Okay, seriously, when is this site going to slow down!?!?!?!?!

[setter4]

11,500 members???? That's just wild!
I belong to what I THOUGHT was a huge dog related list and it has about 5000 members.
Most of my dog friends are cracking up about us getting chickens...especially since we show bird dogs! lol
We would be from group #2. My husband and I both grew up around chickens but have not owned any of our own during our adult lives. At 54 & 55 we decided we needed chickens! We (read I) must be nuts!
We are going out of town for 5 days for dog shows next week and now besides finding a sitter for the 3 dogs who are not going I had to find a flock sitter too!! lol
We are loving it. Thanks for the great site.

Jackie , Bill, 6 English Setters and 10 chicks

 

[tricia]

A chicken in every yard and no chicken left behind!

I am envisioning new bumper stickers coming along....

 

[FrontPorchIndiana]

I just gave this address to my electrician. His daughter wants to get into raising chickens. I said "Well she needs to go to back yard chickens dot com!" He looked at me like I'd plum flipped my lid, then later asked me to write it down.

I've also been known to talk it up at TSC. One guy even said I should carry a business card.

Hey, we could be card carrying members!

 

[Anne]

I'd love to be a card-carrying BYC member.

Seriously, I can't believe how big this site is. I've followed BYC through all it's various incarnations over the past 7 years, and this is by far the greatest board yet.

 

[ole-crone]

This is a great site but I have to admit that I'm not one who is a fan of all the waste of time posts - those just trying to hit 1000 or whatever. BUT that's just me - others obviously love it.

It does make it hard to have time some days to check the daily posts. I know that some good stuff is lost - just because I don't the time to scan 22 pages to see what important is going on. OR when you do and you click on a thread, you find that it has at least 4 pages to it and more than half of those are simply faces or someone just saying hi. Maybe one answer in 20 might actually give some good advice. BUT that's just me - others obviously love it.

OR you have a few minutes so you sign in to read the forum's headlines. You find that they are all various games that are going on. The one chicken related item is months old, someone just happened to revive it to earn another point towards having 1000 posts. BUT that's just me - others obviously love it.

You're probably wondering why do I stay? Well, that's just me - and inspite of it all, I obviously love it.

 

[farmgirlie1031]

I don't think it will ever slow down.

 

[okiemommy]

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

ole-crone, I completely understand what you're saying. We've worked REALLY hard on this very issue. For example, we've tried to split out the "social" stuff from the "chicken stuff" to make it really easy for people to differentiate what is where. In the future maybe we can create a "Recent Threads" that is just for the chicken section. I'll continue to look into that.

On a related note, keeping a forum social is also a way to ensure that people stick around to help out those in need. Sites that are info only (with no social benefits) will not keep people engaged (sticky) which means they will leave and therefor people won't be around to add more helpful info.

It isn't an easy "fix" but I'm pretty happy and impressed with how we've got things setup. Definitely always room for improvement, but when compared to where we were a year ago, or even 2 years ago... night and day difference in usability and organization.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

BTW... I LOVE the idea of Card Carrying Members!

I'm going to see if we can add some (maybe 5 - 20) BYC business cards to each store order and maybe make a large stack available for cheeeeeep in the store!

 

[LuckyStella]

Another Chicken Newbie Here!!

My 12-year-old nephew was under strict orders to cull his flock of 50 assorted layers and roos. I am the proud adoptive mom of 4 Light Brahma Hens and their over-protective rooster. I think he got to keep a few polish and a few good layers.

Three of the hens were moulting when they came to their new home--yet I've been getting two eggs a day regular as clock-work.

I've been having a lot of fun reading the posts, and have been learning soooo much about what to do, feed, watch for, etc. There's so much info already here that I haven't had to post one question since I've joined--I just do a search on the topic and THOUSANDS of posts show up!

Anyway, thank you all for hosting this wonderful, informative forum!

LuckyStella

Upstate New York, Fingerlakes Area