ANNOUNCING A BYC MEMBER PROJECT!!!!! JOIN IN!!!

[Blondiechic]

as a newbie to your site I too think its a great idea - I keep telling everyone how fun chickens are, and those who have met Barry do agree (barry is a she).
With the pictures - which I think are great, may I suggest 'cartoony' friendly, fun ones rather than serious actual photos (unless you use baby silkies who are too cute for words!)

 

[texas75563]

Chickens are the perfect starter livestock for your
homestead, whether you have a small backyard in an urban area or 20 acres in the boondocks.

Chickens provide eggs, meat and fertilizer, plus they’re small and easy to manage.

Keeping pet chickens is great fun and relaxing at the same time. They make productive pets and they’re definitely a magnet for children.

Chicken keeping is a joy for the whole family! Can you imagine your children naming the baby chicks and then help nurturing them into fully matured egg laying chickens? What better way could there be of introducing your family, first hand to nature, by keeping chickens at home.

But of course it’s not just the children who’ll get great enjoyment from raising chickens… You’ll soon be spotting the different characters within your birds and recognising who rules the roost when your hens sort out the pecking order within your flock.

Before you decide which chicken breeds to raise, you’ll want to decide which attributes are most important to you: egg production, meat production, temperament or other qualities.

If you want low-maintenance chickens to clean up ticks and insect pests, most breeds are good choices.

Free-range chickens (chickens allowed to range on
pasture) produce the most nutritious and flavorful eggs.

Most of the eggs currently sold in supermarkets are
nutritionally inferior to eggs produced by hens raised
on pasture.

1/3 less cholesterol
1/4 less saturated fat
2/3 more vitamin A
2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
3 times more vitamin E
7 times more beta carotene

Come to BackYard Chickens for all your questions!
http://www.backyardchickens.com

 

[3goodeggs]

All of these are excellent ideas, The need to distill it all down into concise succinct wording will be a difficult job. (Chicken sound bites. brrrrk.)
Is this a double sided or just one side of 8x10 piece of paper ?
Will this be something that we all can down load, print out, and hand out to friends, neighbors, clubs, and family ?

 

[Chemguy]

If you want it to be one regular page I suggest dividing into 5 paragraphs, the 1st being the intro, then the second the benefits of owning your own chickens/fowl, the third could expand on the value and benefits of knowing exactly what is in your eggs or fresh chicken, the fourth a condensed version of what is needed to house and raise chickens in your backyard. The last paragraph would restated your intro and also direct everyone where to go to expand on the information they have been given in the info sheet. Just give the basic information in the body, don't try and cram a ton of info in it or they wouldn't read it because of info overload. The wrap up is the important link to the expansion and leading them to BYC or available books. You could include a couple lines that contain websites and books/magazines.

I'm in strong agreement. It's easy to overwhelm with words. This should be kept simple and attractive. So says the guy who often writes at maximum verbosity.

 

[seminolewind]

Wow, let's see:
Whitewinterwolf, your idea sounds good about the pics with smiling faces. One of my favorites is a little girl with a big chicken in her arms and an unforgetable smile on her face.

Zil , that Uncle Sam pic is really good! Random thoughts is good-it's like brain storming.

Pete, you're having some good ideas, pictures may draw someone to read the writing.
Writerofwords, yes simple is best.

Spacecowgirl, you are saying the right things about chickens making us happy, I also thought that slanting the page towards why we like chickens, why they're important to us and our children, what makes them good pets, etc. Why chickens are fun,
"They can be very loving and sociable, like hopping into your lap and cuddling, and enjoying being petted, much like a cat or dog..."

Good eggs, the page will be printable, all we members would have to do is print it out. I think it's going to be one page. Maybe some time in the future, we can create another page , more factual.

I thought we might want to make this first page somewhat of an emotional slant; why do we become so attached to them and consider them pets, watching your kids being so excited incubating eggs and watching them hatch, and raise them. Many families show their chickens. The flock waiting at the back door for left overs, companionship, etc.

I would like medical people to understand why your chicken is so important, she's worth you spending money to see a vet and get some treatment. Instead of a vet's receptionist telling one of us that "we don't see chickens", I would like to hear a vet say" I'm not sure I can do anything for your bird, but if you want to come in, I'll take a look and see what I can do".

Maybe pictures that show our connection to our chickens, and maybe using quotes from members related to what we personally get from having our chickens such as "I can unwind after working by sitting outside with my chickens and having that cup of coffee". Or, "my kids have learned alot abouit responsability, and what they get in return" or "My 2 silly hens have to knock my flower pots over every morning"

I'm sure most of us at BYC can think of a sentence that describes why you have chickens or what makes you get so attached to them? Quotes like that may speak volumes since we have so little space. And how to lay out the page.

We can do this!!!!!

 

[RedheadErin]

Not to mention, they don't have allergy issues like furry pets do!

 

[Fierlin1182]

I think this is a good idea. Most people in my city like the idea of back yard chickens (it's a pretty quiet city with the old and young and people from surrounding country. Lots of chicken owners. ) but there are certainly people that have their doubts . . . .

Do you need any pictures? I can do sketches.
Or I can write if you want, but I am not that knowledgeable about the inner workings of the chicken.

 

[seminolewind]

Thanks, Fierlin . We will certainly need help with everything, as soon as we know what we're doing, LOL

There's just so much information to put on one page. I started this thread because I wanted members to have something to print off to give to people that can't for the world understand why we would consider a chicken a desirable pet; a valued pet.

That's all for this page. But I think there should be more printable pages covering many more aspects of the chicken world.

On this page I was thinking that it might be best to quote as many of us as possible to the question
"Aside from eggs, what's there to like about your chickens?" or
"Why do you like/love your chickens?"

Or questions like that, and quote many answers. Then look for some real nice pictures that DO say 1000 words.

Need answers. Need pictures. Need a good quote to tie it all together. Need design/layout ideas.....

 

[Kevin565]

 

[Judy]

I think Kevin565 has a great start there.

I wouldn't say "the perfect" backyard pet -- maybe "a great" backyard pet -- let's not get too pushy.

Needs some graphics, of course. Also a little cleanup, minor stuff.

And I think it needs a link or address for BYC at the bottom!