Welcome to The BackyardChickens.com Forum! + Newsletter Archive

[BYC Support]

BackYardChickens
Newsletter - 10/2010

Why'd the chicken cross the road?
Maybe they were on their way to the next house for more Halloween candy? Will your chickens be dressing up for Halloween? Either way, make sure you teach them to look both ways before crossing the street!

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2011 BYC Calendar is in!
Last year's calendar was a great success so we did another one for 2011. There are limited quantities available in our store. Get one before they are gone! Read more >>>

Contest Winners Announced!
Choosing contest winners gets harder and harder all the time... especially as the submissions get better and better! Check out the winners for each of the following contests and tell them what a great job they did:

Coop Contest
Waterer - Feeder Contest
Incubator Contest

Chicken Coops >>>

What do you want in a chicken breed?
There are a TON of reasons why we choose the chicken breeds we do, but everybody has a specific characteristic that are the most important... so, what's yours? Vote here >>>

BYC Trivia Challenge?
Tomorrow (Sunday) at 5:00 Pacific Time we'll be having another fun and exciting trivia contest. Come and play with us and you might win a free Golden Feather Membership! Read more >>>

Topic Highlights
Here are a few new topics over the past month that we thought you might enjoy:

Have you ever smelled your chickens?
How do you live with yourself eating the birds you raised?
What treat did your chickies get today?
Post your pics of chicken dinners, please (meat pics)
Chicken Addiction Anonymous...

Featured Sponsors
Our sponsors help keep BYC running. Please take a few minutes to visit their websites and tell them you appreciate their support of our great community.

MyPetChicken - Day old chicks, buy as few as 3 at a time
Mt. Healthy Hatcheries - A hatching tradition for over 80 years
Fleming Outdoors - Your online farm supply store
Purely Poultry - Great prices on over 300 breeds
Purina Mills - Purina Pink 50 - Feed today for a difference tomorrow
Meyer Hatchery - Affordable Poultry Since 1985

You can see a list of all the BYC Sponsors here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-supplies.html

We'll see you in the forum!

The BYC Team

 

[BYC Support]

BackYardChickens
Newsletter - 11/2010

Happy Holidays!

Many of our members are getting reading for some wonderful celebrations with family and friends. Those of us at BYC are very thankful for all of our amazing community members and we wish you and yours the very best this holiday season!

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More "Breakfast" Clothing
For the past few months we've been running short on our very popular "My Pet Makes Me Breakfast" clothing. Our members have noticed and have been requesting that we put in another order to get more hoodies, tees, and even ladies tees into the BYC Store. We're happy to report that the new items have been added to the BYC Store and you can order them now to be shipped in time for Christmas!

BYC Black Friday Special:
Order over $50 in the store using the code below and get FREE SHIPPING! This special offer will expire on Sunday 11/28, so order soon!
Coupon Code: bfriday

Read more >>>



New Recipes Section
Recipes have always been a HUGE part of BYC. We've got such amazingly talented individuals that have great cooking skills. We're excited to announce a great new tool that will allow you to easily search, read, comment, rate, and even submit recipes. Check out the new system: BYC Recipes.

Read more >>>



New BYC Temp Tattoos
We really love our chickens, love BYC, and love to have fun. We tried to combine all that goodness into something new, and we think we pulled it off. Check out the new BYC Temporary Tattoos!

Special Offer: The first 20 peeps that order anything shipped from the BYC Store will get a FREE BYC Temp Tattoo with their order!

Read more >>>



PM Update: Smiley Buttons
We've added the smiley and other quick code buttons to the Private Message system! So, now when you send or reply to a PM you'll be able to easily add images, links, smileys, etc! Try it here .

Read more >>>



Topic Highlights
Here are a few new topics over the past month that we thought you might be interested in reading:

My coop caught on fire!! (Learn from this member's post!)
If you have a dog, what kind is it and is it good around your chickens?
Think it's too cold for your chickens? Think again...
What do you do for a living?
Rarest breed of chicken in the US?
Poll: What are your monthly living expenses?
Anyone noticing an unusually poor November egg production?



Featured Sponsors
Our sponsors help keep BYC running. Please take a few minutes to visit their websites and tell them you appreciate their support of our great community.

