Welcome to The BackyardChickens.com Forum! + Newsletter Archive

WELCOME TO BYC!!

A few items for new visitors:

1) Please register for the forum. There is a lot going on and being a registered member allows you to stay informed.
2) Read the BYC Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) here.
3) Use the "subscribe" feature to be notified when a someone replies to a forum thread / topic you are interested in.
4) This forum will be getting bigger and better all the time. Keep an eye out for new features and friends!
5) 5) Go through the Required & Suggested Reading here.
6) HAVE FUN!!!!

We've decided to start posting copies of the BYC newsletter I / we are sending out occasionally. If you want to sign up for these newsletters please visit the homepage of www.backyardchickens.com and submit your email address.

Here is the very first newsletter distributed on the day the site was re-launched back on January 11th 2007 4:45:51 a.m.:

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Hello Backyard Chicken Friends!

I'm excited to announce the re-launch of http://www.BackyardChickens.com!

You're receiving this email because at some point during the last while you asked to be notified of updates to BYC. Well, this is the biggest update literally in YEARS! If for some crazy reason you'd like to be removed from this list, scroll to the bottom of this email and click on "Unsubscribe" then follow the directions to unsubscribe.

Well, its late, so I'm not going to go into all the exciting details, but the site is back up and under new management. We'll provide some new information about the new administrators, but we expect you'll already be familiar with some of us. If you're not, we look forward to interacting with you and getting to know you and your chickens!

A few quick items:

1) The re-launched site is still very new, so please poke around and let us know if any of the links don't work or if you get any error messages (please post in our forum - see below).

2) We've setup a new forum where you can post your questions, comments, and suggestions on the site or just to say hello! It can be found here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/

3) Look out for upcoming newsletter emails from us and your other BYC friends with news, pictures, and all kinds of goodies. We wont go crazy with the volume of emails, just a few here and there to keep everyone in touch with what's going on at the new BackYardChickens.com

All that's left to say is WOOOHOOO, were back!!!

;o)

-Rob Ludlow

Sent February 4th 2007

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Hello Friends Of www.BackyardChickens.com!

I can't believe that it has almost been a month since the re-launch of BYC! Here are some exciting things that have happened over the past few weeks:

(1) BYC Forum:
The new and improved forum has taken off! There are currently over 350 members - that's more than 10 new members every day since the start of the forum. Come join the fun: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forums/

(2) Search Engines:
When the site was down before I took over, it unfortunately was dropped by a bunch of search engines. With a lot of hard work the site is now being picked up and delivered for search results. Here are a few example searches using the most popular search engine, Google and the rank / position:

#3 for: chickens
#2 for: chicken coops
#1 for: coop design
#1 for: chicken forum

Help us promote BYC so we can get even more exposure. Tell your friends about BYC and if you've got a website please add a link to http://www.backyardchickens.com

(3) Raising Chickens 101:
A lot of people visit BYC with little or no experience with chickens. We've created a very basic guide to chickens at the following page: https://www.backyardchickens.com/raising-chickens-basics.php

This basic guide to chickens is a work in progress. If you've got suggestions on ways to improve this guide please let me know. Also, if you would like to volunteer to write a page that expands on any of the content sections or otherwise contribute to the BYC site I'd love to hear from you!

(4) Merchandise:
We're working to create some fun BYC merchandise to help you show your love for chickens and support of BYC. We'll probably start with simple things like clothing and bumper stickers (adhesive, magnetic, static-cling).

We need help with designs and also need suggestions for types of merchandise. If you've got ideas and/or design skills please let us know:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=43

(5) Feedback:
There is still a lot of exciting work to be done on the BYC site and forum. I've started a forum thread where you can post suggestions and comments on what we should focus on next. Please post your thoughts and comments here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=333

There are lots of other exciting items in the works and we'll keep you posted.

I'll see you in the forum!

-Rob

Sent March 3rd 2007

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Dear BackyardChickens.com Friends,

A bunch of wonderful stuff is going on over at www.BackyardChickens.com and I thought I'd run off a newsletter to bring everyone up to speed.

1) BYC Store
The BYC store opened for business on 2/26 and has been creating a bit of stir. So if you want some BYC goodies, visit our store here: http://coopedup.net

2) Ask Peeps
We have created a brand new section on the site devoted to the wisdom of Peeps. Some may ask, "What / who is Peeps?" Well to find out, you can visit the Peeps page here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/askpeeps.html

3) Bumper Sticker Contest
We're in the process of getting some bumper stickers created for our great community. Everyone should have a BYC bumper sticker / magnet on their car! We're looking for suggestions and have had some wonderful submissions. Check them out here.

