A few days ago I was replying to comments on my posts and somebody asked me what homemade flock block recipe I use. I realized I had never written about it and promised to post it this week...so here it is! I make my flock block with my chickens health and my pocketbook in mind. It's sort of a throw it together recipe that ends up producing flock blocks that are much cheaper than the store bought ones!

Yeay for frugal chicken keeping!

My flock block recipe has seeds, a little bit of layer feed, oats, some fresh carrots, mealworms, eggs, molasses and coconut oil. That is it! I do not add any type of vitamin supplement to the recipe because it's just a treat and as such does not have to fill any nutritional requirements. Super easy to make!

Homemade Flock Block Recipe

Ingredients:
3 cups of assorted seeds or scratch grains
1 cup oats, rolled or instant
1/2 cup mealworms
1/2 cup layer feed
1 cup shredded carrots
4 whole eggs
3/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup coconut oil

• Mix the seeds, oats, mealworms, layer feed and carrots in a large bowl.

• Smash the eggs into a small bowl, shells and all. Mix well. 

• Add molasses to the eggs and mix. 

• Melt coconut oil and add to eggs and molasses. Mix well.

• Pour the bowl of wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir till all the dry ingredients are wet, then pour into baking pans. I used 2 round cake pans.

• Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes.

• Allow to cool completely and pop out of pan and serve to the chickens.

If you want to hang your flock block for the chickens you'll need to put a hole through it before you bake it. Just use a butter knife to make a hole then bake as the recipe says. After taking the flock block out of the oven, use the butter knife to make sure the hole is still all the way through. Allow to cool, then pop out and string with a ribbon. 

Make an even cheaper treat block for chickens

Save even more money on your homemade flock block by: growing sunflowers for seed.
Raising your own mealworms.
Using leftover breads, crackers or cereals instead of oats. 

For the seeds I try to vary them so the whole block isn't one type of seed. I had scratch, bird seed and black oil sunflower seeds today but I've also used flax seeds, millet and even peanuts. Believe me, the chickens aren't picky! Use whatever you have or whatever is on sale. The idea behind this flock block is to save money without breaking the bank, so the most expensive thing in here should be the molasses!

I also use a 'whatever I have on hand' approach to this recipe. That's what makes this flock block recipe the cheapest one out there! Today I used shredded carrots because I had a bag of carrots that was getting old. Other times I've used apples, zucchini, sweet potato or other vegetables that I have on hand. 

Sneak stuff in like: flax seeds to increase the Omega-3 content of their eggs..
Marigolds to make them produce eggs with orange yolks.
Egg shells for extra calcium.
Hot pepper flakes or other herbs to keep your chickens healthy.

If you happen to add too many additives or not enough the worst that will happen is that the treat block won't be firm enough to hang for the chickens. That's seriously it. Throw it on a plate instead and serve it to the chickens that way. They won't care, I promise!

Want to make a special cake for your chickens? Check out how I turn a cornbread mix into a super cute Christmas tree cake for the chickens!

~L

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