Metzer Farms - You have tried chickens. Now move up to Ducks and Geese!
Horizon Structures - Offering a complete line of high quality, pre-assembled chicken coops and coop kits.
J.M. Hatchery - Specializing in Freedom Rangers: strong, robust and highly suitable for free range, organic, and pastured environments.
Backyard Poultry Magazine - A bimonthly publication with information on raising, breeding, marketing and housing domestic fowl for small business or hobbyists.
Randall Burkey Company - Poultry Supplies - Chicken Hatchery, Baby Chicks, Gamebird, and Poultry Products.
Surehatch - #1 online source for discount egg incubators and poultry supplies.

You can see a list of all the BYC Sponsors here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-supplies.html


We'll see you in the forum !

The BYC Team

 

[BYC Support]

BackYardChickens
Newsletter - 12/2010

Year End!
Can you believe we're just a couple weeks away from the end of 2010? CRAZY!

By some calendars, 2011 will be known as "Year of the Rabbit" but at BYC it's always "The year of the Chicken!"

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BYC Trivia Challenge
Tomorrow (Sunday 12/12) at 6:00 Pacific Time we'll be having another fun and exciting trivia contest. Come and play with us and you might win a FREE 2011 BYC Calendar or Golden Feather Membership !

Read more >>>



Recipe Picture Contest
Our new BYC Recipes section has been a huge success! In an effort to make it even better, we've started a contest for members to submit pictures of recipes they have prepared. The winner will get a free BYC Cookbook !

Read more >>>



BYC 2011 Calendar Special Offers
Offer 1: Every BYC Calendar purchased this month will get a FREE BYC Bumper Sticker . Just add a calendar and any adhesive bumper sticker to your shopping cart and you'll get the discount once you apply coupon code: STICKER

Offer 2: Every order over $75 will get a FREE BYC calendar ! Simply add a calendar to your shopping cart and then the coupon code BYC2011

Hurry, this is a limited offer while supplies last!

Read more >>>



Filtered "Recent Posts"
Some of our members have requested a way to show the "Recent Posts" list with some of the more social topics filtered out. For this reason we've created a "Filtered Recent Posts " option. If you prefer this new list please bookmark it.

Read more >>>



Topic Highlights
Here are a few topics that we thought you might be interested in reading:

Mahonri's 2nd Annual New Year's Day Hatch & Contest for GFMs!
Anybody raise sprouts to feed the chickens?
When does a bloodline become "Yours"
Chicken myths and old wives' tales, please!
Wheaten Marans Discussion Thread
If you have a beautiful coop that looks like a little house, post!



Featured Sponsors
Our sponsors help keep BYC running. Please take a few minutes to visit their websites and tell them you appreciate their support of our great community.

Ideal Poultry - The largest supplier of backyard poultry in the United States, shipping close to 5 million chicks annually
Happy Hen Treats - The world's first line of treats for chickens
Murray McMurray Hatchery - The world's largest rare breed hatchery
HenSaver.com - Makers of the Hen Saver

hen apron / chicken saddle
EggCartons.com - Discount Supplier of Egg Cartons, Egg Trays, & Poultry Supplies

You can see a list of all the BYC Sponsors here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-supplies.html


We'll see you in the forum!

The BYC Team

 

[BYC Support]

BackYardChickens
Newsletter - 01/2011

2011 Off To A Great Start!

Lots has been going on, and the year is still in diapers! The indications so far show that 2011 is going to be another record breaking year for BYC and the overall trend toward raising backyard chickens! We're so glad that you can be a part of these exciting times!

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Great New Forum Features
We're getting ready for a ton of new feathered-friend owners who will be joining our ranks in the next few months. We've upgraded the servers and added some great new features. Hopefully these will make BYC even easier and more fun to use!

Read more >>>



Monthly BYC Trivia Challenge
Starting Sunday (2/6) we'll be having our very popular BYC Trivia Challenge on the first Sunday of every month at 6:00 Pacific Time. LOTS of fun, and every contest will have a chance to win a free Golden Feather Membership !

