You have to have a place to lock them in at night or when you are gone or animals will kill them. Wandering dogs will also kill them, but in the city most dogs are confined. Four would be pets. It helps if they are all the same. If you get different kinds, you have Moses the buff cochin rooster and Betsy the bantum and killer the brown leghorn rooster and you can't kill them and have to have someone take care of them when you go on vacation. I like chickens and they are interesting. I hate it that they are crowded in buildings and don't get to be chickens any more. Others on this forum have chickens but more than four. The cottage garden forum may have town folks dabbling in chickens.

I raised chickens year round for over 20 years. Usually had a flock of a dozen hens and a rooster. My favorites were Buff Orpingtons or Barred Rocks as they go broody and for years I raised my own replacement pullets and butchered the young roosters. If you are in town you may not be able to have a rooster, as their crowing is considered a noise nuisance. (You can have a barking dog or two so it makes no sense.) But you do have to have a critter safe shed and a fenced outdoor pen for them. Hens lay well for only two years. We turned our old hens into dumplings. Are you willing to butcher? For several years we raised meat birds in addition to the egg layers. 50 Cornish Cross each spring. Until she retired at age 80 we took them to a woman with a slaughterhouse. Now we butcher ourselves, 100 at a time. And we no longer raise for eggs. The kids are gone and I'm not going to take care of chickens in the winter for only two people when it is now possible to buy good eggs at WalMart. (Why 100 meat chickens for only two people? My brother, parents and a neice pay for and butcher 1/2 of them.)

If you just want eggs and aren't interested in letting the hens set, the light bodied leghorns, either white or brown, produce a lot of eggs but seldom set.

Let us know what you do and if you have any more questions, ask.

I like the sound of a rooster crowing. For pets, little Bantum hens are cute. Brown leghorn roosters will get you, but some of the meat chickens have nice gentle roosters. P Allen Smith has something called a chicken tractor, a house on wheels. You'll have to Google that to see what I mean. My sister lives in Citrus Heights CA what I consider a city, but they allow live stock where she lives. Her neighbor has pea cocks and they do make a noise.

Everyone is right. You must have a small house that is animal proof and probably a fenced yard for them. Some people let them range free but that is another story. We have had chickens now for about 5 years. We have Buff Orpingtons, two Black Australorps and a couple of cross breeds.

I picked for large, gentle birds and even so we had a couple of vicious roosters. The one we have now is a true 'gentle giant'.

Don't buy them thinking you will be saving money on eggs. You can buy them much cheaper. I just love having the fresh eggs, hearing them sing while I garden and I think they complete the farm. I wish I could just let them free-range and cut back on their feed, but they wouldn't last long here.

I love the idea that everything is usable. The chicken should set each spring (mine have only one year!) replacing themselves; the older birds are slaughtered and eaten, they eat all kitchen waste (almost all) and lots of garden waste; they also help keep down insect populations, I turn mine into the garden in good weather in fall and winter and let them scratch to their hearts content.

Do a Google on Backyard Chickens and you will find a ton of info and simple coops and pens for them.

Here is another plus, they are fun. One hen will come up to our boots and peck on them. I think I could probably pick her up....not my thing though.

Thanks ya'll. I appreciate your info. Just thought they'd be fun pets. But there are so many critters here it probably isn't a good idea. You know: kids, dogs, cats, raccoons, hawks, etc. HEh heh.