chickens???

I just assumed chickens were not allowed in my suburban town. But I have been very surprised to learn otherwise. No roosters, but chickens are OK. There's even a chicken-owners support group (sound like its some sort of bad habit).

It seems a hen needs about 4 square feet of coop space. Lets see, a flock of five ia 5 x 5 ft coop, heated I assume.... I'm excited to start learning about keeping backyard chickens. My yard is about 40 x 70 feet and if they don't mind sharing with a cute dog, well, we'll see....

Here's an excerpt from an informative post: "I actually have had chickens for 3 years in Belmont. The first year I had 2 hens and the second year I added two more hens to bring my total up to 4 hens. I hope to go to 5 this year. Yes they eat grass when it is growing. They also eat weeds and bugs. I feed them my dinner leftovers, the heals of bread,and vegetables and fruit peels. In summer they get tomatoes from my community garden plot and other extra or damaged veggies. They also get chicken feed which is mostly grain. They are omnivores like us, so unlike herbivores such as sheep and cows they need protein and can not live on grass alone. As far as space goes for backyard chickens, the rule of thumb is at least 4 sq feet each in the coop and at least 10 sq feet each in a run. More space is always nice though. I have a run that is 4ft by 16 feet but my hens are often allowed to roam free in my fenced in backyard. It's about 30 x 50 feet I'd guess. They must be fenced out of a vegetable garden or the will eat it. Many people also build them movable pens called chicken tractors so the hens can be moved to a fresh area of grass each day. This gives the hens fresh grass each day with out destroying the grass. If hens were left in one place the grass will be destroyed...."