Read more >>>



Contest: 80,000 Members?
Guess when we'll hit 80,000 members and win a FREE BYC Store Gift Certificate ! Hurry, guessing ends on 1/31!

Read more >>>



Spam, Spam, Spam, and Spam!
Websites all over the internet have been hit with spammers trying to sell you their products and services. We're VERY happy to report that we've put some really great blockers in place to help keep you safe from them while you're at BYC!

Read more >>>




Topic Highlights
Here are a few topics that we thought you might be interested in reading:

* Confessions: Animal Hoarding, Animal Planet
* Lets talk about our current broodies
* Confused..how can you afford to feed your chickens
* Valentines Day/January Gift Swap
* is corn as main ingredient good for chickens?
* Constant, loud parties in the brooder
* Happy (relauch) BirthDay BYC !!!
* Digging my way to the coop. GOT SNOW?
* True cost of starting a backyard flock
* Massive Egg Why? + Guess how many yolks! (PICS)



Featured Sponsors
Our sponsors help keep BYC running. Please take a few minutes to visit their websites and tell them you appreciate their support of our great community.

* Fleming Outdoors - Your online farm supply store
* MyPetChicken - Day old chicks, buy as few as 3 at a time
* Incubators.org - Where Quality Comes to Life
* Meyer Hatchery - Affordable Poultry Since 1985
* Purina

- A Difference You Can See™
* Mt. Healthy Hatcheries - A hatching tradition for over 80 years
* Purely Poultry - Baby Chicks and Poultry Books at Great Prices

You can see a list of all the BYC Sponsors here

We'll see you in the forum !


The BYC Team

 

[BYC Support]

BackYardChickens
Newsletter - 02/2011



On Facebook? Please "Like" BYC!
Surprising as it may sound, there are still a TON of people on facebook that don't own chickens (I know, crazy, right?!?). We're hoping that we can build a powerful presence on facebook so those peeps can learn the benefits of raising backyard chickens and also have a pet that makes them breakfast! You can like our new BYC Facebook page here: http://www.facebook.com/raisingbackyardchickens

Read More >>>


Monthly BYC Trivia Challenge
A friendly reminder that our BYC Trivia Challenge will be the first Sunday of every month at 6:00 Pacific Time. Mark your calendar - the next one will be on 3/6.

Read More >>>


BYC Coloring Book
Over the past few months, our super creative and talented members have been drawing entries for our BYC Coloring Book.

You can see all the submissions online and even download the coloring book for FREE!

Read More >>>


Coop Contest Ending
Our current BYC Coop Page Contest will be ending at the end of this month. Simply take some pics of your coop and do a simple write-up and we'll add your coop to our HUGE database of member submitted designs!

Note: Even if you don't want to be in the contest you must submit your coop's link to the contest for it to be added to our Coop Designs Index .

Read More >>>


Topic Highlights

Here are a few recent topics that we thought you might be interested in reading:

* Mahonri's 2nd Annual BYC EASTER HATCH!!!!!!
* Tacky Coop and Run Contest 2011: ~prize for 1st~
* Black Copper Marans discussion thread
* Hovabator Genesis Hatch, Feb-May! WITH CONTESTS!
* Will a Crushed egg hatch? *STILL ALIVE!*HATCHING!
* What are differences between buying from a hatcher...
* Annual breed fads
* Coop color??
* the Will They Hatch? thread
* What's in YOUR 'Bator Right Now???
* New plan! (LOTS O PICS, adding them as I go)
* 2011 What Do You Want Added To The BYC Forum & Web...


Featured Sponsors
Our sponsors help keep BYC running. Please take a few minutes to visit their websites and tell them you appreciate their support of our great community.

* EggCartonStore.com - Egg cartons, egg incubators, and egg trays on sale.
* Horizon Structures - Offering a complete line of high quality, pre-assembled chicken coops and coop kits.
* J.M. Hatchery - Specializing in Freedom Rangers: strong, robust and highly suitable for free range, organic, and pastured environments.
* Backyard Poultry Magazine - A bimonthly publication with information on raising, breeding, & housing domestic fowl.
* Randall Burkey Company - Poultry Supplies - Chicken Hatchery, Baby Chicks, Gamebird, and Poultry Products.
* Surehatch - #1 online source for discount egg incubators and poultry supplies.
* Metzer Farms - You have tried chickens. Now move up to Ducks and Geese!

