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)
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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.