nature nut: Yes, I love the Harry Potter series!!!
Chick-a-roos: I'm using a Pentax K200D which is awesome because it's sealed against dirt and stuff which was a real problem with my old camera. The photos I mentioned in the first post were with the lens the camera came with, but the zoom lens is an Osawa that I got for fifty bucks from ebay. It's manual focus, which takes getting used to, and it;s not the latest-greatest, but it makes gorgeous photos! All in all, I love it!
I'm so happy that someone else likes taking pictures of their chickens like me. Was kind of worried about being weird, sitting down by the coup with my camera bag, changing lenses and snapping pics.