4) Smilies Contest
As the forum grows we will keep adding new stuff. Right now we're going to be adding 10 new smilies. Vote for the next 10 smilies you'd like to see added to the forum: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=897
5) New BYC Pages

New candling egg pics & video: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-howto.html
New Misc. Pages https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-misc.html
Ask Peeps: https://www.backyardchickens.com/askpeeps.html
New Coop: Playhouse Coop: https://www.backyardchickens.com/coops/playhouse-coop.html
New Coop: Coop from free pallets: https://www.backyardchickens.com/coops/pallet-coop.html
As always, if you've got content you'd like to submit to the site (coop designs, chicken articles, etc.) please reply to this email and let me know what you've got in mind! Let's continue to make BYC the best site for people who are looking to add a little chicken (baby chick) into their lives!

I will see you in the forum!

-Rob

Sent March 18th 2007

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Hello Fellow Chicken Respector,

Here are the newest updates for www.BackyardChickens.com :

New Smiley Contest Results
THE VOTES ARE IN!!! 30 (yes, thirty) new and wonderful smilies have been added to the forum. Yeah, I know, we said we were only going to ad 10, but we couldn't help ourselves. ;o) So, the next time you reply to a forum post, click the "show" link to make all the extra smilies visible.
You can see all the new smilies (and who voted) here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=897

Bumper Sticker / Magnet Contest Continues
Only three days left to submit your ideas for the upcoming BYC bumper stickers! Once the submissions are all received we'll try to find a way to pick some winners. This is NOT going to be easy with all the great submissions. See them all, or add your own here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=847

Ask Peeps
That crazy yet helpful girl Peeps has been answering your questions. See her clever responses or ask her a question here https://www.backyardchickens.com/askpeeps.html

BYC Store
Don't forget to visit the BYC store https://www.backyardchickens.com/store.html Remember, all proceeds from sales go toward supporting the new BYC forum. Cindi (ChickChair) is still managing all the sales and shipping, so if you have any questions or want to place an order, email her at: [email protected]

Forum Updates
HOLY GROWTH BAT...er.... CHICKENMAN!
The forum has been growing like crazy. We give our thanks to you and everyone in this excellent community for creating such an awesome place to hang out and learn about raising chickens. We recently hit 10,000 posts... that is more than 150 posts per day!!!! In addition to the 30 new smilies mentioned above, we also added a cute little chick icon to represent new posts. See here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1425

Forum Subscriptions
The other day I was wondering how many members are using the "subscribe" feature on the forum. I'm a HUGE fan of this feature and think everyone should be using it. Basically if you subscribe to any forum post, the system will shoot you an email when someone replies to the thread. With such a busy forum it is hard for everyone to keep up on their favorite topics, so this allows you to get a single quick email when someone replies Note: You will only get one email, not an email with every new post like some of those other forums do. It is a really cool feature if you want to be notified when someone posts a reply to one of your own posts, or a topic you're interested in. Also, a cool bonus with subscriptions, there is a link on the front page of the forum that says, "Show your subscribed topics". This is like a way to bookmark your favorite posts / threads / topics.

Search All Of BYC
About a week ago we added a Google site search button on the homepage of BYC. This allows you to search all the content on the site and also searches the forum. You can still use the forum search for really specific searches, but now you can search the whole BYC site and forum at once.

I guess it's pretty obvious that we're not resting on our laurels. Help us grow and improve the site. Keep the ideas and suggestions coming... in fact, please post them here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=333

I'll see you in the forum!

-Rob

(whoops... forgot to post this last month after it was sent)
Sent May 9th 2007

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Hey, Long Time No Newsletter,

Can you believe it's been almost 2 months since the last www.BackyardChickens.com newsletter! Here are some quick highlights over the past 50 days:

BYC Bumper Stickers / Magnets:
It's been a long time coming, but they are finally here!!! The wonderful forum members submitted their ideas for the best bumper sticker slogans and then voted on the four they liked best. We got a professional graphic artist to add some great designs and sent them off to production. Show your chicken pride and support BYC with either adhesive or magnetic stickers:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/bumper-stickers.html

Forum Growth:
The forum continues to grow by leaps and bounds. We're adding about 22 members per day to our ranks, and were excited to recently announce that we hit the 2,000 member mark! You can read about the contest to see when we were going to add the 2,000th member here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1683

Personal Pages ALPHA:
As mentioned in this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3820 we recently launched the "BackYardChickens.com Personal Pages Project". Basically this will give members the ability to easily create personal pages to share with the world. If you can use Microsoft Word, you should be able to use this!

