Flock block review

Mark bought a flock block on a whim the last time he was at the feed store.  The flock block seems to be a new way of feeding pastured poultry --- the food is all glued together with molasses, so the chickens peck off a bit at a time as they need it.

The chickens adored their treat, and their normal feed consumption went way down.  However, I'm not all that impressed by the product.  First of all, it costs twice as much per pound as traditional feed, and has only 8% protein.  (I've still got the cockerels on 20% protein, although many people would have switched them to 13% by now.)  I don't know if it's a coincidence, but our cockerels stopped their relentless growing while nibbling on the flock block and have held a pretty steady size for the last couple of weeks.

I think that the flock block's real purpose is to prevent boredom and the resulting feather pecking.  You all know where I stand on that --- our automatic chicken waterer is the best solution I've seen for giving chickens something to do.

Has anyone else tried the flock block?  What did you think?