By Shannon Cole of Country Girl In The Village 
Coconut Oil has become all the rage these days and for some great reasons. The oil is said to have antibacterial, anti-fungal and antiviral properties. It contains healthy fats that have been said to help with weight loss, heart disease and diabetes. There are skin care benefits too.
Like other healthy oils, the markets are flooded with a wide variety of brands, terms and options. Cold-Pressed is the term of the day here. It means that the oil has been expelled from the coconut using a machine, or press, but kept at low temperatures to maintain the nutritional integrity of the oil. Refined and Unrefined has a lot to do with smoke points for cooking as well as flavors in the oil.
I have written about how I make suet blocks for my chickens using beef tallow. While my Ladies enjoy the extra calories and fat of the beef tallow suet blocks in the winter, I wanted another option for making natural suet blocks that did not contain animal fats (true suet) or gelatin. This “suet” block utilizes coconut oil as the base. The high fat content of the coconut oil will bind the other ingredients and set up as well as gelatin that is called for in other recipes.
Coconut Oil Suet Block
- 2 Tablespoons of Cold Pressed Coconut Oil
- 1/2 Teaspoon of Peanut Butter
- 1/4 Cup of Corn Meal (I use white corn meal)
- 1/4 Cup of Black Oil Sunflower Seeds
- 2 Tablespoons of Sunflower Kernals
- 2 Tablespoons of Millet Bird Seed
In a sauce pan, on low, melt the coconut oil. Once melted remove from heat and add the peanut butter. Mix well.
Set aside and allow to cool to a room temperature. Into a bowl, mix your dry ingredients. Add the room temperature oil mixture to your dry ingredients.
Stir well to combine all ingredients and to be sure that the oil mixture has coated everything. Place into a mold and allow to cool and the oil to set.
After your coconut oil suet block has set up you may feed to your chickens. If you have a hard time unmolding your suet block, place the bottom of your mold into a pan of hot water. The oil will warm and loosen enough to slip out.
The suet block is a great boredom buster, treat, and way to supplement your chickens winter time feeding. It will not replace traditional layer feed in their diet, but will work alongside of the layer feed to add in some of the nutritional benefits of coconut oil to your flock’s diet.
4 Comments
Thank you for informing about coconut oil suet. I am curious… why do we heat the coconut oil before mixing it with the peanut butter? We want to feed our birds during the winter and coconut suet is my first try at suet to replace the seed bells…
Why would you worry about feeding chickens, who are not vegetarian, coconut oil which can’t possibly be a natural part of their diet?–unless it is a South Seas breed.
Can this also be fed to wild birds in the winter? Thank you.
I use a very similar recipe (on a larger scale) for my wild birds and they love it. The only thing is that coconut oil is a liquid above 76° so this is probably better used in colder temperatures.