I would do this in a heartbeat. I had friends who had chickens in their yard, and they had no bug problems, and fresh eggs on top of it all. Chickens are great pest control!

I currently live in the suburbs and we used to have 5 chickens on our half acre lot. We always had fresh eggs and it was lovely. I'd do it in the city if they would allow it. Nothing tastes as wonderful as a fresh scrambled egg!

Heck no! Too much cleanup, too much clucking, too much hassle. Cats are enough trouble, thanks!!

No way. I agree with SherryBinNH. They're pretty gross if you ask me. I'm from the country (don't live there now) and have never been a fan of the chicken coops.

No hens, but apparently my neighbor here in Queens had a mini rooster living in his *apartment* shortly before we moved in (I guess it died).

I don't think my dogs would appreciate it. Actually, they might appreciate chickens in the yard as a toy and a snack...

My neighbours have three chickens on their small urban lot and I love hearing them clucking away over the fence. Occassionally she shares her eggs - it's great!

We have our hens in our backyard and they are great. I clean out the hen house every Monday and throw another flake of straw in for them to scratch around in. I am telling you right now...they don't smell half as bad as our neighbor's rottweilers next door! I don't see any problem with chickens as long as their yard is kept clean.

We just got four chicks (quickly becoming hens) for our San Francisco backyard. Not very much clean-up at all, really. But sort of a hassle building a coop, etc. See our progress plus videos plus our stylish new coop here:
http://www.upmamaswall.blogspot.com

This is pretty common where I live (in Tucson). The only reason I haven't done it yet is because my best friend has several chickens, and happily shares her eggs with me!

The one thing I don't like is when someone decides to bring in a crowing rooster for their little ladies. Yes, it's illegal, and yes, people still do it.

I also distinctly heard the bleating of a goat the other morning! Ahhhhhh, Tucson...

Hens are cute, my mom has some and she loves them. Here in Brooklyn there used to be some free rangers in the parking lots too. The rooster in your photo has has his beak amputated, BTW, which means he was probably a refugee form a factory farm. And if you watch ANY footage of factory farms its hard to ever see eggs and meat the same way, makes one want to have a few hens and dote on them in return for eggs.

Heck yes. Their maintenance isn't a whole lot more than other pets', and (unlike roosters) they're quiet. The only real pain is locating the coop.

Chickens are great! As long as your neighbors don't build their coop at the property line 6 feet from your bedroom window. Chickens cluck starting at dawn...talk about an annoying wakeup call when you work the late shift.

That said, if they'd moved the coop to the back of their yard I'd have been a very happy neighbor.

We had chickens when I was little. I love them. When my next door neighbor got a small flock of hens, I used to watch them for her when she was out of town. Watching them scratch around and listening to them cluck is a great stress reliever--like watching fish.

And they aren't particularly loud. Definitely no louder than the local songbirds that start squawking their fool heads off at the crack of dawn.

I'd have chickens in a heartbeat, if it were allowed where I live.

I'm not a live chicken fan since I grew up with a few and remember how messy they can be. However, I think for people who love farm animals....chickens can be a really fun
addition to the family. They really do need a little room to roam...so make sure they always have a large enough coop.

Fresh eggs and pest control sound appealing, but I know that chickens are really messy and smelly. I'd have to have a large enough yard to even consider it.

Why did you choose a picture of a chicken with a rotten beak?

a friend keeps 3 ducks in SF. they don't tear up the yard like chickens do and the eggs are delicious.

Oh I would love to have chickens again. I grew up with chickens and they were a joy to have around. If you raise them from little chicks, they are so gentle and calm. I loved having the fresh farm eggs, they don't compare to the eggs in the grocery stores. Not even the organic eggs you buy. The ones on the farms have a real deep orange for the yolk with so much more flavor.

For now I will live in the city in my tiny little apartment with no balcony. ho hum

I plan to get a few chickens soon after I move next year. The waste is good for my landscaping plants and the eggs are good for me.

I would get chickens so fast that I would teleport in time if possible! (I don't have my own yard, though, at the moment). Friends have them, and the eggs are beyond awesome. The eggs are light and fluffy and have a sweet taste to them. They built a chicken tractor (moveable coop), and have great .. ahem.. compost for their small square-foot garden, though they also have woods they can back the tractor up to.

If you are used to the trouble of a dog, chickens are no more trouble. The biggest issue is keeping them safe.

However, for city dwellers... it all depends on the yard. Like I said, I could not do it in my current apartment. Maybe next time I have a backyard to myself.

Portland's 6th annual "Tour de Coops" is scheduled for July. A few other cities have these self-guided coop tours as well; they're great fun.
http://growing-gardens.org/portland-gardening-resources/chickens.php

I wouldn't want them myself, but only because I have enough to do in life without caring for animals. I know my limits, adding any kind of animals into my life at the moment would not only be too much for me to handle, it would be unfair to the animals too.

I have friends who just got a dog and are already struggling to find the time to walk it. I just don't know why people take on stuff like that when they clearly don't have the time for it.

I don't eat eggs, so I wouldn't. Plus, it's too much work. I already have a dog, and I don't need any more animals.

As long as I don't have to smell them in my neighbors yard. Rock on, I work with a guy who give me some of his fresh home grown eggs. Yum.

Yes! I have 3 chicks in my basement right now, waiting for us to finish building their coop. I live in the city on a pretty small lot, but we're finding room for them. And we're finding most of our neighbors are excited about it--a few of them even want to get hens of their own now!

Oh, and I think the beak on the chicken in the picture looks like it was cut off--a process known as "debeaking". I wonder if that poor creature was a rescue from a commercial farm?

I sure hope that poor animal was a rescue and that the current owner is not responsible for the condition of that bird, that would be terribly sad. Debeaking is an awful and mutilating practice, I hope most folks realize that. And just a tidbit of info, most commercial farm hens are debeaked just like this, though I forget what the purpose is, which leads me to my real comment...

Fresh eggs are one of the best things nature has to offer! I grew up with chickens and ducks and nothing can compare to the golden hued yolk of a 'free' bird. In fact I just got a call from my mum telling me she had sold out of her first batch of homegrown eggs. She was so proud.

I highly recommend keeping a couple hens if your space can accommodate them. They are lovely to listen to, when tame they are wonderful to pet, and like I said, the eggs, delish! If you can't have your own hens and you know someone who does have them, ask if you can purchase eggs from them, most folks are happy to pass their eggs along.

Durham, North Carolina's Tour d'Coops is happening this weekend. I just saw one friend's chicks and they made me wish I had the time and energy to build a giant chicken coop and have some myself.

I have three hens and 2 acres of land. They are the best pets I have had, they are not noisy, like my dog, and give me three eggs a day. I can't keep them though. The law says I cannot keep "farm" animals in a residential area even though the hens are not bothering anyone.