I don’t know how many hens you’re thinking about getting, but my dad had a lot of them, and their poop stinks, so I wouldn’t recommend having them right by the house. And it doesn’t make good fertilizer.
Hen litter takes a year to break down and needs to get up to 160 in the compost pile, but it is all we use to fertilize our garden. We keep a year old pile for the garden and a newer pile for next year.
I didn’t think of that (the smell). Ok, note to self: making the chicken viewing area farther away!