DIY Treat for Chickens: High Protein Quinoa Cakes

Making these high protein quinoa cakes as a DIY treat for chickens is a great way to sustainably spoil your homestead flock and still keep them healthy! Chickens love special treats and snacks, and spoiling your flock can be fun and entertaining. However, you don’t want the treats to take away from the nutrition that their regular feed provides. The good news is that some treats can actually provide beneficial, supplemental nutrients to your flock’s diet. These quinoa cakes for chickens are nutritious and healthy for your flock. They are super high in protein, help promote good circulation, and aid respiratory health! Your homestead flock is going to love these nutritious cakes!

What’s in these DIY Treats for Chickens?

After looking through the multiple treats sold for chickens at the farm store, I didn’t see any treats that I would feel comfortable giving my flock on a regular basis. They are all too full of fat, preservatives, or articifial colors and flavors.

As a modern pioneer, I want to give my flock foods that will make them healthier and that are sustainable. So, I formulated these quinoa cakes using simple ingredients that I knew where healthy for my flock. Each ingredients nutritional composition was considered.

I wanted these cake to be high in protein but low in fat. I also wanted them to contain some benefits that would help my flock when it was really cold out or help them during the fall molt. Here are just a few benefits that these cakes provide for chickens.

Quinoa Cake Benefits:

• High Protein– Protein is essential for overall good health. It is needed for growing in new feathers, staying warm, reproducing, fighting disease, and just about every other body function.
• Stimulates Circulation– The ground ginger in these cakes helps promote good blood flow for a healthy circulation system.
• Improves Respiratory Health– The turmeric in these cakes aids the respiratory system.
• Strengthens the Immune System– Both turmeric and oregano help strengthen the immune system for fighting disease and parasites.
• Low Fat– While some fat is needed in the diet for vitamin absorption and energy, too much fat can provide empty calories and result in obese hens. More protein is better than more fat or carbohydrates!

This DIY treat for chickens contains a pseudo cereal, ground herbs, dried herbs, a whole grain, seeds, and a healthy binding agent. The pseudo cereal is, of course, quinoa. The ground herbs that I chose to include are turmeric and ginger. As for dried herbs, I chose both sage and oregano. I chose to include oats as another whole grain and I used grass-fed beef gelatin as the binder.

These quinoa cakes hold together enough to be put in a suet cage for entertainment for your flock! They are a healthy substitute to flock blocks or other ‘suet’ blocks that are made for chickens and are full of fat and are low in protein. These quinoa cakes can also be mashed up and served in a bowl, served at room temperature, or heat them up to provide a warm treat.

Are these treats healthy for chickens?

Like I mentioned earlier, I wanted these cakes to be full of beneficial nutrients for my chickens! One very important part of a chicken’s diet during the fall and winter is protein. Protein helps the body function and keeps all the systems working properly. When chickens receive adequate protein during the fall and winter they will be able to complete a successful molt, stay warm, fight disease, maintain healthy feathers, and even keep on producing throughout the winter months!

You can read all about why protein is so important for the homestead flock in my post on Balancing Protein in a Flock’s Diet.

Not only are these cakes high in protein, but they also contain tons of other benefits thanks to the herbs that are in them! Here’s a little bit about each of the select ingredients that I chose to include in these quinoa cakes.

About the Ingredients:

• Quinoa- Quinoa is a high-protein, pseudo cereal that contains essential amino acids (protein), is low in fat, and contains minimal anti-nutritional factors.
• Whole Oats- Whole oats also contain protein but they also contain anti-nutritional factors, which is why they are not a major ingredient in these cakes. Oats also contain fiber which aids digestion but can be detrimental if present in too high of quantities.
• Hemp Seeds- These little seeds are nutritional powerhouses and are super high in protein as well!
• Turmeric- Turmeric is a medicinal herb that does wonders for the respiratory system and is naturally anti-inflammatory.
• Ginger- Ginger is a safe herb to use for stimulating the circulatory system and keeps the blood flowing to the comb, wattles, and toes. It is not overly strong and it works well with a chicken’s body.
• Sage- Sage is an antioxidant-rich herb that helps maintain a healthy gut and promotes overall good health. A healthy gut is important for preventing internal parasites.
• Oregano– Oregano is thought to help prevent many avian diseases and can be used for maintaining a healthy immune system. It is also a very strong herb so it must be used in small quantities.
• Gelatin- Gelatin is a protein-based binder that helps promote healthy joints, bones, and feathers in the homestead flock. It is the perfect substitute for traditional fatty ingredients that are usually used to make chicken treats.

