1999 A guy name Garm gets some chickens and creates www.BackYardChickens.com
Late 2000 Around October a message board is created on the BYC website using UtlimateBB http://web.archive.org/web/20001001010446/https://www.backyardchickens.com/
April 2001 The forum forum software is changed to ikonboard http://web.archive.org/web/20010410072809/https://www.backyardchickens.com/
Early 2002 The forum is moved from being hosted on the BYC site to being hosted on a 3rd party site: ezboard .
Late 2002 Cindi (chickchair) is elevated to Admin status at the new forum
Late 2004 Garm gets really busy with life and turns ownership of the ezboard forum to Cindi
Dec. 2004 Rob (Nifty-Chicken) gets his first chickens and scours the net for info. Finds BYC and a great group of people. http://www.nifty-stuff.com/new-chickens.php
Dec. 2004 Rob starts two new threads on ezboard and gets a TON of great help from super amazing members.
Early 2005 Rob goes back to ezboard and discovers his first thread is gone. Realizes that his thread was automatically deleted as it became old. Rob was VERY upset to loose all the great info he received from his new friends quickly created a backup of the second thread so it wouldnt ever be lost: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/chicken-coop-forum.php
2005 current Rob becomes very frustrated with ezboard (deleted posts, constantly logged off, terrible search, etc.)
March 2005 Rob goes to BYC to gain more great info SITE IS GONE!! Rob jumps on ezboard and discovers nobody knows what is going on. He does some sleuth work and gets a hold of Cindi who says to contact the site owner, Garm. Rob contacts Garm to see what can be done to bring the wonderful resource back up... whatever it takes, Rob wants to do it. Garm replies, I will be posting the site again in the next couple of days. A few weeks later BYC.com is back up PHEW!
November 2006 Rob tries to get onto BYC and cant. Goes to ezboard and discovers it has been down for a few MONTHS
November 2006 Rob digs through his emails and finds Garms email address. Starts asking (practically begging) Garm to turn over the site to him so he can bring it back (and never let it die again). After about a month of emails back and forth Rob becomes the new papa of BYC .
Late November 2006 Rob contacts Cindi to bring her up to speed on whats going on. Rob reads more and more about ezboard and that they are converting to Yuku . Lots of members seem worried about this so Rob discusses with Cindi the opportunity to bring the forum back to BYC (where it was originally). He also mentions his frustrations with the ezboard software and support and believes he can host an overall better forum experience. Cindi thinks it is a great idea.
December 2006 - It takes about another month to transfer the domain and get the site contents, and upload / update the site to work on the new servers.
January 11, 2007 The site is re-launched and the new BYC forum is unveiled: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3
1999 A guy name Garm gets some chickens and creates www.BackYardChickens.com
Late 2000 Around October a message board is created on the BYC website using UtlimateBB http://web.archive.org/web/20001001010446/https://www.backyardchickens.com/
April 2001 The forum forum software is changed to ikonboard http://web.archive.org/web/20010410072809/https://www.backyardchickens.com/
Early 2002 The forum is moved from being hosted on the BYC site to being hosted on a 3rd party site: ezboard .
Late 2002 Cindi (chickchair) is elevated to Admin status at the new forum
Late 2004 Garm gets really busy with life and turns ownership of the ezboard forum to Cindi
Dec. 2004 Rob (Nifty-Chicken) gets his first chickens and scours the net for info. Finds BYC and a great group of people. http://www.nifty-stuff.com/new-chickens.php
Dec. 2004 Rob starts two new threads on ezboard and gets a TON of great help from super amazing members.
Early 2005 Rob goes back to ezboard and discovers his first thread is gone. Realizes that his thread was automatically deleted as it became old. Rob was VERY upset to loose all the great info he received from his new friends quickly created a backup of the second thread so it wouldnt ever be lost: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/chicken-coop-forum.php
2005 current Rob becomes very frustrated with ezboard (deleted posts, constantly logged off, terrible search, etc.)
