Homemade flock block recipes

[Chickie'sMoma]

heh, my dh LOVES the stuff. can't stand it myself-too dry. i never had one before i met him but know i know the whole joke behind them!

i just made some mega muffin sized flock blocks today and gave one earlier to my 12 girls & roo in the coop. it went fast so later today i gave them one more!

 

[highcountrychickens]

My girls are SO glad I found this thread!! I had a bunch off leftover veggies, grapes, egg whites, stale blueberry muffins, parsley and you-name-it from Christmas brunch and boxing day appetizers - I stirred everything together, added some wheat germ, cherry stone, a little oyster shell, some corn, chicken scratch, wild bird seed, sunflower seed, some molasses, and heaven knows what - then baked at around 250 for a couple of hours. It took a jackhammer to get the things out of bread pans, but they smelled heavenly! My girls went BANANAS and worked on it for the rest of the day.
The next morning, as a thank you, there were 4 eggs. (they hadn't laid but one here and there since they finished their molt last month)

WHOEVER STARTED THIS THREAD, THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

 

[BlueMoon]

I'm making Moodene's chicken treats, substituting extra sunflower seeds for scratch, simply because I'm inside and the scratch is outside. It's been snowing on and off for three days and all day today, so the girls really need a treat. I also threw in a bit of molasses and cup of olive oil.

Since they love all treats, I'm really happy this is a healthier one. Thanks Moodene!!

 

[rdranch]

Today's batch is a second attempt. The first was OK, it was very brittle and crumbly. This one was made with scratch, ground flax and ground barley (new grain mill for Christmas) and beer for a binder. From what I read on this thread I need to bake a little longer and a little hotter. 275* for at least 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Will repost with the results!

 

[rdranch]

Well an hour and a half later it has a delightful smell of bread and cookies!

But is still a little soft in the middle.

 

[ChookHappy]

So after reading this thread for weeks I've been planning to do this for a while now and I finally started it last night. The first one I didn't really measure the ingredients and used one piece of bread and two eggs and it totally bombed. My very forgiving chickens didn't mind the "nicely toasted" mess I created and destroyed it none the less during the day today. In fact our Buff was very appreciative and layed her first egg for us.

Tonight I tried this again but this time I actually measured out the ingredients. I have been keeping tabs of my progress with a page from Notepad. The list is as follows:

This will have a lot more binder in it lol. Actual measurements this time, way off last time.
1 cup Organic Scratch
1 cup BOSS
1 cup Wild Bird Seed
1 cup Organic Feed (LOL I feel like my Mom trying to pass off their regular food as a treat. xD)
1/2 cup Cat Food
1/2 cup ground Flax Seed
1/4 cup Pulverized Oyster Shell
5 slices of soggy Raisin Bread
1 cup ground Oatmeal
4 Eggs
1/2 cup water

300 F @ 1 1/2 hrs. Mix the Scratch, BOSS, Bird Seed, Feed, Cat Food, Oyster Shell together. The Flax and Oatmeal get the food processor treatment then they get tossed into the dry mix. Beat the Eggs and add to the dry mix as well as the water. Soak the bread in water then wring out and mix everything together.

This one is way more promising. Probably didn't need the 5 slices of Raisin Bread but eh.. why not make it right the second time...
Been cooking for bour 45 min now and it looks good. Smells great lol. darn spoiled chooks.
So it is out of the oven and it looks great. I am letting it cool and them I will cut off a slice and throw it into a bowl and get it ready for the girls in the morn. Could have probably gone with less bread and oatmeal but it looks good.

These chickens eat waaaaaay better then I. I'm not jealous though. If the sun is up I watch them instead of TV. The next one I make I want to add peanuts, almonds, walnuts, and my DW wants to try throwing in dried fruit. I thought about tuna w/ the oil but not sure. The ferrel barn cats around here might go too crazy for it.

 

[ultasol]

Anyone made chicken treats with rendered beef fat/beef lard? My neighbor butchered two heifers today and I was given the livers, tongues, green tripe, neck meat, and all the lard that was attached to the tripe/stomach (which was PLENTY).


I gave the chickens a few bits of liver, cleaned, cut, and packed the meat/tripe and rendered the lard. I was thinking the rendered fat might be good for a block of some kind? The heifers were young (under two years) and grass raised.

 

[oberhaslikid]

just give them the fat the way it is you dont have to render it unless you want to use it.I just got 2 ,55 gallon drums of all the fat and bones from 2 cows we did.The dogs and the chickens have been in heaven they love the fat.They will pick a bone clean.

 

[ChookHappy]

Just throwing this out there... When making your binder 4 eggs, 1 cup ground oatmeal and 5 slices of bread is way too much. I think I just made cement. These poor girls are having a hell of a time getting at any of this slice lol. Revisions shall be made.

 

[ultasol]

It was a bit w\\messy as just fat, and I thought if I could render it and use it with other ingredients to make a sort of cake or hard treat it could be hung or pecked at without getting covered in shavings. Also was concerned about giving them too much fat at once. Perhaps these are insignificant concerns, but I was uncertain so acted with caution. Regardless, I now have a large amount of rendered fat.