a line from Lynn…: Marching forth on the 23rd

Hi friends,

I’ve learned more about chickens than I thought was humanly possible since last June when our friend Terry Cain asked if he could lease our outbuildings to establish a life-long dream: Farwest Hatchery. (Take a look at his website http://farwesthatchery.com). He showed up with a dream and about 300 cute little chicks. Nine months later he collects about 1200 eggs a day from 15 different breeds! If one hen lays five eggs per week plus the roosters because they have an investment to make as well - it's into higher math.

Here are some of the pens behind the shop. Incubators go in this weekend.

Our barn has been extended and filled with chicken pens.

This girl is a free ranging escapee looking for a place to lay her eggs.

This rooster is behind bars, so to speak.

I remember when we were designing our house in Beavercreek and were debating whether to build a regular roof or a hip-roof. I’d never heard of a hip-roof but suddenly every other house I saw had a hip-roof. I think that’s the way it is when anything new comes around. At least that’s the way with chickens for us now.

The number of references to chickens and all things poultry is astronomical.

They’re in the grocery store of course – eggs, broth, soup, pot pies, boneless and skinless, whole or fryers;

they’re on the TV – Buffalo Wild Wings, chickens don’t have nuggets, the cute chicks in that new movie coming out, not to mention the Easter candy that’s getting hyped right now;

they’re in our speech - don’t count your chickens…, and in the eternal questions: why did the chicken cross the road?…, which came first?…;

then home décor – salt and pepper shakers, trays, wallpaper, fabric. It’s endless.

Dick picked up a stuffed bear at a rummage sale last summer and turned into an instant chick-magnet with all these ladies commenting on how cute it (he?) was