I fed Solitaire again this afternoon.
He was out by the chook house again just before dusk. so I put him in the birdcage again and thawed out a rat pup (the largest rodents I've got at the moment). I thought I'd try him with a thawed chicken neck (dogs food normally) as they'd just arrived today from the shopping trip. He took the rat pup and it was gon in a couple of minutes. Then I offered him the chicken neck (which I had in a plastic bag with the rat pup in warm water. The chicken neck was just as acceptable. It took him absolutely ages to swallow it because he picked it up in the middle and didn't want to let go. Eventaully he managed to get one end in his mouth and then it went down in a minute or two but I sat there for at least an hour while he messed about with it.
I reckon old Solitaire was lucky to find you and vice versa too I suppose 
