Block Treats for Chickens

Give your chickens a block treat to provide extra nutrition - and entertainment as they peck at it.

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Chickens have the natural instinct to peck at something. When you set out a block treat for them, they're entertained with the pecking, and also get some nutrition. Block treats aren't meant to replace your flock's regular feed. They're formulated to provide supplemental energy, vitamins, and minerals.

Peter Ferket is an extension poultry nutritionist at North Carolina State University. He says when you're shopping for a commercially-made block treat, look for a good nutritional mix.

"It should contain some grain. It could be corn, cracked corn, could be oats, some wheat possibly in there, and some grain by-products, and then some protein sources," says Ferket. "Things like rapeseed meal, or it could be flax seed. A good one is sunflower seeds."

It's not hard to make your own block treats out of scratch grains, and other foods that your birds like. It's like making a big cookie, but the challenge is finding a way to hold it all together.

"If it's in the wintertime and it's cold, you can stick things together with tallow, beef fat that turns solid. You'll have to experiment where it's just enough to hold it together," says Ferket. "You can also use some beeswax or paraffin, the edible type. It's like a wax and you can mix that in and it'll hold it together. The benefit of using like a tallow or some sort of a wax is that when you press it together and it rains, it doesn't fall apart."

Some people use a package of clear gelatin and put everything into a mold. You can also cook up some oatmeal, mix it together with your grains, and press it into a big ball. When it dries, it'll hold together.

If you include raw ingredients such as eggs or meat, be sure to cook your treats in a 300-degree oven until they reach an internal temperature of 150-degrees. This will kill any bacteria that could make your chickens sick.

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