Flock block - do you use one?

[WindingRoad]

No I put them outside for the Blue Jays. I know many people don't like Blue Jays but I think they are beautiful. Once I found out squirrels could climb my bird feeder I tried to find a new way to hang the blocks. I hung it outside the hen house under the eaves for the Blue Jays and the squirrels just jumped up on the roof ( we have a good snow pack only about a foot high jump) and just hung upside down and gorged themselves.

opps

 

[WindingRoad]

Ahh ok... I thought they were getting to the chicken's portion. Yeah squirrels like to stuff themselves like that. Mine do upside down sit ups to eat from my feeder. They're so smart and persistent it's very hard to stop them once they figure out how to get to something!

Since I stopped feeding out side I haven't had much trouble. One day I went to put the food in the coop and one of my birds flew out and I dropped their dish. The squirrels have a feast that day. My birds have access to feed in the run but I like to feed my birds upstairs morning and night that way no one is denying another bird food. Once they have eaten I let them out into the run. I feed them again at night. They have a ritual now and don't seem to eat much downstairs.

 

[cbhunter777]

I picked up feed yesterday, and I bought a flock block. Lots of black oil seeds, fat and other grains. We have just has such a rather long spell are cold weather. My birds are laying again, regularly, (now if I could just get to the eggs before they freeze!) thought maybe a boost in energy food might be of help.

Anyway, 13 birds out there, and I put it out this morning. Seems pretty hard, (frozen solid) so maybe it is not such a good idea for cold weather.

Do any of you use one?

Mrs K

I've given mine flock blocks and even suet blocks for wild birds I find on sale. However, much cheaper is putting fresh veggies in a suet feeder to hang in the run. I'll buy a cabbage and slice thick enough to push into a suet feeder. Or big chunks of carrots. Cauliflower, pumpkin, watermelon or broccoli chunks. They love it all and fresh from the garden or in season is pretty economical compared to commercial blocks. If weather is bad and they are cooped up I hang a couple in the coop to keep them occupied.

 

[CindyinSD]

I bought one and my girls ate on it for a while. Nobody seems interested in it now. I’ve thought about taking it out of their coop, but I think maybe it’s just too frozen for them to eat it. If the weather ever warms up, maybe they’ll go after it again.

 

[Sylvester017]

For Christmas, someone gifted my 4 hens -- not with a Flock Block -- but with 4 round Mealworm balls called "Ball O' Bugs" -- it has dry mealworms encased in a semi-soft ball of grains and other protein and vitamin ingredients. I held out one ball to see if they'd peck at it since the ingredients looked yummy for chickens. Usually my hens go nuts for anything specially hand-fed to them but they pecked once at the ball and didn't seem interested. My girls are nuts for mealworms but these Ball O' Bugs didn't grab them at first. Next time I broke off pieces of the semi-soft balls and hand-fed smaller pieces to get their taster juices flowing. THEN they finished the little pieces I broke off for them. Like someone else said in a prior post, I don't want to attract rodents so I don't leave out food that doesn't get used up. So I wound up breaking up the Ball O'' Bugs into their regular daily feed so it didn't go to waste or eaten up by the obnoxious wild birds. Chickens are weird -- they can inhale cucumbers and spinach one day and totally ignore it the next day! Chickens quickly decimate a free-range yard of anything growing green so we have to provide added vegetation -- we vary the produce we feed the girls so that each day is something different so they don't get bored with the same menu -- spoiled little sh*ts!

 

[WELDON99]

I check with my local grocer and buy heads of cabbage, at a big discount, when they can no longer sell them. I push a piece of copper wire through them and hang them in the coop. 10 hens can go through an entire head in 24 hours. Gives em something to do. Even the little ones will jump and peck at it!

 

[llombardo]

Yes, mine love them. They wouldn't touch the cabbage

 

[WindingRoad]

Yes, mine love them. They wouldn't touch the cabbage

My birds don't like rabbit food either.

 

[Sylvester017]

Re: Cabbage - it's a cruciferous veggie and most poultry don't like cabbage, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, broccoli -- mine have to be REALLY hungry to even touch the cruciferous stuff so we don't bother with it any more -- I read that cruciferous can play havoc on thyroid so maybe my chickens know something I don't? LOL! My hens love blueberries and spinach which both contain selenium so maybe those are a better choice for my girls. Boy! Do they LOVE the sprouted seeds we feed them or tiny sprouting weeds in the yard -- both good sources of protein. When I think about it -- all large bulky animals get their protein source from seeds and grass -- cattle, rhinoceros, yak, gorillas, giraffe, elk, sheep, etc, My girls are amazing at choosing their diet -- shoot! All nature is amazing! Smiles.