NY chicken lover!!!!

[Cass]

Birdseed Ornament Recipe #
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup water
3 T corn syrup
4 1/2 cups birdseed
wax paper
cookie cutters
twine or ribbon for hanging
* Line a cookie sheet with wax paper
* Pour flour, water and corn syrup into a bowl and mix together until combined
* Add birdseed until combined
* Pour mixture onto wax paper lined cookie sheet
* Press the mixture with your hands until it’s compact (about 1/2″ – 3/4″ thick)
* Press cookie cutters into birdseed mixture and leave to dry for about 8 hours
* Remove birdseed ornaments from cookie cutters, turn them upside down and let them continue to dry until hard
* Twist jute twine around ornaments and hang from a branch

#Borrowed from "FOLK Live Authentic" blog.

Now I have not one, but TWO bottles of corn syrup in my closet. Please don't ask me why, but I suspect it was for a Day Care Project and it turned out to be so messy I never did it again. (note, I closed my Day Care over 5 years ago) Soooo I am going to be picking up some bird seed this week and making my own flock block. I might add some other things to it, like cranberries or peas. I think it will be fun to see what they eat and what they don't eat. I am going to omit the cookie cutter part and just let it dry in loaf pans so it is a "block" like the store kind.

 

[Cass]

Things You'll Need

• 
  3 cups birdseed
• 
  4 envelopes (¼-oz.) unflavored gelatin
• 
  Cookie cutters
• 
  Nonstick baking sheet
• 
  Vegetable oil baking spray
• 
  Wax paper
• 
  24-gauge craft wire
• 
  Decorative ribbon

Instructions

1. • 1
     Line a nonstick baking sheet with wax paper.
   • 2
     
     Spray the inside surface of cookie cutters with vegetable oil baking spray, and place them on the baking sheet, spacing them evenly.
     3

• Cut a 2-foot length of craft wire for each cookie cutter.
• 4
  
  Crunch the craft wire into a loose ball, leaving approximately 3 inches of straight wire. Shape the wire balls so they fit inside the cookie cutters.
• 5
  
  Arrange a wire inside of each cookie cutter so the straight end pokes up over the top edge of the cookie cutter.
• 6
  
  Combine 3 cups birdseed with four ¼-oz. packages unflavored gelatin in a mixing bowl.
• 7
  
  Add 4 tbsp. water to the birdseed mixture, and stir until thoroughly combined. Be sure that the gelatin is evenly dispersed in the mixture.
• 8
  
  Spoon the birdseed mixture into the cookie cutters, filling the cookie cutters to the top edge and covering the craft wire completely. Press the mixture into all the corners of the cookie cutter shape.
• 9
  Allow the birdseed ornaments to dry for one hour.
• 10
  Gently twist each birdseed ornament to loosen it from the wax paper. Slide the wax paper out from under the ornaments, leaving the ornaments on the baking sheet.
• 11
  
  Sprinkle each birdseed filled cookie cutter evenly with 2 or 3 tsp. water.
• 12
  Bake the ornaments at 250 degree F for one hour or until the ornaments are thoroughly hard and dry. Remove the birdseed ornaments from the oven and allow them to cool.
• 13
  Press each ornament out of its cookie cutter. Twist the wire on the top of each ornament into a loop. Attach a decorative ribbon to each ornament.

****Borrowed from ehow.com. Seems easier to make these and they dry faster, fewer "other ingredients". I'm going to try both recipes and see which one holds up best to my flock

### I left the directions intact in case someone wanted to actually make them for "ornaments" not to feed to their chickens. LOL

 

[SunnysideupstateNY]

The second recipe looks like the one I followed without the wire.
I set the "lump" of seed on a couple of scrap 2x4's. It would have taken some planning ahead to hang it...But I would like to do that this winter.

Karin - The rooster had a pretty good first day. He is such a sweetheart! But he really needs to put those girls in their place!

 

[pharmchickrnmom]

mark

 

[rancher hicks]

I bet they make a great gift for your birding friends.


I need more people to join our Winter Granny Square Swap. Folks don't have to have chickens to join, just be a member of BYC.

 

[Gramma Chick]

crazy4 chicks- I give them extra BOSS. During the molt they need more protein to grow back their feathers. I also give them a little vitamins in the water.


Stony - I noticed the wooden eggs are missing out of the nest boxes in one coop and the EE's are up on the roost more than usual. The BM hens have moved to laying in the BR coop. The chicks in the hoop coop don't hang out near the coop either. The squirrel I caught was in a trap just outside the coop.

Agway has a 21% protein Egg Producer pellet. I've read that Heritage breeds need more protein than Hybrids.


Marq - you may be right and I'll be setting more traps and a rat trap too. Might a well and it can't hurt.

vmdaniel - Have you got a pic of your meal worm set up? That sound interesting.

Rancher- Agways pellets ? There is a Agway store around here ? Is it being sold under the Agway Brand ? Agway went bankrupt ...
Any updates on the Rat / mouse / squirrel trap - athon ?
Speaking of Squirrels
I was giving my chickens bread crumb treats ..they love bread ..I havent tried boss yet ..Around the corner came a squirrel ..
It saw me ...Stopped ..looked at the chickens...Chickens ignored it ,,,aahhhBread ...it looked for bread too ...then they looked up ...One saw it started chasing it to peck it ..
It ran away a little bit ..Another one saw it ..started chasing it ..it decided IM GETTING OUT of HERE ..Yaaa! one for the Chickens

 

[Lapeerian]

Rancher - check with the Southern NY thread, they are yarnaholics.
Gramma - CountryMax carries Agway brand feeds. That is all I have ever used and am happy with it. My store carries the chick feed and regular layer feed in stock, but can special order in other Agway feed. I order the Hearty Hen layer feed, it is slighty higher in protein than regular layer. Actually started mixing some regular layer in to stretch the pricey stuff and because I only have a few laying now.

 

[ChickPrincess]

The second recipe looks like the one I followed without the wire.
I set the "lump" of seed on a couple of scrap 2x4's. It would have taken some planning ahead to hang it...But I would like to do that this winter.

Karin - The rooster had a pretty good first day. He is such a sweetheart! But he really needs to put those girls in their place!

I'll be happy once he settles in. Thanks for giving him a good home!

I'm stopping at Walmart tonight to pick up gelatin to make those ornaments. Depending on how they turn out, I'll see if some of the 1st grade teachers want to make them with the classes.

 

[Cass]

I don't have 37 chickens. I have 27. Hmmm...I wonder where I got a count of 37? LOL (I did lose 8 birds to various things since I started claiming I had 37, but still the math doesn't support the number I thought I had.)

I FORGOT to get gelatin. Grrr...I hate doing the stores on weekends. But I do need layer feed, so I guess it's another trip to "the mall" this weekend. I was going to make them tonight so they were dry by the end of the weekend, so the chickens had something to do next week when the weather wasn't so good.

 

[marquisella]

There is a Purina rewards program that sends out coupons every quarter. This quarter I could print 2 coupons for $10 off 2 bags of Purine layena. Its worth it to join.
Just google Purina rewards to sign up. They also send out coupons for horses, goats, rabbits, etc.