Flock Blocks: Doughnut style
Taking care of ourselves becomes a part of who we are and what we do on a daily basis. It culminates down to our habits of every day, and we think of these things as fresh and frequent water, healthy foods and herbs or vitamins and enough exercise. Not so surprising, it is the same for our animals. I had a pretty instinctive feeling my girls were going to start laying on the early end of their text book age by quite a few signs I was picking up on.
Almost like being pregnant or preparing for pregnancy, your girls will benefit from a little extra love and care to their body. Flock blocks are also a great boredom buster and will keep them from picking on each other in the colder months or when foraging is low. These flock block doughnuts are not just pleasing to look at, but they are packed with protein, herbs and spices which help them produce high quality, exquisite tasting eggs, and packed full of nutrition to ensure flock vitality and overall longevity of your chickens.
Here is what we will be covering below
TABLE OF CONTENCE
.01 What is in a flock block?
.02 What is a flock block?
.03 How to make it into doughnuts ?
.04 What do I need to make a flock block?
.05 Bake time and cooling
What Is A Flock Block?
A flock block is typically a hardened block of seed or flock food, perhaps with added ingredients. I switched everything up and decided to add all the things I knew were going to aid in their nutrition, along side some of their feed.
What Is In A Flock Block
I will always prefer fresh ingredience over packaged products, however, if the brand is organic and you don't have your own fresh herbs, you can always use the packaged stuff. Seeing as it was last year that I finally took the plunge into growing the farm and our garden, I didn't have sufficient time to order in all of my herb seeds - so I used some high quality packaged organic goods. Herbs are potent healers for both human and animals alike and can also change form into oils when you know what you are doing. Our chickens can also benefit from all of these things and so I made sure to pack this thing full. Let get into it
NGREDIENCE
1 - 1/12 cups Organic Scratch Grains or Laying Pullets ( I personally did a mixture)
1-1/12 cups "Farmers Helper" Golden egg nugget treat (high quality crab meal protein, turmeric, oregano, fenugreek, black cumin seed oil, pomegranate) most of these herbs are also a natural dewormer and insecticide.
1 cups organic old fashioned oats ( I used half un blended and used the other half cup to create the oat flour!)
1/4 cup oat flour
worms 1-2 cups dried organic meal worm Beatle mixture
Binder fats 1cup Molasses
1/2 cup organic coconut oil
1 egg
Spices 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Cayenne pepper is used for promoting circulation and keeping birds warm in the cooler months. All around it is a good spice to have on board.
If you are using fresh or dried herbs, add about 3/4 cup of each.
WHAT YOU NEED
Large mixing bowl
Spatula and large spoon
Doughnut tray
Wet rag to wipe hands
WHAT TO DO
First start by adding all of your dried ingredience into the large mixing bowl. Then add your wet ones. Use spatula to mix around until WELL mixed. The mixture should hold shape if you were to roll it into balls. Even if they do end up crumbling, trust me, they'll still reap the benefits and love it non the less! Take your large spoon and scoop into the doughnut shapes of your tray. Make sure you pack it quite tightly so that they retain their shape when you flip and tap the tray.
BAKING AND COOLING
Bake at 325 for about 20 minutes. I pulled them out and set them aside until the tray was no longer scorching hot, then I popped them into my pull out freezer for about 10 minutes until they were cool to the touch. Flip them upside down and tap the bottom with a wooden flat mallet until they all pop out. For hanging I used twine to loop through the doughnuts and tied a knot to create one large loop. Simple enough to slip onto low hanging branches for them to get a little work out at trying to peck the swinging block.
