This is an early photo of our first group of "ladies." You can't tell now, but the one we call Marilyn was really Marlon, and one of the silkies was Don Juan. We don't have any of our original chickens any more. We have lost 5 to raccoons, one became eggbound (a nasty business), and one became weakened by mites and quit eating. We caught on a little to late with the last two, or the causes of death were completely treatable. Less so with being eggbound.
However, chickens are not all death and sickness! They are also beautiful, clucking wonders who turn worms, grubs, insects, slugs, grass, and old vegetables into the most amazing eggs. The color and texture of a fresh free range egg beats anything you can by in a store. Chickens also love tofu, I am not sure there is anything they like better. But they are not vegetarians. As outlined above they will eat just about anything that runs, crawls, or squirms that is substantially smaller than themselves.
They are relatively quiet animals, more consistently noisy than some pets, but it is generally a soft clucking, with occasionally harsh "bocking." Unless of course you have a rooster. One of our chickens (Honker, a buff orpington) is fairly loud, but none of our neighbors have complained, and one has even inquired about getting chickens himself.