DIY Treats for Chickens: Recipe Tips

I tried to include some of the most beneficial ingredients in these cakes that were tailored to the fall and winter time needs of homestead chickens. However, there are many more beneficial natural supplements that could be included!

You may choose to mix and match some of these substitutes for the original ingredients. You could even make different varieties and flavors for your flock! Tailor each cake according to what your flock needs the most!

• Whole Oat Substitutes- amaranth, steel cut oats, buckwheat
• Hemp Seed Substitutes- flax seeds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds
• Turmeric Substitute– cinnamon
• Sage Substitutes- thyme, astragalus
• Oregano Substitutes– parsley, basil
• Water Substitutes- elderberry syrup, broth, leftover pasta or vegetable water (without salt)
• Other Additives- elderberries (dried and cooked thoroughly), carrot peels, blueberries, dried black soldier fly grubs

Keep in mind that substitutes are supposed to do just that, substitute for the original ingredient. They should not be added in addition to the original ingredient as that could mess up the recipe. Also, only choose one substitute from each list. You want these cakes to be beneficial, but too many benefits all at once can actually be harmful!  

How to Feed Quinoa Cakes to your Flock

These quinoa cakes are very versatile when it comes to how you give them to your flock! Anyway you offer them, your flock is going to love them! I tried to make the cakes so that they would hold together but not be too hard.

While hard treats do last longer, meaning they take longer for your flock to polish off, the extra time also allows them to possibly go moldy or collect dirt and debris. Besides, chickens seem to prefer soft treats that are easy to peck at and eat!

Use this DIY treat for chickens as….

Entertainment-

One way you can use these cakes is as entertainment. They make a great healthy boredom buster for the winter months! I like to put the cakes in a suet cage for my flock to peck at. Any type of hanging cage or feeder will do for turning these cakes into an entertaining snack.

a Warm Treat-

You can also serve this recipe warm, with or without making them into cakes. The quinoa mixture makes a great substitute for oatmeal.

a Snack in a Bowl-

Of course, there is the good old fashion way of just giving the quinoa cakes to your flock in a treat bowl. They’ll still love the mixture whether it’s in cake form or not!

a Supplement-

These quinoa cakes can also be used as a supplement for your flock! Remember, natural supplements should not be fed on a regular basis. To use these quinoa cakes as a supplement, I recommend giving your flock a cake a day for no more than 3-4 days. Then take a long break from feeding them the quinoa cakes. The daily dosages of herbs and supplements in the cakes will help give your flock an immune boost and keep them healthy.

These high protein quinoa cakes for chickens are packed with nutrients and benefits for your flock! They are the perfect DIY treat for chickens to help your flock stay warm, healthy, and entertained this fall and winter. I love giving these cakes to my hens so that they can get some extra protein and herbs in their diet!

Where to Find the Ingredients

• Gluten-free white quinoa
• Gluten-free whole oats
• Ground turmeric root
• Organic ground ginger
• Organic hemp seeds
• Grass-fed beef gelatin

This DIY treat for chickens is the perfect way to sustainably spoil your homestead flock while still giving them something that is good for their diet! Your flock is going to love these high protein quinoa cakes! The seeds and whole grains in these cakes will make your flock go crazy for them and the herbs and supplemental protein will keep them healthy this fall and winter. These quinoa cakes can be used as a boredom buster, dietary supplement, or as a special, warm treat on a cold, fall day. Treat your homestead flock to something they will love and that will benefit their health. These cakes are super easy to whip for your flock!

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by Alexa