You can see a list of all the BYC Sponsors here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-supplies.html

We'll see you in the forum !

The BYC Team

 

[BYC Support]

BackYardChickens
Newsletter - 03/2011


Huge Contest: Win a chicken coop & more!
Want to win a free chicken coop from Handcrafted Coops? How about a BYC Store Gift Certificate? Maybe you just want to have a ton of fun? All you have to do is upload a picture of you with Tudy to our Facebook page and you'll be entered to win!

Read More >>>


Dummies Month - $5 Rebate
Now's your chance to get $5 back from your purchase of the best chicken books in the world: "Raising Chickens for Dummies" and "Building Chicken Coops for Dummies"... but hurry, this rebate is only good for purchases in March!

Read More >>>


"Other Poultry" Project
We are redoubling our efforts to create the best database of "other poultry" pictures and information on the web, but we need your help! Please check out the new project and help us gather information and pictures of ducks, geese, quail, etc. We'll even give you a free Golden Feather Membership if your page is approved!

Read More >>>


Coop Contest Winners!
We had some really amazing coop pages submitted to our contest. You can see the winners here. We added over 100 new coop pages to our chicken coop design pages!

If your coop hasn't been added to our coop index, make sure you submit it here!

Read More >>>


Topic Highlights
Here are a few recent topics that we thought you might be interested in reading:

* Poo Poll
* First Time Hatching Anyone With Me??
* Got illegal chickens?
* Husband is really going to kill me over my chicken math skills!!!
* Model Coop contest - entry deadline March 7,2011
* Tall Homemade Cabinet Style Incubator Heat/Fan Question
* Anyone else have an ugly chick?
* Which BYC member would you want to meet the most?
* breeding Heritage, and rare exotic breeds
* The Biggest Adventure EVER! Incubating chicks in school PICTURES!


Featured Sponsors
Our sponsors help keep BYC running. Please take a few minutes to visit their websites and tell them you appreciate their support of our great community.

* Happy Hen Treats - The world's first line of treats for chickens
* Murray McMurray Hatchery - The world's largest rare breed hatchery
* HenSaver.com - Makers of the Hen Saver

hen apron / chicken saddle
* EggCartons.com - Discount Supplier of Egg Cartons, Egg Trays, & Poultry Supplies
* ChickensForBackyards.com - The right chickens (and ducks) for your backyard
* ChickenDoors.com - Home of the "Pullet-Shut" Auctomatic chicken coop door
* Ideal Poultry - The largest supplier of backyard poultry in the United States, shipping close to 5 million chicks annually

You can see a list of all the BYC Sponsors here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-supplies.html

We'll see you in the forum!

The BYC Team

 

[BYC Support]

BackYardChickens
Newsletter - 04/2011


Image Upload Upgrades
Pictures are a HUGE part of BYC and have proven to be invaluable when it comes to asking for help or sharing the joy of raising backyard chickens. With this in mind, we've made some big updates to our image upload system including an increase in the image storage space for our members! So get those cameras out & share!

Read More >>>


Tudy's Free Coop Contest Ends Soon!
You've only got about a week left to submit a picture to win a free chicken coop from Handcrafted Coops! Upload then tag a picture of you with Tudy to our Facebook page and you'll be entered to win!

Read More >>>


Nominate Fellow BYCers For Awards
See how Members are showing their love, respect and appreciation for each other in Phase 2 of the BYC Awards program! If you haven't caught Spring Fever yet - catch it here !

Read More >>>


BYC Winter Clothing Sale
We're pretty happy that Winter has ended (well, at least for most of us) and would like to celebrate by offering 15% off of all our Winter clothing!

Just use coupon code: Spring2011

Read More >>>


Topic Highlights
Here are a few recent topics that we thought you might be interested in reading:
* Contests: Guess 90,000 Members & Guess 6 Million Posts
* Rob & cherylcohen on NBC's TODAY show
* I have grass in the chicken run. It works !!! Yaay...
* does anyone ever get used to killing and eating their birds
* My "Free" Eggs are costing me a FORTUNE!
* I will never be nominated for Mother of the year Award
* An apocalypse herd/flock
* How do you feed OATS to chickens?
* What, exactly, is 'stink eye'?
* using egg cartons ?
* Chicken names!
* Re-purposed material - a lesson in recycling.



