Thanks for the comments on the chicken house. If you like that then go to
Chicken Blog. My wife is keep a log of them. That should answer you questions about which breed and such. Keeping the chicks is a lot of fun.
About TC, I think you are right about it being luck of the draw. I had two that grew really well, but I killed the other two by putting them in the sun way to soon.
The Orinoco TC is only one season old and its as taller than one group of unknown bananas and as tall as another group of unknown banana that have been growing for three years. The two groups of unknown are suspected to be either ice cream or orinoco. The group its taller than I have overwintered in the ground, the group its as tall as I overwinter under the house, along with the TC orinoco.
Other pups I planted last year were goldfinger, saba and guay namwha. The orinoco TC grew way faster then those did and those pups had very nice corms on them when I planted them.