• Last updated 3/7/13 by Lothiriel

Why Join Back Yard Chickens? – Benefits of being a BYC Member Why lurk when you can have your own username and forum persona, and let us enjoy your company and that of your chickens?   Membership is and always will be FREE. We just want to let you know about all the great reasons for you to join us as a full-fledged BYC member:   Family-friendly Community of Chicken Enthusiasts   We have a strong sense of community here on BackYardChickens.com. People come here seeking advice about their chickens and... read more

• Last updated 2/19/13 by Nifty-Chicken

Everything you need to care for and keep happy, healthy chickens   With directives on diagnosing and treating sick or ailing chickens, as well as general information on how to keep chickens in peak condition, Chicken Health For Dummies is your go-to guide on how to best care for and keep chickens.   Inside, you'll get everything you need to know about chicken health and wellness: an encyclopedia full of common and not-so-common diseases, injuries,... read more

• Last updated 12/12/12 by BYC Project Manager

  One of the Many Benefits of Raising Chickens: Composting with Chickens           Recently delivered 30 yard dumpster of hay, shavings & manure - 8-27-2011   After four months of the chickens working the compost - 12-31-2011 (this picture was taken where those trees are in the first picture)       Regardless of whether you would like to start raising chickens or have been raising them for decades, it’s a known fact that chickens love to scratch. That’s how many once green fenced chicken yards become barren brown wastelands. If they... read more

• Last updated 3/5/13 by Nifty-Chicken

How to Access BYC Mobile Be sure you're logged in Go to the homepage Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on "Mobile"   While we're in the final testing phases you will need to opt in manually to the mobile system.  After the testing is done we'll automatically switch you to mobile based on what kind of device you're using to visit the site.   First Look: The Mobile Homepage When you first sign in, here's what you'll see on the homepage.   Alerts notify you when you have new private messages, or when your... read more

• Last updated 11/6/12 by Nifty-Chicken

For the vast majority of our users the BYC website provides tons of great tools and features to help lean about raising chickens and sharing pictures and stories.  Unfortately from time to time we receive reports of people having problems.  Hopefully this guide will help those visitors an members find answers to their problems.   The Rapid Pace Of Technology - Stay Up To Date FOR FREE! Tech and the internet evolve at lightning speeds.  Many people visiting BYC are using Internet Explorer 8 as their browser (4 years old) and some are even on IE 7 (over 6 years... read more

• Last updated 11/2/12 by BYC Project Manager

This is a summary of the thread Caring for Cross-Beaked and Special Needs Chickens. Flock owners who have a chicken that is temporarily unable to eat may find useful information here on how to get extra nutrition into their birds as well. ---------------------------     Some of us have opted to take on the care of chickens that require a higher level of maintenance than other birds. These are a few of the tips that we have picked up and shared with each other. You may be contemplating whether or not to save that one little runt in your hatch group; hopefully we... read more

• Last updated 6/26/12 by BYC Project Manager

"Chillin' With My Peeps" adhesive or magnetic chicken bumper stickers   "My Pet Makes Me Breakfast" adhesive or magnetic chicken bumper stickers   "My Chicken is an Honor Student" adhesive or magnetic chicken bumper stickers   "It's Cheep Therapy" magnetic chicken bumper sticker read more

• Last updated 4/20/13 by Lothiriel

A list of abbreviations commonly seen at BYC:   A AGB American Game Bantam   AGF   American Game Fowl   B BA Blue Andalusian   BA or Lorp Black Australorp   BB Buff Brahma   BBR Black/Blue Breasted Red   BBS Black, Blue or Splash   BCM Black/Blue Copper... read more

• Last updated 6/10/12 by terrielacy

BYC is made up of thousands of wonderful members, each one offering their knowledge, enthusiasm, compassion, and other gifts in unique, individual ways. We love to recognize them, and for this reason we developed an awards nomination system. Members can nominate another member for an award through this process, found on the BYC Recognition Awards thread.     Description Image Name Platinum Poultry Members have met requirements & shown support of... read more

• Last updated 3/27/12 by Nifty-Chicken

Over the years BYC has become the #1 destination for everything related to raising chickens.   The reason:  our wonderful community of chicken enthusiasts!!       We have a ton of super smart and helpful members of our community that have and do work hard to make BYC what it is today.   For this reason we've created the BYC Project Manager program and award.   Members of our community who have this award help manage aspects of our site.   Here are examples of past and current projects...   Chick Sexing Project BYC Coloring Book Contest Current... read more