Poultry Talk Ontario (pto.ca)

what she said....nodding...points up

sandym that's about how i see it too. i love chatting and learning about the birds, seeing what people have and want and seeing if i can help them too. but alas, many folks aren't. that's one thing i LOVED about PSO, and that i love about PTO. we actually do help....we post, people can come and read and learn and ask, and so far it's very civil and helpful and FUN! all we can do is approach and ask....and if they don't want, they don't want. that's fine.
my family is the same...where on earth did you go farmer on us LOL.
when i was at the sarnia show, there were a couple of older gentlemen chatting at a table, i needed to sit to ease up my back, so i just pulled up a chair to the edge of the table, not really IN the conversation but i said hi, introduced myself. the one fellow was really nice, we had a good chat. the other guy was "who's this? is she with you? no? oh, okay then" and then pretended i wasn't even there. same age, they knew each other, one was open, was very not. felt kinda weird....like wow, the one guy was happy to meet someone new and into chickens, but the other guy not at all. certainly not an attitude to support new folks. and that's how i felt when i approached the 4H about starting a poultry section in my area. it was just so prohibitive on the rules and must do this and this and this and this and that....i get it, security and everything, but come on i'm volunteering, not working here! and when i asked about support from the 4H in finding someone else to help, nope, sorry, that's up to you. okay....so lets see, i join, and i do all the work and get no support.....awesome. why don't i just go and find some kids that want to learn and help them out and NOT belong to 4H, it's easier!!!!
hm.....
well, like i said, we have the power to change this.....so....

Joshs friend, Cole, is 4H cattle. Has been for years and years!! He a fine young man. Knowledgable, disciplined and respectful and always welcome in our home. Great kid. He says he's tiring of the politics and feels like he's always banging his head. He's very frustrated and doesn't anticipate stay in the 4H much longer. Not sure how long kids stay in it for anyways ... But What 16 year old should be complaining about fine print and politics when dealing with cattle?

I share your views Kathy. The welcome mat is not rolled out at most places. Disappointing. We can just keep plugging away and not be discouraged or we can have our own poultry group on PTO, oh wait we do! The best one ever. Haha!

You can't change anything from without only from within . I feel if your not a part of the fix your a part of the problem .
PS & this is why I voted no oil & water don't mix & already it starts on one side so to speak . . Join a club offer to help not take over & go from there . Gone out for lunch . Nice day for drive . Luck
PS people are people no matter what they are involved in learn to deal with that & you will solve a lot .

Just like any other hobby, there are kind and welcoming people and cliquish groups which aren't open to change.
In my experience they aren't divided between Show people, Club members, or Magazine subscribers or Forum members.
Some people will be involved in all and some will happily keep few chickens in their back yard completely unaware of any.
Lets work on PTO being the group that welcomes all, lets face it there is few enough of us the poultry hobbyists, to be divided in to even smaller groups.

I think we are all getting to BobG's point from earlier on.
A club with 100 members, but only 7 show up to meetings; sad.

Well, PTO can help the 93!

The ones that are too busy, too far away, not interested in politics, but still need/want info about their chickens. Yes, out of them we will still have to content with Baron's groups of members. Some will want to actively participate, most don't. That is OK. Look at us, we have ~20 posters out of >320 members that have more than 50 posts in 2 month. That percentage won't change to the better. We started off first weekend with the PSO hardcore crowd. But that is OK, if we don't try, we will never get.

May I be so bold and talk about the pigeon, waterfowl, cage bird, pheasant, and game bird clubs and groups? They are all in the same boat. They all need a critical mass to keep things going. I can tell you, the time it takes to maintain and update this forum (and I am not programming anything, just installing and bug fixing with the best team of dedicated admins around) is prohibitive for every club of every kind of bird out there to run their own forum or even webpage in many cases. Even the Ontario Poultry or Ontario Pigeon Breeders (yes, the big ones, the ones that are trying to combine the province, not just the county) don't have more than a rather static web presence. For the backyarder this is not a one or the other kind of thing. For the next little while a good portion of those will need both. And for every ~10 backyarders you get 1 serious breeder/shower. Then ~10 of those and you get a judge.
As a combined offer, we bird guys lack online because we don't have the critical mass. PSO had how many members and only one group of them was willing to step forward to run it? How big does a club (local or provincial) have to get for someone to step up to do it? My gut feel at least 2-3 times as big because you were dealing with online friendly people on PSO already.

PTO can help, we have the infrastructure. We have it running, we can host them. If we don't, who will?
That simple.
(In my opinion)

Yes, we need to keep an eye on the tone of PTO. We admins will do our part. And every poster will do theirs....

So, in essence, I could write all of the above, then edit it so it reads better and try to preach to the choir, or just contact another club or three.
Well, I guess I will do that tomorrow evening....

Well said!

Now if I won first place and was offered a membership with either of these clubs it would be a simple you and the chicken you rode in on. Quote: Sandym

I like that, i'll have to remember that.

I just reread this thread a-z, and realized I missed this. I agree with you Sandy: you're either green and growing or ripe and rotting. What bugs me is that a person: be it a bird fancier, a farmer, or a nutist (i love the play on words with that) who breeds plants or animals as a life's work and then they don't find someone to carry the torch for when they go "back to the land". So some breeds or lines disappear and must be rediscovered, resurrected, or lost to the sands of time. Let this be a lesson for all of us...

Here's another bird club: http://www.greatlakespoultryclub.ca

Thanks, contacted...