I don't have much time these days so I'll just post this even tho it might have been said before. And since I don't have much time this will be my only post on this. PM me if you want me to respond..........................
Thank you for taking, a lot, of time to write this. The link, on documenting, is facinating and I am going to read more of it.
Sheila
If your looking for good information on anything that is "old" (by old I mean something that was done 100 years ago just like today)
visit http://www.archive.org
Do a search on poultry in the text section and you will get a ton of stuff to sift through. Just like any library you will have to look through 10 books or more to find what you are looking for but it is there if you can take the time to search.
breeding
breed standards
poultry housing
small farm stuff
canning
preserving foods
digging and making cellars
etc etc etc
you get the idea