Should you get chickens? Eight most common questions, ANSWERED!

My egg count is getting out of hand.  I need some egg recipes, and soon.  Please send them to me.  I try to keep my neighbors well stocked with eggs too, but these girls are just egg machines.  You can either comment your recipes below, or send them HERE .

When I first began contemplating this crazy idea of keeping backyard chickens, I had so many questions.  Are chickens legal to have in a small area like my backyard?  Do hens require roosters to lay eggs, or does having roosters boost egg production?  Do they smell?  Are my neighbors going to murder me or my chickens because of the noise?  How much space is required?  How do you build a coop or run?  Where do you get the designs?  How much do they eat?  How much to they cost?  The questions seemed to go on, and on, and on.  It took about a year to get all the answers I needed.  Many of the answers came from BackYard Chickens  and My Pet Chicken .  My sister is raising chickens so she was also a wealth of information.  In case any of you are considering an urban or backyard chicken coop, I will try to answer the common questions I know I had. 
1.  Q:  Are chickens legal to have in a small area like my backyard?
     A:  Before purchasing anything, check with your local government for ordinances regarding chicken keeping.  I live in unincorporated Snohomish County, in Washington State.  Snohomish County Code does permit small farm animals without any special permits or licenses for non-commercial use.  However, I know that if I have a rooster that little bugger is going to be crowing  at all hours, and my neighbors might shoot me, if they don't shoot the bird first.  Since I live so close to my neighbors, I decided a rooster is out of the question.
2.  Q:  Do hens require roosters to lay eggs or does having roosters boost egg production?
     A:  Not at all.  In fact according to what I read through the posts at Backyard Chickens over-aggressive roosters can actually interfere with good laying.  The only things a rooster is really needed for (other than as a good meal) is fertilizing the eggs, and providing the chickens with some protection. 
3.  Q:  Do chickens smell bad?
     A:  When their coop is kept clean, there is no smell.  I fully clean their coop about once a quarter.  I use straw and pine shavings as their substrate, and I just dump it in to the compost heap and replace with new.  It takes me all of about 20 minutes, quick and easy.  I am sure I spend more time cleaning cat boxes than cleaning up after the chickens. 
4.  Q:  Do they make noise? 
     A:  With no rooster, they make virtually no noise.  Once in a while I hear some clucking coming from the egg boxes.  If too much noise is coming from the yard, that is usually a sign of trouble.  Last summer the neighbor's cat kept coming over the fence and harassing the birds.  They would cluck very loudly, which was good because it got our attention, and we were able to scare away the kitty.  This year, neighbor kitty hasn't come in to our yard.  I wonder if our girls are so big now that it might be scared of them?
5.  Q:  Are my neighbors going to hate me?
     A:  Not if you keep them well stocked in fresh eggs.
6.  Q:  How do you build a coop and run? 

     A:  There are a gazillion plans, designs and ideas out on the web.  Gaerin found this one . It was actually free and very customizable.  if you are building a coop, and have specific questions, email Gaerin, he will tell you all about his experiences.  I won't lie, the materials cost a bit, but we didn't want to use cheap materials and it was such a fun project it was worth it. 

7.  Q:  How much do they eat?
     A:  Not much.  We buy a 40 pound bag of layer crumble for them at Skagit Farmers about every 4 to 6 months.  We allow them to roam the backyard when we are home to keep an eye on them (since we have a nice 5 foot fence around the yard) and they keep the pest population under control.  I no longer have a problem with slugs in the backyard.  They will patrol the fence line, looking for insects under the fence boards.  When the sun is out, they keep to under the trees or shrubs to stay cool, scratching at the dirt and eating any critter they find.  A lot of people feed their chickens table scraps.  I don't, but they do have access to the compost pile where they can find whatever they want. 
8.  Q:  How much do they cost?
     A:  To buy them as babies, they are less than $4.00 each.  But when you factor in the price of the coop, run and their treats, it will be a while before I break even in what I don't have to spend on eggs or pest control anymore.  Like any pet, we don't keep chickens for financial reasons.  However, their benefits do, in my opinion, outweigh the costs. 
     After we compiled the answers to the questions and Gaerin finished building their little home, we brought home our beautiful little baby chicks.  I settled on two Araucanas, because they're supposed to be friendly, a Buff Orpington, because of their gentle disposition, and a Golden laced Wyandotte because they are so pretty.  We kept them in a large plastic tub, with a red light to keep them warm, for the first couple months, until they were well feathered and able to move out into their coop. 

It really didn't take long for them to become a cherished part of the family.  Kaila played with them daily and which seemed to make them very sweet and friendly.