March 2005 Rob goes to BYC to gain more great info SITE IS GONE!! Rob jumps on ezboard and discovers nobody knows what is going on. He does some sleuth work and gets a hold of Cindi who says to contact the site owner, Garm. Rob contacts Garm to see what can be done to bring the wonderful resource back up... whatever it takes, Rob wants to do it. Garm replies, I will be posting the site again in the next couple of days. A few weeks later BYC.com is back up PHEW!
November 2006 Rob tries to get onto BYC and cant. Goes to ezboard and discovers it has been down for a few MONTHS
November 2006 Rob digs through his emails and finds Garms email address. Starts asking (practically begging) Garm to turn over the site to him so he can bring it back (and never let it die again). After about a month of emails back and forth Rob becomes the new papa of BYC big_smile .
Late November 2006 Rob contacts Cindi to bring her up to speed on whats going on. Rob reads more and more about ezboard and that they are converting to Yuku . Lots of members seem worried about this so Rob discusses with Cindi the opportunity to bring the forum back to BYC (where it was originally). He also mentions his frustrations with the ezboard software and support and believes he can host an overall better forum experience. Cindi thinks it is a great idea.
December 2006 - It takes about another month to transfer the domain and get the site contents, and upload / update the site to work on the new servers.
January 11, 2007 The site is re-launched and the new BYC forum is unveiled: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=3
03/01/2007 - Bumper Sticker design contest begins
03/03/2007 - New Smilies are added
03/23/2007 - 1,000 Members!
04/01/2007 - BackYardCows launched
04/20/2007 - BYC Personal Pages launched
04/25/2007 - BYC Chat (version 1)Is Live
05/08/2007 - BYC Bumper Stickers Finally Arive
06/21/2007 Big Category / Forum Reorganization
07/14/2007 - New "Mark As Read" Feature
07/18/2007 - BYC Personal Pages Upgrade
08/09/2007 - BYC hits 100.000-posts mark
09/15/2007 - 4,000th Members
09/26 & 27/2007 - New Forum Moderators: speckledhen & silkiechicken
10/06/2007 - Coop Design Contest Winners
11/01/2007 - Private Messages added
11/01/2007 - BYC Forum Sponsors
12/08/2007 - BYC CHAT Version II
12/16/2007 - New BYC "My Pet Makes Me Breakfast" Shirt
01/26/2008 - 1 Year after BYC forum was opened to the public we hit 6,000 members !
02/04/2008 - Double Private Messages
03/09/2008 - 7,000 Member Contest
03/10/2008 - 2 NEW BYC Moderators - MissPrissy & kstaven
03/15/2008 - NEW BYC forum: Online Poultry Show
03/15/2008 - NEW BYC Sister Site Launched: TheEasyGarden.com
03/20/2008 - PM Storage increases by 25%
03/25/2008 - Chillin With My Peeps Shirts Added
03/29/2008 - 8,000 Members
04/01/2008 - BYC HACKED!!!
04/16/2008 - 9,000 Members
04/24/2008 - BYC snags 500,000-posts mark
05/06/2008 - 10,000 Members + Free Image Hosting Added
06/12/2008 - Buy Sell Trade Section Updated
06/17/2008 - BYC Goes Green
06/17/2008 - 12,000 Members
07/03/2008 - BYC "My Pet Makes Me Breakfast" Coffee Mugs Released
07/12/2008 - 2 More BYC Sister Sites: BackYardCows.com and SufficientSelf.com
07/17/2008 - New BYC Section: Local Chicken Laws & Ordinances
08/26/2008 - New BYC Facebook group
08/29/2008 - 15,000 Members + 50% increase in PM storage
09/20/2008 - 16,000 Members + DOUBLE Image Storage Space
10/12/2008 - 17,000 members
11/04/2008 - Huge forum reorganization
11/14/2008 - New Feature: Links To Member's BYC Pages Under Avatars
11/17/2008 - BYC Mentioned In Newsweek.com
11/20/2008 - BYC-University Clothing Available
11/24/2008 - 19,000 members
12/08/2008 - New Forum Search Powered By Google
12/21/2008 - 20,000 Members! + 30% Increase in Private Message Storage Space
01/04/2009 - HomeMade Incubator Contest
01/05/2009 - 2 New BYC Moderators! gumpsgirl & The Chicken Lady
01/10/2009 - Announcing BYC Golden Feather Memberships
01/11/2009 - terrielacy made a forum Administrator
01/14/2009 - New Feature - Private Message Select: All , None
03/14/2009 - 25,000 Members! = 25% More Image Storage Space!