Featured Sponsors
Our sponsors help keep BYC running. Please take a few minutes to visit their websites and tell them you appreciate their support of our great community.
* Purely Poultry - Baby Chicks and Poultry Books at Great Prices
* Fleming Outdoors - Your online farm supply store
* MyPetChicken - Day old chicks, buy as few as 3 at a time
* Incubators.org - Where Quality Comes to Life
* Meyer Hatchery - Affordable Poultry Since 1985
* Purina - Register for the Purina Difference™ Rewards Program
* Mt. Healthy Hatcheries - A hatching tradition for over 80 years
* EggCart'n - Chicken tractors & portable chicken coops

You can see a list of all the BYC Sponsors here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-supplies.html

We'll see you in the forum !


The BYC Team

 

[BYC Support]

BackYardChickens
Newsletter - 05/2011


GFM Friend Appreciation Sale
Ever since we first rolled out our Golden Feather Member system we've been impressed by how often our members gift GFMs to their friends. To show our support and appreciation to our members' generosity, we're doing something we've never done before. If you buy a 12-month GFM for a friend, you'll get a FREE 6-month GFM for yourself or another friend!

Read more >>>



Contest Winners!
Tudy Contest: 100+ pictures and over 300 people tagged with Tudy!
90k Members: We had a guess that was spot on for 5/12/2011.
6 Million Posts: We hit this amazing number in the past 24 hours.

We also started a new contest to guess when we'll hit 100,000 members!

Read more >>>



BYC Member Awards
You made your nominations and over 60 of your friends and fellow respected members were awarded!

We're still accepting new nominations!

Read more >>>



BYC Sister Sites
If you love BYC, you may also like our sister sites that have very similar moderation and tons of great information and discussions about a variety of topics that you're probably already interested in!

www.TheEasyGarden.com | www.SufficientSelf.com | www.BackYardHerds.com




Topic Highlights
Here are a few recent topics that we thought you might be interested in reading:

Egg Face Contest
Mealworm farming
A Comprehensive Study of the Stink-Eye: Illustr...
How fast is your internet connection?
Just curious? Who names all their chickens and who...
Building a pond - step by step - mostly complete p...
Just found cockroaches the size of hamsters in my ...
Let's talk Cuckoo and WHITE marans... breeding str...
Cutest dog contest!
Best way to water the flock?
Cabinet Styled Styrofoam Incubator?



Featured Sponsors
Our sponsors help keep BYC running. Please take a few minutes to visit their websites and tell them you appreciate their support of our great community.

Metzer Farms - You have tried chickens. Now move up to Ducks and Geese!
EggCartonStore.com - Egg cartons, egg incubators, and egg trays on sale.
Horizon Structures - Offering a complete line of high quality, pre-assembled chicken coops and coop kits.
J.M. Hatchery - Specializing in Freedom Rangers: strong, robust and highly suitable for free range, organic, and pastured environments.
Backyard Poultry Magazine - A bimonthly publication with information on raising, breeding, & housing domestic fowl.
Randall Burkey Company - Poultry Supplies - Chicken Hatchery, Baby Chicks, Gamebirds, and Poultry Products.
Surehatch - #1 online source for discount egg incubators and poultry supplies.
ForageCake - We bring free range into the coop with Farmers' Helper ForageCakes!

You can see a list of all the BYC Sponsors here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-supplies.html

We'll see you in the forum!


The BYC Team

 

[BYC Support]

BackYardChickens
Newsletter - 6/2011


New BYC Trivia Challenge
Most of you (hopefully) know that we do fun contests the first Sunday of every month, usually at 9pm EST. Well, we had a lot of requests for a different time, a different day, and different types of questions, so we're going to mix it up and do an extra trivia challenge for June this Saturday at 7:00 pm EST!

Read more>>>



100,000 BYC Members!
It seems like just last year we were celebrating 50,000 members! OH WAIT... that's because it was only last year!

