So, I went down to the Post Office today and, though dismayed not to find large sums of cash randomly inserted into my box, was pleased to see that one of my requested catalogs had come in.

It was a catalog for farm supply items (can we say "Green Acres", anyone?) and, most importantly, had the information I needed on the chicks I want to purchase. My wife and I had agreed that if the chicks we want to purchase were unavailable (Delaware chicks), or too expensive, we would buy the cheapest chicks we could get for a starter flock. I was pleased to find, however, that there's only a few cents' difference between the Delawares and the cheaper chicks. I was also pleased to find that I can buy cockerels (male chicks) from this outfit for as little as 60 cents each (to raise for about 3 months as broilers, then....off wit' their heads). An incubator is also inexpensive, so we should be able to breed our own within 2-3 years, depending on cash flow.

I'm still trying to get needed information for designing my greenhouse, though; if anyone reads this and knows of someone with experience, I have a few questions I need to ask. Sadly, the related yahoo! groups seem to be rather cliquish, and my question dropped pretty far down in the message board archives rather quickly (almost as quickly as my article HERE asking advice).