons being demonstrably real, Peter and Winston initially don't believe in were-chickens.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The second werechicken ended up growing to the size of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: After Slimer is scared off by whatever's behind him, Peter really hopes it's just Egon. He turns around and sees he's face-to-face with Egon as a were-chicken.
- Cassandra Truth: When the farmer claims there was a giant chicken, Winston and Peter didn't believe him, but it was true.
- Chekhov's Gag: Egon's been so busy with his weather balloon that the others have to cover for his chores, much to their chagrin. They only go to investigate Zeke's claim of a giant chicken just to get out of this extra workload. Worse, it was Egon's job to empty the traps, meaning they later can't deal with the giant were-chicken the usual way.
- Chekhov's Gun: The weather balloon that Egon was experimenting with ends up being used to help freeze the were-chicken.
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: When Egon turns back from being a were-chicken, he's in his underwear.Egon: "Ray, what is going on? And why am I nearly naked?"
- Covered in Gunge: Slimer accidentally gets gunk on Peter.
- Dramatic Irony: The Ghostbusters initially aren't sure if the were-chicken is real, but we the viewers have already seen that it is.
- "Eureka!" Moment:
- Ray comes up with the idea of freezing the giant were-chicken after Peter makes a joke about "put[ting] this big bird on ice".
- After busting the initial were-chicken, Ray says all that's left is finding the one that got Maude. Winston realizes that one probably is Maude.
- The Food Poisoning Incident: Discussed when Peter jokingly asks if the farmer is seeing things because he ate "too much greasy popcorn".
- Good News, Bad News: Ray and Winston give Egon good news and bad news— the bad news is that he turned into a were-chicken, but the good news is that there's an antidote.
- Hope Spot: The guys blast the giant were-chicken and are about to finish the job, only to find the trap is still full. It overloads, allowing the were-chicken to continue unabated.
- Imagine Spotting: Slimer eats his own thought bubble when he dreams of food.
- Imperfect Ritual: The antidote to cure Egon required chicken bane as the last ingredient. Unfortunately, with none on hand before Egon changed, he was forced to take the potion as it was. The good news is that his head and mind stayed normal. Unfortunately, the rest of his still became a chicken.
- Instantly Proven Wrong: In Ecto-2, Peter admits he was wrong to be skeptical of were-chickens, but he scoffs at the claims of a giant one. After looking over his shoulder, he almost flies right into the beast's mouth.
- Lightmare Fuel: Characters get turned into horrific, feral monsters... that resemble chickens.
- Mistaken for Own Murderer:
- When Maude turns into a were-chicken, her husband believes it ate her.
- When Peter first sees Egon in were-chicken form, he believes it ate him.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The were-chicken egg hatches because Slimer took it out of the fridge and tried to cook himself an omelette.
- Noodle Incident: Apparently, the were-chicken egg is only the second largest egg Egon has ever seen, even though it's about the size of Slimer.
- Not So Stoic: Despite usually being The Stoic, Egon sings in the shower. He also trembles and exclaims in pain when turning into a were-chicken.
- Our Werebeasts Are Different: Only in Ghostbusters could there exist were-chickens.
- Painful Transformation: Implied. When Egon transforms into a were-chicken, he groans and cringes.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: The evil were-chickens have red eyes.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Winston and Peter think that the farmer is hallucinating due to "watching too many horror movies". Actually, the farmer does watch horror movies, but the were-chicken was real.
- Shock-and-Switch Ending: The episode ends with Maude and Egon cured of their were-chicken transformations, but then howling is heard coming from the lab... but that turns out to only be part of a song Slimer is listening to.
- Singing in the Shower: Egon sings to himself while taking a shower.
- Speak in Unison:
- When Peter asks whose job emptying the trap was, Winston and Ray say, "Egon" in unison.
- When Peter asks how you freeze a 60-foot chicken, Winston and Ray reply, "Egon's weather balloon!" at once.
- Spooky Animal Sounds: Subverted. The beginning scene takes place at night and an eerie wolf's howl can be heard, but it turns out to be in a movie the farmer is watching.
- Squick: In-Universe, Winston is not happy with the idea of the were-chicken laying an egg.
- Toothy Bird: The were-chickens have teeth.