Well, we're going to hit an amazing milestone pretty soon with 100,000 members! We've extended our contest and increased the prizes! Hurry and guess when we'll hit 100,000 members and win some really cool prizes! Guess the day and time before the contest closes in a few days!

Read more >>>




Help Promote BYC Contest
Together we've built an amazing community of learning and sharing. Even though we're getting close to 100k members we're still shocked to learn that there are peeps out there that still haven't heard of BYC! To help you spread the word we've created a few tools and a fun contest!

Read more >>>



Topic Highlights
Here are a few recent topics that we thought you might be interested in reading:

* New Infraction / Warning System
* How many here are actual backyarders vs. Farmers?
* Why have a rooster?
* Best way I've found yet to deal with snake problem
* I would NOT want to faint in a chicken coop!
* Official Poll: How old is / was your oldest chicken
* Creative Coop Names
* So how would you manage a problem skunk?
* Do you let your children watch you butcher a chick
* Just curious who else is living super frugal



Featured Sponsors
Our sponsors help keep BYC running. Please take a few minutes to visit their websites and tell them you appreciate their support of our great community.

* Ideal Poultry - The largest supplier of backyard poultry in the United States, shipping close to 5 million chicks annually
* Happy Hen Treats - The world's first line of treats for chickens
* Murray McMurray Hatchery - The world's largest rare breed hatchery
* HenSaver.com - Makers of the Hen Saver

hen apron / chicken saddle
* ChickensForBackyards.com - The right chickens (and ducks) for your backyard
* ChickenDoors.com - Home of the "Pullet-Shut" Automatic chicken coop door
* Nooski Rodent Trap System - Kills rodents everytime...guaranteed!

You can see a list of all the BYC Sponsors here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-supplies.html

We'll see you in the forum!

The BYC Team

 

[BYC Support]

BackYardChickens
Newsletter - 7/2011


Coop Page Contest Ending
If you've built a chicken coop, we want to add it to our HUGE list of chicken coops. You can create a page on BYC with info and pictures of your coop and submit your page link to our coop page contest which ends on 7/25! Please note: WE WANT ALL COOPS no matter what size, or shape. We want ugly coops as much as we want pretty ones!

Read more >>>


BYC Clothing Sale
Winter in July? It was all Terrie's idea and now you get 15% off all clothing items in the BYC Store! Sale ends 7/31 and supplies are very limited!

Simply use coupon code: WIJ

Read more >>>


New BYC Coloring Book Contest
We have a LOT of very creative and artistic peeps as members of BYC. Last year our community had a TON of fun creating the very first BYC Coloring Book. Well, we're doing it again!
If you like to draw, make sure you submit your pics.

Read more >>>


Topic Highlights
Here are a few recent topics that we thought you might be interested in reading:
* Your Chicken Pictures Needed For The BYC 2012 Calendar
* FANS in yer coops/runs?? Whos got em
* Losing another hen to this awful heat
* What's your least favorite breed?
* Silly swimming chickens...I mean "ducks"....I mean chickens!!
* Need help finding breed of dog that is right for my family
* Mareks experience needed. prelim results pg 9
* Homemade Incubator - Temperature/Thermostat Problems
* I need advice on dealing with a big fat murderous racoon
* Snakes - Waaaaaay Too Many Snakes


Featured Sponsors
Our sponsors help keep BYC running. Please take a few minutes to visit their websites and tell them you appreciate their support of our great community.
* Purina Rule the Roost Sweepstakes - Win a coop, a year's supply of feed, and a flock of 12 chickens! You’ll receive a $3.00 Off coupon for Layena

Plus Omega-3 just for entering.
* Mt. Healthy Hatcheries - A hatching tradition for over 80 years
* Purely Poultry - Baby Chicks and Poultry Books at Great Prices
* Fleming Outdoors - Your online farm supply store
* MyPetChicken - Day old chicks, buy as few as 3 at a time
* Incubators.org - Where Quality Comes to Life
* Meyer Hatchery - Affordable Poultry Since 1985

You can see a list of all the BYC Sponsors here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/LC-supplies.html

We'll see you in the forum!



The BYC Team