flake n. a (packed, firm, or cohesive) portion of animal fodder such as hay or straw, smaller than a bale and larger than a handful. Editorial Note: The size of a flake is not fixed, as you can see in the citations where it is variously explained as weighing 20 pounds, equaling one-twentieth of a bale, measuring two to three inches wide, or approximating the width of an encyclopedia. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
When you had sleepovers as a child, what did you call the makeshift beds you made on the floor? In some places, you call those bedclothes and blankets a pallet. This word comes from an old term for “straw.” And: What’s the story...
A clever pun can make the difference between a so-so phrase and a memorable one. The phrase “the last straw” refers to an old fable about too many items in a load, but it takes on a whole new meaning in a public-awareness campaign about...
The word is actually “fleak”. People have misused the word flake so much it has become the flavor of the day, as it were. It is from Old English, or very early American English i think. I googled it and found the term used properly in a few cited articles way down the hit list.
“Fleak” is an alternate spelling (I’ll add a citation or two for it shortly) but “flake” is still far and away the most common spelling now and historically.