JoannaG,

You are right about the home grown food if you have the space to do it. I got breeders for guinea, geese, and turkeys this past year. Will be growing my own for the table come Spring. I have 98 (2died in shipping) broiler chicks in the brooder right now only a few days old. Normally hatch my own chickens but too worn out to bother before they took a break laying. And been doing ducks... I have a bunch of cochins and silkies that love to set so no problems, I keep screwing up my duck eggs in the incubator so they can hatch for me. Also did an order a while back for some layers that should start laying in December at the same time these chicks should be ready for the freezer. Will be nice in Winter. Just need to go hook up my lamp for the layers to trick them into laying if they don't start up as planned...

Have fun with it! Animals are very important here and spoiled.