wow..you have really stepped into the whole "homesteading" thing with both feet!! Good for youI'm so behind on all the posts!
1) To all those who are in the "hunt zone" with the shooter on the run, I hope you stay safe and that they catch that man soon. Such a frightening and tragic situation.
2) Wingstone--- if I were in your region, I would volunteer to help you. I've only killed/dressed a handful of CX (all this week), but I'm pretty handy at killing and butchering a deer by myself (it's pathetic, but I find the deer a whole lot easier to process than trying to dress out a chicken!!). I hope you get all the help you need and the task done, sounds like you've got some good people from here already lined up.
3)AnnInTheBurbs---love the new run! I'm going to start on my ladies' new one this week. I'm playing around with the idea of cattle panels in an arch over the top of the open run (like the one you've built) so that I can put clear plastic on as a roof but leave the sides open in the winter, do minimize the snow and such that will accumulate in their run this year. Any one have any suggestions?
4)To those at Fort Fisherlady----I only wish some place like that existed! So far I have thrown out our microwave (I had cancer and don't want to get it back, so now I'm the nutter who went "green"), and DH just finished restoring an old Glenwood range for me that I found on craigslist for $100----it's a dual wood burning stove with propane! Circa 1930. SO that means the next thing to go is my "normal" stove. We just tonight ditched our fridge and are using a 1920's ice box that I got last week at an auction-----DH built me a 10x10 root cellar in our basement, so between using that and the ice box and the freezer for veggies/meat that I don't wind up canning, we are set. I try and can enough food each season to feed an army. Our goal is homesteading and being able to produce/hunt/raise enough food that we don't have to buy any out of necessity.
I have a question that is probably going to sound really stupid-----When a chicken molts, do they legit lose ALL their feathers?? It's been in the 30s at night here, and I know my coop is suitable but I've got visions of cold naked hens, as it's already 1/2 way through September!! I've got 3 ladies who look to be just starting their molt as they've got lots of underfluff showing, and the coop has more feathers than normal on the ground.

So, your ice box actually takes a block of ice?...that is so cool..hahaha, no pun intended...and where in the world do you get ice blocks anymore??
Your stove sounds like the most awesome thing!!...You have to keep us updated on how it cooks for you!!..the regulating of a wood stove always interested me...we have a small wood stove, i haven't had the chance to use it..one of these days. Being able to do for ourselves in always a work in progress..and learning from others has helped us tremendously.
It would be awesome to have a "community"-"Fort-Fisherlady", in it's physical form as it is on this thread....so awesome, but I don't think my backyard is big enough..

My birds are starting their molts also...every morning looks like someone has exploded....feathers are everywhere....they are coming out easily when I pick the girls up....
I do give them more protein during this time(molting)..also helps them get "bulked up" for the colder weather...hahaha ...as if these girls need extra around the bottoms!
I do believe that Hen-Bree is trying to do the broody thing again...what in the wolrd am i going to do with these nutty girls?! She has her chest all "oven-ready"....i am not in the mood for this again....geesh...

That dark mahogany is just gorgeous!!