BYC Chat:
As requested by our community we've also added a chat application for our members to get to know each other in real time. Once you're logged into the forum go to the index page and you'll see a link for chat. Come on by and say hello!

Server Upgrades:
We've been really busy upgrading the server to support the new features and tremendous growth of the forum. If you have any problems or notice any slowness on the site or forum please email us with as much detail as possible including what and when it happened so we can track it down and fix it. We've also added additional levels of backup so all the data on the site and forum is safe and secure. This gives us even more reasons to sleep soundly at night (well, until the roosters wake us up).

Newsletter Archives:
There have only been 4 other newsletters sent out so far, but in that time we've added hundreds of new friends. If you've missed any of the newsletters we post them all right here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3

As always we're going to solicit your help and feedback. Please add your thoughts and comments (on the website and/or forum) here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=333

Oh, BTW, for fun we thought it would be great for everyone to share how they learned about BYC. Please post how and when here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5616

We'll see you in the forum!

BYC Team

Sent July 14th 2007

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Dear Chook-a-holics,

Time flies when you're having fun (on the BYC site and forum). Again it has been about 2 months since the last BYC newsletter. The last newsletter was sent out around the time we hit the amazing 2,000 member mark... well, can you believe we're already to 3,000 members! Here are some items we though you should know about:

"Mark As Read" Functionality:
As many forum members know, it is sometimes tricky to keep track of what has and hasn't been read on the forum. We've recently installed new "mark as read" functionality on the forum. This kind of feature is usually a huge resource hog on the server, but we're going to give it a try and see how it goes. Read more about how it works here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11055

BYC Bumper Stickers:
In the last newsletter we asked everyone to post a quick note on how they found out about BYC. The question was asked, "Did anyone come to us through way of a BYC bumper sticker?" Well, that is a great question. If you learned about BYC through a bumper sticker please let us know here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=5616

If you still need a BYC bumper sticker you can order them here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/bumper-stickers.html

Forum Reorganization:
The forum members and moderators provided a lot of great feedback on ways to make the forum easier to navigate for seasonand and new members. Here is a summary of what we did: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9120

Open Source Chicken Coop Project:
We've seen a LOT of great coops on the forum and also a lot of requests for good coop design plans. We thought it would be fun to work as a community to design the most versitile coop and then have some plans drawn up. See the community coop project here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=10186

Forum Growth:
As stated above we're at the 3,000 member mark on our BYC forum! Not bad for a forum that is only 7 months old. It's simply amazing how many new friends we're adding every single day. Congratulations to the moderators for keeping us all in line and for working hard to keep BYC such a friendly spot to hang out with 3,000+ of our closest friends! Most important, a super special thanks to the members for all their great posts and their support to the moderators and to each other. We often get emails about the wonderful feelings of community found on the forum and how friendships are continually being developed. Keep up the great work.

We'll see you in the forum!

BYC Team

Sent July 22nd 2007

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Hi BYCers,

We sent out a newsletter just two weeks ago, but there is so much going on we thought we'd send another quickie.

Personal Pages 2.0:
Two newsletters ago we announced the launch of the "BackYardChickens.com Personal Pages Project". This cool new feature gives members the ability to easily create a personal page to share with the world. It was well received by our community as seen by the 90+ members who have created their own page. Well, we've built the second version of this excellent tool which will allow members to create additional personal pages. You can read more details here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11399

Coop Page Contest:
Part of the reason for the upgrade to the BYC Personal Pages is that we want members to help us create new content for the BYC site. We thought we'd kick off this idea with a fun contest. Basically we want YOU to showcase your coop by building a "Personal Page" with pictures and details about your coop, run, etc. At the end of the contest a winner will be chosen and their coop featured on the home page of BYC. The winner will also receive an exclusive, brand new, not available in stores BYC Breakfast T-Shirt. Coop Page Contest information can be found here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11802

Forum Users Online:
The next time you are on the forum home page, https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum , take a look towards the bottom left of the page. You'll see how many users and guests are currently online. I think we hit a record the other day when 59 members and 50 guests were on at one time! It's pretty amazing that at almost any time of the day or night at least a few of your BYC friends are on the forum.