03/28/2009 - Member Profiles new feature: Geographic Location Info
04/17/2009 - Inception of the Buy Sell Trade (BST) Feedback System
04/20/2009 - New Feature: Private Message Folders
05/09/2009 - BYC Milestone: two million posts!
05/13/2009 - New BYC Features: PM Notification & Mass Move
05/19/2009 - New Feature: Collapsible Categories
05/28/2009 - Advanced BYC Chicken Breed Database & System Introduced
05/31/2009 - New Feature: Show All Topics - All topics started by a member
06/11/2009 - Pass Along BYC Business Cards On Sale
06/19/2009 - BYC Buddy Lists Introduced (credits to Golden Feather Members)
06/23/2009 - BYC hits 35,000-member mark
07/18/2009 - Full Color "My Pet Makes Me Breakfast" Clothing Line On Sale
07/27/2009 - Raising Chickens For Dummies, The Official Book Of BYC, Released
09/06/2009 - New BYC Moderator: Wynette
09/07/2009 - BYC Wins Facebook Video Contest
10/24/2009 - BSA Listings Feedback System Upgrade
11/03/2009 - Three Million Posts!
11/18/2009 - BYC 2010 Calendar On Sale
12/02/2009 - BYC CookBooks Printed
03/02/2010 - BYC reaches a milestone 50,000-member mark; gives away 50% increased image storage space for everyone.
03/12/2010 - 55,555th Member Contest
03/16/2010 - Chicken Brooder Contest
03/27/2010 - Chicken LORE (Laws and Ordinances and your Rights and Entitlements) project launched.
03/27/2010 - New Feature: Breed Selection - Search Tool
04/18/2010 - BYC "Other Poultry" Breeds Database
05/31/2010 - BYC Forum Platinum Poultry Membership, Introduced
06/07/2010 - First Waterers & Feeders Design Contest
06/15/2010 - New Feature - BSA Listings On BYC Homepage & Forum Index
06/26/2010 - BYC Shirt Design Contest
07/20/2010 - New Book: Building Chicken Coops for Dummies
07/25/2010 - BYC Page Creator Update
07/26/2010 - BYC Avatar Update
08/20/2010 - BYC Chicken Coloring Book Contest
09/01/2010 - New Contest: Promote BYC, Promote Your Website & Win a Free GFM
09/03/2010 - Worst Chicken Molt Pictures Fall 2010 Contest
09/19/2010 - The Online Most Annoying Rooster Crowing Contest
09/25/2010 - New BYC Newsletter design
09/25/2010 - Official BYC Poll - How many chickens do you have?
10/13/2010 - 2011 BYC Calendar Now Available!
11/13/2010 - New Recipes Section
11/13/2010 - Recipe Picture Contest
11/24/2010 - New Order of BYC Breakfast Clothing
11/24/2010 - New BYC Temp Tattoos
01/02/2011 - Guess when we'll hit 80,000 members
01/25/2011 - Great New Forum Features
01/26/2011 - Monthly BYC Trivia Challenge
01/25/2011 - New Anti-Spam System
This is a super high level overview of 9 years of history. If there are main points that should be added or changed, please PM me.