Wow! That's quite a pile.
Ceder will check (crack on the ends) but if they haven't by this fall they're not going to. It's also a fairly soft wood so should be relatively easy to work (compared to other woods). I would either put a very light oil finish, like Tung oil or boiled linseed oil, or maybe a danish oil, which is a mixture of oil and varnish and provides a bit more protection than just plain oil. Several light coats over a couple of heavy ones is always better.
One easy way if you're doing a bunch of sticks at a time, is to string up a taught line and put the small screw cup hooks into the bottom ends of your sticks. Apply finish then hang to dry. You could do this in the attic space you have there, as long as there's plenty of ventilation. To make sure the line doesn't sag, and the sticks all come crashing down together in the center, you can either support the line in several places, or use old fashioned clothes pins to clamp the cup hook to the line. I imagine you could also tightly twist together two strands of line and slip the cup hooks into the spaces between the two lines, and that should keep them separate.
I've also seen mass dipping done by filling a plastic pipe long enough for the whole stick and sealed at one end, with the oil. Then you just dip the stick, pull out, wipe down, hang up and move to the next.
Just some thoughts for some mass production finish techniques. Looks like you'll need it with 400 sticks.