I'm a high school English teacher. For some reason I can't explain at all, I have wanted to have chickens ever since I was a kid; my husband wasn't thrilled about the idea and kept reminding me that we live in a suburban town that's hostile in principle even to our tidy compost pile (which is true, though they finally changed ordinances this January to allow backyard chickens).
This spring the older of our two daughters implied to me that she had the go-ahead from Dad to hatch chicks for her science fair project, and told him outright that I had given her permission. I wasn't pleased about her method, but it wasn't hard for any of us to welcome the 'bator into the house, and eventually my husband was actually sneaking in to do thermometer checks... and then when our first chick hatched during his work-at-home day, I knew the point was won when I got home and saw his face.
They are now, happily for us, six weeks old and out in their coop. We were told the eggs were from Rhode Island Reds but only one chick hatched even remotely red so we have no idea what breeds are in the mix... Maybe some day I will be one of the clueless people posting a "what is this" picture, especially since we *think* we have one roo and five girls but we also have no idea about that! Meanwhile, thanks for being out there.
...And if you haven't done it lately, PLEASE find season six of I LOVE LUCY and give yourself a laugh watching the episode where Lucy, Ricky and the Mertzes start a chicken farm! My daughters and I enjoyed it almost as much as we enjoy tossing an occasional handful of grapes into the coop.
from Ohio. So glad you joined. I will have to look that up. 
I'm glad to hear that everyone's enjoying the chickens now. 