Secret Swap:
A bunch of members have had a great time with a "secret swap". In fact, it was so well received that it is happening again. You can see the results of the last swap here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11171

Katelyn has a page (Personal Pages tool in action) with more info on the next secret swap: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2464-Secret_Swap

We'll see you in the forum!

BYC Team

Sent September 18th 2007

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Hi Friends,

To celebrate our reaching of 4,000 members in our BYC Forum a few days ago we'd like to do something a bit out of the ordinary with the BYC newsletter. We thought we'd take a moment to share some information about the BYC Staff members that keep the community humming and make sure certain members are behaved (you know who you are!). So without further adieu, here are you BYC Staff members:

Nifty-Chicken (AKA Rob Ludlow)
I'm the owner of the site www.BackYardChickens.com and run all the back end techical mumbo jumbo. Managing this site is a hobby / labor of love for me (as it is for all the BYC staff). I have a full time day job during the day, so I've very grateful for the BYC Staff and forum members that make sure the boat stays afloat. I'm married (7 years last month) and have two daughters 4 and 1.5 years.

I was first introduced to chickens about 5 years ago. Our family had a family reunion and as one of the activities visited the local county fair. It was there that my brother bought 5 mixed breed chickens and brought them home for his family to raise. In time I caught the bug and started down the path of learning more about chickens, which is how I first discovered BYC. You can read more of my chicken story here: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/new-chickens.php.

A few years later I noticed the BYC was gone so I purchased the BYC site and worked diligently to get it back up and running (see more details here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=9631). I'm so glad I had the opportunity to keep the BYC site alive. My current flock of 9 chickens and two ducks are thankful for all that the BYC community has taught me.

chickchair (AKA Cindi Wise)
I am Cindi. I was hatched, er born...with full knowledge of all things chicken. I live on a farm called Wise Acres, because that fits me to a tee. I love communing with my animals and am teaching my daughter the fine art of chickening. One of the first ever Chickenstocks was held at my farm and through that I was able to lead hundreds of otherwise innocent souls into the addiction. I have added other fowl to the farm, including turkeys and ducks.

I am a hatchaholic and I am famous for hatching roosters. My farm eggs are famous for containing male chick embryos as well. Need eggs? I hatched my first duck egg about 2 and a half years ago. However, my hatching curse was passed on to the egg and lo and behold ( but no surprise) a rooster chick popped out of the shell!! (Anything Terrie says about my frantic phone calls regarding this duck egg may be greatly exaggerated. By the way, don't call her. Her inconsiderate way of laughing til she drops the phone is just bad phone etiquette).

I enjoy canning and am famous for salsa that would send you to tears, not only from the heat, but from the wonderful flavor. I am involved in 4H which is my way of sneaking chicken addiction on the unwary youth of my community. I admin both BYC message boards and care deeply about all the members.

eggchel (AKA Chel)
My name is Chel and I live in California with my family. I love spending time with my kids and hang out with them as much as possible. We watch BBC and SCIFI TV, go to movies, search for the best Mocha Lattes, and a couple times a year, driving across the country and back. Besides poultry, I like any hobbies that involve fabric, yarn and furniture. I have a huge fabric stash. My two favorite fabric stores are in Sisters, OR and Carborro, NC. And, of course, I love hanging out at BYC and ezBYC to read what everyone posts about their lives with poultry.
I currently have a large flock of Sebastopol geese, Runner ducks, Australian Spotted ducks, Cochins (giant and bantam), rumpless tufted Araucana bantams, Ameraucanas, Silkies, Allen Setters, Welsummers, Penedesencas, and Tolbunt Polish, plus a few other breeds. Last year I gave my cabinet incubator and hatchers to a friend so that I would stop hatching so many eggs! I have just recently started showing birds and really enjoy meeting all the poultry enthusiasts at the shows.

I first found ezBYC a number of years ago when I needed help with a sick hen. Everyone was so friendly and helpful that I stayed and joined the fun.

I met Nifty when he first started posting at ezBYC and we became friends. We talked a lot about the possibility of him reviving the old and by then defunct Backyardchickens website (it was separate from the ezBYC forum) and when he finally was able to bring it back to life, he asked me to help him as a moderator. I was excited to join in and have been delighted to see the tremendous growth and success of the board. I truly love our two BYC communities.

hinkjc (AKA Jody)
My name is Jody and I am most well known for my buff colored breeding and addiction to chickens. I started out with chickens about 12 years ago and it really is more of a hobby that helps pay for the feed/housing. Our first chickens were Rhode Island Reds and we loved them dearly for their entire lives (even though my rooster attacked me every day I came home from work). We now have standard buff orpington, easter eggers and rumpless/tufted araucana, as well as bantam buff ameraucana and bearded buff silkies. Our goal is to continue perfecting the buff color and to create our own buff araucana here on our farm, which is a rare find in our country right now.

