Join the "urban chicken movement" and raise your own backyard flock. Chickens are both fun and useful to keep. Don't expect to keep a breeding flock with noisy roosters, but your hens will earn their keep and provide enjoyment by laying eggs for you. Chickens can provide you with healthy, home grown eggs and meat, quality nitrogen-rich fertilizer, pest control and companionship. Perhaps surprisingly, a reasonable number of chickens can adapt very well to the constraints of an urban environment; indeed, it's even possible to keep chickens indoors through the use of diapers. Here's your guide to keeping chickens in the city. Check local laws and regulations . It may be illegal for you to own chickens in your city location, so start out by calling the local animal control office or your local municipality and asking what the laws are in your area. More and more ordinances are available online as well, so it's worth doing a search. Since roosters are perceived as noisy, they usually tend to fall under your city's noise or nuisance ordinances. While hens are normally very quiet, they may still be subject to nuisance ordinances. Check the city code before you get your birds and become attached to them! Some cities limit the number of chickens you can have on a given amount of land. In areas that were recently rural or have a strong farming culture, no law or license may be required to keep chickens. If chickens are illegal in your area