What came first...the chicken or the egg?

Well, for us it was the Chicken. We had to raise them for 6 months before we got the eggs. Years later, we have two of our original girls still with us. We love our "girls". We know each of them by name. Don't laugh. Life is better with our "girls" in it....and Rico the Lavender Guinea. We've recently heard about the threat of Avian Flu. Yuck. I've been keeping my girls inside of the coop as I heard this particular type of flu is transmitted via wild birds. Not cool. The thing is....have you ever watched one of those documentaries about the commercial chicken prisons, oops, I mean houses? It's actually an unbelievably sterile environment. From the boots to the suits everything is washed thoroughly with some type of chemical to avoid this very thing? So, it begs the question...how did the bird flu get inside the prison house? Hhmm....Oh, and there's the case of the backyard flock getting it too? All of this really stinks to high heaven in my opinion. Of course, so does a coop if you don't keep it cleaned frequently. So, I find myself warring between letting the girls free-range and hiding them in their coop. I'm not sure really what direction I need to go in to insure my girls are safe. Oh, but they are! That is, sure of what they want me to do. Everyday I swear if my girls could speak English one or all of them would need soap in the mouth for all the bad words they are saying about being "cooped up" all the time. Poor girls. So, for now I just hold them and pet them and call them George. Also, I bribe them with lovely kernels of corn frozen in ice cubes. I'm pretty sure this is why I still get plenty of eggs. Yummy, farm fresh eggs that still cost the same vs. the prices you now find in the stores. What would you do for your "girls"? (taking into account that you have some and lov'em too)