Michigan Chickenstock 2014 - planning ahead!

[Candy442]

I LOVE my turkeys! One of my hens comes up on the deck and pecks at the sliding glass door every morning for her treats. She will NOT leave until she gets them. So I give them to her right away to avoid all the poops on my hubbies new deck

I'm not sure how things work exactly with the pre-orders on the thread but as soon as they start laying and I check fertility I will verify that I can bring some to Chickenstock

Pooping on the deck is a constant battle with us and 13 chickens! We have wild turkey around our property too does that matter and do you have them in a separate area/pen?

Usually the weather is pretty warm, so hopefully, you won't have to worry about the chicks. There's always chicks there!!

There were a lot of chick varieties as well as some beautiful full grown birds available. I do not remember any turkeys though, but last year was our first. I can't wait for this one!

 

[LoveMyChicklets]

I have always had my turkeys in with my chickens and never had issues with blackhead, etc. That being said... I can not keep my polish in with them tho. The polish have a hard time seeing with their tophats and can be vulnerable to bullying so they r all in a pen by themselves. They r much happier that way also

 

[lbrykowski2011]

Narrangansett turkey poults

Are those meat turkeys or heritage? Hope their weathering well in this, ur not far from me and the snow amounts, wow.

 

[LoveMyChicklets]

Quote: They are Heritage turkeys. So far they were doing ok. I put them in the hen house and locked them up tight. First thing in the morning I will be out checking on them again.

 

[lbrykowski2011]

Love the turkeys in ur avatar photo. I want to get just 3 or 4 turkeys in the spring for meat. I have chickens n ducks, never done turkeys. Was looking at the BBW n BBB's. Any advice?

 

[Opa]

When it come to Chickenstock, we all owe Chick Flick a debt of gratitude. Each year she has driven from Davison to Delta Township to reserve the Delta Mills Park pavilion for our event. Many of those years she assumed the cost of the rental.

For several years I initiated the necessary coordination of Chickenstock by contacting various members and asking them to maintain the threads necessary to insure a reasonably smooth running and sucessful event. It helps to have the following threads 1- An attendance list so people will have an idea of who is planning to attend 2- A food list for the pot luck lunch so there is a variety of dishes 3- A buy/sell list so folk will know what they may be able to purchase and plan accordingly. Also so people can state what they are looking for.

Some one needs to assume the responsibily of coordinating everything at the event. Including but not limited to setting up the food tables, arranging the tables, passing out raffle tickets and running the drawing, providing a donation jar and making people aware of it to help defray costs, and finally site clean up.

I also procured plastic eggs and filled them with candy for a kids egg hunt. We also had a few kids games that I provided prizes for.

Last year Silly Chicken took on this responsibility and while I still provided the smoked chicken that was the primary meat dish my involvement was minimal and it was the first Chickenstock that I got to visit with people. The event went quite well and I really enjoyed getting to spend time talking with so many people I have come to know on line.

For several reasons, health being just one, I'm not certain if I will be attending this year and Sillly Chicken has stated her attendance is also in doubt. That being said, someone needs to step up and get the ball rolling since Chickenstock has been too nice an annual event to just let fall by the wayside. I have enjoyed each year and sure hope this event continues.

 

[LoveMyChicklets]

Love the turkeys in ur avatar photo. I want to get just 3 or 4 turkeys in the spring for meat. I have chickens n ducks, never done turkeys. Was looking at the BBW n BBB's. Any advice?

If you are looking for turkeys for meat those would probably be your best bet. Just be careful with blackhead if you put them with your chickens, of course. And try not to get attached to them! They eat a ton of food and can be really wasteful so if you have to feed them anything but free range try pellets if you can. I let all my birds free range and supplement with organic from a farmer in the area but the turkeys kill me in feed during the winter months. OUch! Oh and one important thing... turkeys can't have the limestone that's in regular chicken feed. It's like arsenic to them. If you have to buy feed you may want to keep them on grower which has no limestone (at least my farmers doesn't). I'm not a professional but this is my experience.

 

[chickflick]

You can't miss CS, Opa! It's still 6 months away, so there's plenty of time to get you healthy! (Didn't you go hunting? lol) And we sure would miss Granny!! If smoking all them chicken is too much for you, I'm sure we can all step up and make sure there is plenty to eat! There's always too many desserts (did I just say that??) anyways.

 

[Candy442]

When it come to Chickenstock, we all owe Chick Flick a debt of gratitude. Each year she has driven from Davison to Delta Township to reserve the Delta Mills Park pavilion for our event. Many of those years she assumed the cost of the rental.

For several years I initiated the necessary coordination of Chickenstock by contacting various members and asking them to maintain the threads necessary to insure a reasonably smooth running and sucessful event. It helps to have the following threads 1- An attendance list so people will have an idea of who is planning to attend 2- A food list for the pot luck lunch so there is a variety of dishes 3- A buy/sell list so folk will know what they may be able to purchase and plan accordingly. Also so people can state what they are looking for.

Some one needs to assume the responsibily of coordinating everything at the event. Including but not limited to setting up the food tables, arranging the tables, passing out raffle tickets and running the drawing, providing a donation jar and making people aware of it to help defray costs, and finally site clean up.

I also procured plastic eggs and filled them with candy for a kids egg hunt. We also had a few kids games that I provided prizes for.

Last year Silly Chicken took on this responsibility and while I still provided the smoked chicken that was the primary meat dish my involvement was minimal and it was the first Chickenstock that I got to visit with people. The event went quite well and I really enjoyed getting to spend time talking with so many people I have come to know on line.

For several reasons, health being just one, I'm not certain if I will be attending this year and Sillly Chicken has stated her attendance is also in doubt. That being said, someone needs to step up and get the ball rolling since Chickenstock has been too nice an annual event to just let fall by the wayside. I have enjoyed each year and sure hope this event continues.

I can assist in the park reservation since I live real close to Lansing and work downtown. I used to work right across the street from the Delta TWP offices, but was moved to downtown Lansing in November. Still, let me know.

Opa, you mentioned donations have been collected to help defray the costs. Who keeps track of those and who the money gets distributed to?

I like the thread delegation and volunteers to maintain them

to coordinate children's/raffle activities, sales/demos, tables for food, food list for potluck, and park maintenance duties. I believe they have specific rules about what the group needs to do for cleanup and what the park does to clean up.

There is a great playground there at the park for kiddos too.

It's a great time for all and no time like being snowed in to start making plans!

 

[Opa]

For most of the Chickenstocks Chickflick has paid for the rental of the pavilion and I have paid for the smoked chicken. With retirement incomes growing smaller each year I initiated the donations idea to defray that cost. Last year we collected enough to cover the rental and the cost of providing the smoked chicken.