wow Zinnia, you sound like you are totally getting the chicken lover's disease. Welcome to BYC. I just joined in anticipation of getting my chickens Friday (the 25th). We still have some painting and other prep work to do on the coop and run and then as soon as I can I want to post pictures. We are pretty excited. After reading a bunch of blog entires here on chickens, as well as other web sites, I am totally amazed how much in love with chickens people are. I never would have known they could be so charming. Makes me more excited. I am from suburban Tucson, AZ, so I know our experience with chickens will be totally different then yours since you seem to have a lot of open space. Have fun.