My husband also raises wild species (wild eastern turkeys, ringneck pheasants, bobwhite quail and chukars) for his enjoyment, but he loves the chickens as much as I do. We met 19 years ago and have 2 beautiful daughters, ages 10 & 18. I work full time in quality management, was recently named President of the board for our local swim team organization (which my 10 yr old is a swimmer for 4 years now) and also go to college pursuing my Bachelor in Science degree. Along with my busy schedule, we enjoy growing and raising our own food. Our gardens are plentiful and we enjoy the fruits of our very manual labor every year, as well as share them with locals.

I came across the EZBYC site about 5 years ago and have been on almost every day since. I love to read and educate people on what I have learned about chickens over the years. I always feel there is more to learn and I also enjoy sharing my knowledge with others. I was asked to moderate Egg to Hatch, Other Poultry and Breeds categories by our wonderful Chickenmistress Chickchair and I gratefully accepted. I think it is great that Rob got this BYC back online, so more people could find us and join in our passion. Backyard Chickens truly is a family community.

terrielacy (AKA Terrie Lacy)
My name is Terrie and I am Addicted to Quack.

I live in a rural area of Oregon City Oregon where I am slave to 20 chickens, 17 ducks and 3 geese who take up a significant amount of time, demanding treats and require that I sit outside watching them for hours instead of doing something useful, like cooking or cleaning or weeding the garden.

I am married to a wonderfully patient and supportive husband who is almost as addicted as I am. We have 2 cats, Boris the Carrot (his IQ) and Missie Marie.

I serve on the Board of Directors for The Duck Rescue Network, a national network of 200 + members whose primary objective is education and advocacy for waterfowl. For more info go to www.duckrescue.org

I have always loved ducks and when we moved to our dream home, a friend gave us a dozen duck eggs, which led to my quest for duck information. My research for duck care and housing requirements led me to, among others, Backyard Chickens and the message board. I have made many friends there, online and off and my life has been enriched. I was invited to be a member of the moderator team and I am honored to be here.

I love to sew and quilt. I have taken over the dining room in our home with my machine-quilting frame and the den is also lined with shelves holding fabric. I participate in local Craft Fairs and Bazaars for fun and to feed another addiction of mine, fabric shopping. We try to grow and can a lot of our own veggies and try to be more and more self-sustaining as possible.

In my spare time, I work at a Supermarket, where I am the customer service manager.

adoptedbyachicken (AKA April)
Between Christmas and New Years in 2002 following a bad wind storm I found what I believe to be an ISA Brown hen cowering in my horse barn. Thinking she was lost in the storm I fed her and kept her safe while I searched for her rightful owners. She rewarded me daily with a fresh egg in the bedding in the corner of the stall. No neighbors claimed her and the first project of the new year was to build her her own coop. As the stores reopened and I got her the right feed I was told I simply could not have just one chicken, they liked to be in flocks, so ‘ready to lay pullets’ were ordered in by my feed store.

I found BYC soon that year when I suddenly needed help as ‘Cindy’ was acting eggbound and at the time had no idea what her symptoms meant. I had called several Vets and most had just laughed, others told me they had no idea what could be wrong or what to do about it.

So it began, I had no idea at the time of course but the addiction was fast and furiously taking me over. Soon I had over 160 layers, 6 coops each with their own run and a huge other fenced area where they could range alternately right on the boarder of the city limits. We have since moved to a very rural location and I have expanded into ducks and turkeys as well as letting them all free range under the watchful eyes of my newest rescue, a Maremma Livestock Protection Dog.

I still have horses and participate in horse rescue as well as pleasure and distance riding and basic training

allen wranch (AKA Carla)
I’m Carla, and I live in the beautiful Texas Hill Country in a college town built on the banks of The San Marcos River.

I have one spoiled black Lab, two spoiled cats and 60 spoiled chickens. My wonderful husband is a former shop teacher who loves to build things and never complains when I need a new coop. However, every time I tell him I need to get some more chickens, he always says I have to get rid of some of the ones I have first. So far, I haven’t listened to him.

