The Site Today
Past Backyard Poultry Logo
Today Backyard Poultry is a massive site with resources that include a Poultry Noticeboard, a Breeders Directory, Articles, an Online Store, an Events Calendar, a Poultry Wiki, Online Shows, Photography Competitions and a strong Community Forum. In the last year we have embraced the social network era and have a Facebook presence with both a page and a Facebook group.
The History
It all began when a poultry website was started by Andy Vardy in 1994 as part of a university assignment. In the early days it was a breeders directory.
In 2004 www.backyardpoultry.com was created. It began as a source for Andy’s poultry photos and a place to publish articles. Eventually other resources were added to the site such as the forum which developed into the strong community that we see today.
The Team
Over the years, Andy, his sister Liz and his family have contributed a great deal to the online poultry community in Australia and beyond. As time has gone on, others have stepped in to help as the workload has increased. Moderators came in to assist with the day-to-day running of the forum. Many knowledgeable and generous moderators from within the poultry community have assisted the general public over the years and it’s due to their help and support that the BYP community is still online and thriving today.
The Servers
The website has moved servers a number of times as it has grown. The bandwidth required to support the site is now considered to be ‘commercial’ and in the last 12 months we’ve seen Backyard Poultry moved to a virtual private server in order to meet the demand. The cost of running a site of this size is significant and generous sponsorship by individual supporters keeps the site online for the poultry community of Australia. The sponsors are not named publicly but are an important part of the team.
Currently, the site is run by a strong team of contributors as follows:
BYP Team
| Role | Community Member |
|---|---|
| Founder | Andy Vardy - Site Founder. Poultry breeder and photographer. Ongoing supporter and advisor. Present behind-the-scenes but taking a backseat to focus on family. |
| Administrator | Cathy Newton (Chicken07) - Educator and Library Manager. Poultry Club administrator and supporter of exhibition poultry in SEQ. Past moderator and current Administrator. Takes care of most of the day-to-day Administration across the site. Responsible for new installations such as the Wiki, The Directory, The new Noticeboard, BYP Wordpress installation and other site pages. Contact point for the BYP site. Lawnton Poultry Club Secretary, Feather Clubs Assoc of Qld Treasurer. |
| Administrator | Liz Wagstaff (nee Vardy) Username: Zilly - Software Engineer. Founder of the Forum and Administration of the site over the first eight years. Ongoing Server Administrator and Consultant although an infrequent visitor due to family commitments. |
| Site Advisor | Jocler - Longstanding consultant and IT specialist. Hardware consultant and site advisor. |
| Assistant Admin | Redjohanna - Assistant to site Administrator. Moderator and advisor in What is This?, Breeds & Breeding, Good Samaritan Medical Centre, Global moderation of the Forum and assists with membership and communications. Backyard Poultry facebook group Admin. |
| Assistant Admin | Cackles - Assistant Administration duties. Supervises Breeders Directory, Gallery, moderates in Tech Help and takes care of some behind-the-scenes work on the Forum. Rural Scientist & Ecologist. |
| Facebook Group Admin | Rosewood Pete - Longstanding breeder and exhibitor of poultry who works in poultry club administration in SEQ. Admin of the Exhibition Poultry Australia (BYP) facebook group. |
| Moderator | 70%cocoa - Waterfowl breeder and exhibitor. Supervises maintenance of the BYP Events Calendar. Moderator in Waterfowl, Incubation & Rearing and Poultry Gatherings. Gallery Moderator. |
| Moderator | Andrewschooks - Scientist & Geneticist. Currently advising and moderating in Breeds & Breeding and Turkeys Guineas etc. |
| Moderator | NellyG - Longest currently serving moderator on the Forum. NellyG contributes and moderates in Turkeys, Guineas, Housing, Feeding & Husbandry, the Gardening forum & Waterfowl |
| Moderator | Helenchook - Moderator and friendly BYP librarian. |
| Moderator | Infoaddict - Longstanding moderator, supporter and information sharer. Currently working in Housing, Feeding & Husbandry. Co-administrator of BYP Facebook group. |
| Moderator | Nostress - Moderator with strong interest in poultry science and health. Currently working in the Good Samaritan Medical Centre. |
| Moderator | Rotten_66 - Agricultural Scientist with strong interest in poultry raising. Currently working in Incubation & Rearing Forum. |
| Moderator | Squeaker - Moderator and advisor working in Gardening & cooking, Water & Sales (Commercial) and in Other Poultry Talk |
| Moderator | Taylorducks - Waterfowl specialist. Currently advising and moderating in Waterfowl and Incubation & Rearing. Photo comp Manager. |
| Moderator | Angelcake - Moderator and community member with a strong interest in wyandottes , and encouraging new members on the forum. |