This is our version of homemade peckablocks. As yesterday was Lola's henniversary when she celebrated two years of freedom from the battery cages we needed to do something a bit special. I have seen various recipes for peckablocks, so I took bits and tweaked it to suit us.

You will need:

A fresh egg

Water

Honey

Pellets/mash/or in our case Allen and Page ex-battery crumbs

Silicone cupcake cases

Some willing volunteers

Some yummy bits- we used

Garvo poultry treats

Gardman husk-free wild bird feed (this has oats, bits of seed etc)

Dried mealworms

Sunflower hearts

Garvo mixed corn special

Poultry spice (I made some with and some without spice- my girls preferred it without)

Crack the egg into a large bowl and whisk it. Add a bit of water, a large spoonful of honey, then add your pellets/mash/crumb. Let it soak in a bit, you still need a slightly watery/paste-like mix.

Add your 'yummy bits' and stir well.

You are wanting the mixture to hold together, it will be a bit crumbly- but as long as it sticks together when you press it, it is perfect.

At this point, take your willing volunteers and ask them if they mind trying the mixture out.

If they are satisfied that it tastes good at this point, you can move on to the next stage.

Press the mixture into your silicone cases, pack it in well, and keep firming it down.

Pop it into the oven at 120 degreesC, for about an hour. This will dry the mixture out and harden it.

Et voila!

If you are careful, you can also spear them onto a treat hanger after they have cooked, like so...

I ended up making quite a few, so I am going to freeze some of them, I can't see any reason why they shouldn't freeze well.

Of course, then there was the eating of them!