Bird club sites I know of

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ross
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Post by ross » Sun Feb 21, 2016 1:44 pm

My point exactly Bob .
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WLLady
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Post by WLLady » Sun Feb 21, 2016 1:51 pm

I dont think i am old quite yet-regardless of how i feel some days-but you both have good points ross and baron. It is so hard to find ppl to help...i think its part if being stupid busy, connected so work finds us 24/7 and being pulled in too many directions i see online-like this forumfor example-a virtual place that we can connect and discuss a topic close to our hearts and passions without committing to 1 or 2 or 3 or 10 hours...when emergencies or weather or a million other things an pull us away. But todays younger generation is infinitly more connected than any of us over the age of 30 here-we see it every day at the college and university. People dont take notes-its all virtual. Online classes are taking off. I think if the clubs dont want an increasingly hard task of finding new members then having an online presence is essential. Which is where our idea to solicit clubs came up. The sarnia show was the first i had attended and i was shocked at the tiny number of kids....under 16s...there. they will be ones running thing in 15years. If they dont have an easy way to be exposed to it they wont ever know its even there. The older i get the more i fight being closed minded...its easy to do. We get stuck in our ruts are unwilling to accept things can be done more than one way. Ppl keeping poultry arent destroying chickens if they raise for fun and colourful mutts. On the same token those that breed to sop arent taking anything away from the backyard folks but man put them in room together and watch the nuclear explosion happen. Its human nature really...and totally unnecessary...but a direct result of each group having to lobby and slave and work hard-too hard-to get anywhere. Us old timers have the power to nuke that crap right here right now by bridging the gap....but its not easy to do because of human nature....communication really is one key (tolerance is another) ok im rambling....just my worthless 2 canadian cents
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TomK
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Post by TomK » Sun Feb 21, 2016 6:41 pm

Well, I'm oldish..lol..I would never ever bash the volunteers in any organization...I've been part of many an I know only too well how draining things can be...my sole point was that in this day and age, to not use the web to become a presence and get your word out far and wide is rather short sighted and makes it harder for new folks to get involved...I am a prime example of a newbie wanting info and finding it hard to get...i googled and got a zillion hits from US sites but precious few Canadian ones (its how i found PSO btw) ...my local clubs had zilch online...i missed several auctions because info came too late...just saying...it doesn't take much effort and other things currently done are quickly becoming passé....so rejig the efforts perhaps?
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Ontario Chick
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Post by Ontario Chick » Sun Feb 21, 2016 8:35 pm

It seems to me that in the seventies along with resurgence of Crafts (if you are old enough admit you did at least one, (macrame? pottery? weaving? quilting? ) there was a movement of starting clubs, poultry, rabbit, beekeeping all part of the back to the land movement.
Many expired natural death of indifference, and the ones that survived are rapidly aging and not really making any effort to include young people. Innovation seems to be discouraged and general malaise has settled in long time ago.
Like Kathy said we all get stuck in the rut sometime, but internet is such an amazing tool available to just about every one, you don't even need a computer your local library has a bunch of them available to use for free.
But closed minds, not sure how to fight that one. ;)
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WLLady
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Post by WLLady » Sun Feb 21, 2016 9:30 pm

Macrame lol been there done that! Weaving too...um...quilting too....pottery....oh dear....
and yes. I like my rut. Lol
;-P
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Post by poultry_admin » Sun Feb 21, 2016 9:45 pm

Nice to see we are all on the same page! :sSig_number1:
When my email goes to the contacts I can find (8 out now) I am including an offer/question for other online collaboration ideas. From my end that would be a page like the home page that will be fairly static, we can (and offer to) post the show dates and the like (not club meetings). But I also want to hear from the club. I have a very personal aversion to Facebook, but there are enough PTOlers on it to spread the word there...

Chicken Ninja, AniPearn and anyone else under 20 out there we don't know off. A very special welcome! Anyone new to this hobby, but a bit more seasoned, also very welcome!
How did you hear about PSO/PTO? Is the rumour/gut feel correct that Facebook and Kijiji is the media to be on? Are there any others? Twitter, Pinterest, ...? Did you hear about us through redninja or other word of mouth?

We are finding a few clubs that have telephone contact only (3 now and growing). We are in need of a or a few volunteers to do the calls.

Baron, the notification of quarantine areas on PTO is a given! If anyone knows of any (I am not aware of any), please let us know ASAP!!! We make sure it gets a prominent spot!!
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baronrenfrew
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Post by baronrenfrew » Sun Feb 21, 2016 10:49 pm

OC, you forgot candlemaking on the list!

Another thought is that certain generations of people have seen real scarcity (food stamps here during wartime, and much worse during the wars in Europe and elsewhere) and the Baby Boomers and later groups grew up without knowing scarcity. With this topic I think of my cousins in East Communist Germany who had to wait in lines for toilet paper and my aunt who kept 50 chickens so she had eggs to barter with (and when she needed grain to feed them, she took a bag home from the farm where she worked picking rocks and doing the most miserable of jobs). Thus the special event of a "birthday cake" as it was made with eggs! In a world without refrigeration; chickens and squab were convenient if guests showed up and you needed something special for a meal.