I became interested in chickens after reading a gardening magazine article about a family on the west coast who had a chicken coop in the middle of their garden. There was a picture of a beautiful garden, with some sassy barred rocks roaming through the paths between the vegetation. I had a garden, and the chickens seemed like something I would enjoy having too.

After buying Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens by Gail Dameron and researching the various breeds, my husband and I traveled 3 ½ hours from our house and brought home eight little chirping Marans chicks. Two weeks later I picked up two chicks each of a variety of breeds I ordered through a local feed store and four Ameraucana chicks from another feed store. I was hooked and the addiction was born! Over the next few years I picked up several other breeds and fell in love with the magnificent silver Appenzeller Spitzhauben. Except for the excess roosters, I still have most of my original chickens, and they are enjoying a leisurely retirement on the Allen Wranch.

I found Backyard Chickens surfing the Web trying to find out as much as I could about chickens. It has been my home every since.

A bit thanks to all the BYC staff and all they do!

Look in your inboxes for another newsletter in the next few weeks with some cool new BYC updates. We'll see you in the forum!

The BYC Team

Sent September 31st 2007 (sorry, posting late)

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Hi, BYC Community!

Time for another newsletter...

Coop Page Contest Ends 10/7/07:
Hopefully everyone that has built a coop has entered it into the coop design contest. Now that Fall is upon us we hope that most of the coops have been built. If you haven't submitted yours yet, please finish your coop pages and submit them to the forum thread below BEFORE Sunday, 10/7/2007. We're going to pick a winning design (prizes involved) but everyone will be a winner by having their coops added to the BYC site: https://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html.

For information on creating your Coop Design page see the link below. If you've already completed your page, simply reply to this forum thread and add a link to your coop design page:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=11802

New Breed Pages Contest:
Just like the coop page contest, but for chicken breeds. Please help us expand the Breed section of the BYC site! More info here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=18039

BYC in NYT:
We're excited that BYC was mentioned in the New York Times: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=17030

Two new forum moderators:
The forum has been growing like crazy and the BYC staff members are up to their eyeballs in posts. We've invited two wonderful members of our forum to become moderators and they gracefully (after some arm twisting) accepted. ;o) Below is some information to help you get to know them better (so when they pull out their moderator stick you'll know who's on the other end).

speckledhen (AKA Cynthia)
Hi, I’m Cynthia. I live in the North Georgia Mountains of Fannin County on just over 5 acres of woods with my husband of almost 32 years(who I married at age 19), my pointer-lab mix, Kes, and 26 chickens. Hubby and I are native Georgians, but we’re retired Air Force and have lived in Colorado, Utah (twice) and Ohio. Both our grown sons were born out west. We’ve had chickens for about two years now and wouldn't ever want to be without them again. We raise Barred Rocks, Blue/Black/Splash Orpingtons and Blue/Black Ameraucanas plus still have every member of our original flock of various breeds.

Hubby and I raise a garden every year plus we have a small orchard of heirloom apple trees, pears, peaches and cherries, in addition to grapes, blueberries and blackberries. Hubby loves to graft apple trees as a hobby to create many varieties on one tree. Our girls provide plenty of organic fertilizer and bug control for us, a wonderful side benefit of owning chickens.

I’m a quilter, formerly a realtor, and in the past, I’ve taught beginning sign language in the school system adult education section. When I found BYC, I found a great place for information, fun and support. I want to thank Rob for the opportunity to participate even more fully in this wonderful chicken-loving community!

Congratulate speckledhen here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=17708


silkiechicken (AKA Diana)
Hello everyone! I'm Diana and I am a student at the University of Washington. I am majoring in bioengineering and practically live in the lab doing research. I graduate this year and will be applying for graduate school or maybe seeking something in industry. If I appear logged on and seem like I am ignoring everyone... well blame that on school! I'm always connected to the web somewhere, but my physical self is often doing work away from the keyboard.

Other than school, I like to raise chickens and garden. My flock bounces between 15 and 30 some birds depending on the time of year, and I have to fence in anything I want to eat because else the chickens will get to it first. I also have a cat who showed up as a stray 14 years ago, 4 turtles, a hamster, and a bunch of fish.

I live in Washington State and spend the week at school and the weekends at home. During breaks I'll be frequenting Oregon where I have another pet hamster and my significant other. I hope to be able to contribute to this community at any spare moment between classes or when ever I don't feel like doing my homework! I give a big thanks to Rob for keeping the forum up and all the mods who I now get to help keep the peace!

Congratulate silkiechicken here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=17752

We'll see you in the forum!

The BYC Team