Well, I have had an interesting day today.
In my quest to make our house a homestead (we hope to be chiefly self sufficient within 5 years), I have been researching chickens and finding the breed that best suits us. Being conservationists and back to earthers, we wanted a breed that is "dual purpose" (good for meat and a good egg layer), and can forage well (as they'll be somewhat free range...to understand what I mean by "somewhat" free range, you need to have read Andy Lee and Patricia Foreman's book "chicken tractor". After considering our needs, and noting there's a breeder within about 250 miles of us (if we pick up the chicks ourselves, it will give us opportunity to learn a few specifics), we called the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, which is dedicated to just what we're doing (by choosing endangered breeds, we increase the gene pool among domestic chickens, as most commercial laying houses use only hybrid chickens and many breeds are in danger of disappearing...so we can feel we're doing something good for the environment when we eat that omelet). The breed we're looking at is called "Delaware", and the fact that it is considered a good natured breed only adds to its appeal, since it will be around children.
In addition, I also called for info on about twenty other earth friendly options for our household. I'm expecting that within two weeks, we'll have more junk mail than we know what to do with.
Oh, well, it will come in handy for starting up the fire in the woodstove we intend to use for our primary source of heat next year...