With the rising prices of meat, I'm surprised that there isn't more folks with a few backyard birds that live half on table scraps. (And I'm even more surprised that more city ducks and geese don't "disappear" into more ovens.)
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Post by Ontario Chick » Sun Feb 21, 2016 11:23 pm

:)) I might have forgotten few more, some of them on purpose...
I am a Baby Boomer and it wouldn't have occurred to my parents or grandparents for that matter, to grow their own food, my mother was horrified when I presented her with my Hobby Farm dreams, so we all come to this hobby from different directions, most of us just love having animals around and poultry keeping for Fancy or Food brings us together, the chance of talking poultry with like minded people on line is a great bonus I truly appreciate. Thank you PTO :)
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TomK
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Post by TomK » Mon Feb 22, 2016 6:57 am

OC..i, too, am a boomer...and an immigrant as well....came here when i was 5.. My folks were city people although my dad had more affinity to nature and the land than my mom..although both were completely into the 'modern' life...factories could produce better and all that and I think to this day, thats still at the heart of their belief...i was fortunate in that my dad bought an old farmhouse when i was 8 and moved us into the countryside ( mainly cause it was a really good buy and he didn't want to rent anymore ) We were there til i was 15 and it put me in touch with farming and the land and all my life after i wanted to get back to it. Always had a garden and all that, but never animals other than cats and dogs. Then we got here and wow...my dad mentioned to me a little while ago that he was surprised ..."just where did this farmer come from in you?" was his question....who knew...
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If you don't plant the tree, you will never have the fruit...

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SandyM
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Post by SandyM » Mon Feb 22, 2016 8:36 am

Ok. Here's my experince. New to chickens right? Right.

I have reached out to clubs in my area (2 to be specific) and I'll leave their names out because this is public. In each club I contacted at least 2 top members. No response. I get people are busy, but not a single response. So I contacted a member who was breed specific, further down the contact list. He did emailed me back, asked a few questions, one was which club do you belong too and the other was do you show? I didn't belong to a club and I don't show. I didn't hear back. Like WTF! End of communication.

Now I do talk on a social level to a member in one of these clubs and although she apologizes for their lack and knows it's a repetitive problem, but I let her know to pass on it's perceived as a snub to someone who doesn't know as much or have as much. It's like they have their own family and they are content. I don't think they are considering the longevity of their club and/or they have no need or desire for diversity. Now if I won first place and was offered a membership with either of these clubs it would be a simple fuck you and the chicken you rode in on.

Then you can go to a show like I did in Simcoe. What I witnessed is a very tight knit community that would be hard to penetrate as an outsider. If you don't know anyone in the 'clubs' you are not going to know anyone unless you bulldoze your way in and most people aren't welcoming of that either lol. If that was me there, I would of approached pretty much everyone who walked in to the freezing cold barn and chatted them up. Actually, I pretty much did chat anyone up, except the obvious ones that had a crunchy prickly aurora around them. But that's me. If I was part of a club.

When I go to the auction, which is such a crazy diverse group I have the absolute best time. People are chatty, I've met some great people and that's the kind of environment I thought I would find in a club. Up until that point, not my experience.

However, I recently went to a club meeting, locally, invited by a member on here. It was great!! They are looking to expand and share their knowledge and experience, although they are an established club with bonded members it still had a welcoming tone. I don't plan to show, but I also didn't plan Josh hahahahahah! But I will continue to go to club meetings because it was very informative, friendly and some common interests. Meeting times are attainable, once a month and after dinner but not too late. That's the difference between wanting diversity with longevity and not.

So my point is. There is clearly a difference in clubs. Open, welcoming and closed off groups. I think if you are a part of a club and you are a contact, your response is representative of every member in that club. If you're too busy to respond then hand the torche over. I don't care if you volunteer or not, if your role is communication and you don't, you aren't volunteering, you're taking up space and causing damage to your club. Unless it's the clubs mandate to not welcome and respond to enquiries. I really don't have much tolerance for excuses.
Maybe a groups lack of being public or found, means exactly that. They aren't looking for more people.

I don't have much experience in poultry but some things remain the same for all despite the environment. Anything with life needs fresh blood. If a group does not evolve with times the group with be subject to natural selection. I see a lot of collapsing going on for many in the near and distant future. But I also see clubs that value youth, welcome youth and the younger ones like myself (haha) a positive impact in the struggling poultry world.

Let's face it, less and less people are homesteaders, fanciers etc. Many breeds are threatened, endangered and even extinct. Those who care about the future will evolve and open doors, but If the mind set isn't there to keep it alive, it will die.

So simple. Logical.
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