Chicken love

Chickens! Do you remember our Chicken Mom, Chrissy? She got busy and wasn't able to keep posting about life with chickens (our loss). But we need some Chicken Moms to give us the low-down on keeping backyard hens. Julie is thinking about it, too:

Did either of you see the picture in the paper a few weeks ago about the tree house / chicken coop?  It was in the real estate section.  I loved it!  Now we're seriously considering getting chickens.... I was wondering if you could post something about this or ask any of your readers about their experiences with chickens.  LIke - do they wake you up early in the morning?  I've heard even the hens can be noisy at 5am.  Also, any issues if you have cats or other pets?  Someone also told me the feed can attract rats.  I'd love to have some feedback from people who are living with chickens.

I've pondered chickens as well. My concern is keeping them cooped up (so to speak) rather than free-range. I know there are chicken tractors, but I can't imagine them working out on my heavily sloped backyard. So, what do you think? Chickens -- yea or nay? Noisy? Smelly? Rodent-attracting? Bring on your chicken stories, folks!