Thanks for the benefit of your knowledge & experience. I’d very much like to give it a shot. Would prefer to have them be semi-free range, and have a section of the back yard that would lend itself to becoming a fairly spacious chicken run, with a gate & stout lock and then the coop inside it. Maybe some smaller chicken wire attached to the chain-link for security.
So the coop would be the most labor and time-intensive to get it set up right. Guess I can live with that. Oh, and I almost forgot about verifying whether the town ordinances would allow it, or if they’re considered “livestock”. One town worker told me that hens ARE allowed in-town, but not roosters because their crowing would piss off the neighbors. Heh.
Yeah, you don’t need roosters to get eggs. And you don’t need PO’d neighbors.
Should have mentioned the skunks and raccoons will dig under a fence so you need at least a secure place for Henrieta to roost.