Either way, keeping chicken in the city does not require a license. When the issue of ordinances is out of the way, decide the kind of chicken that you want and for what purpose. If pets are what you want, you would settle well with bantams. Bantams are chicken breeds that are about one fourth of the size of a regular chicken. This is sometimes complicated as when other chickens see blood, they could help peck the hapless chicken until most feathers fall or seriously wounded. Ample space rules that out. When building a backyard chicken coop then it is important to determine first the number of chicken intended for the coop. If you can throw in other food, they will pretty much eat that too and if they do, there is no cause for worry. Chicken eats grit too. They need grit to aid their digestion. If you do not provide them that, they would be pecking pebbles. If you want that prevented, you could purchase that at farm supplier but you could very well make grit yourself. The design should also include a hatchway, storage area, ventilation, lighting and a feeder system. For a cleaner and healthier environment, design the floor to accommodate deep litter. This is normally done by piling three to four inches of wood shavings under the floor. Most people will design or make allowances for a feeder and water container and supply system, often though it is convenient to purchase the system in a local farm supply store. But when there is low egg production chances are something must be done to improve the nest box. For as much eggs as possible, here are suggestions: Often, chicken nest boxes are built to house more chicken and there are practical management reasons for this. The fact though is that when the nest box is crowded, chicken prefer laying eggs on the floor where the eggs are dirtied, trampled on, and even eaten lowering production. They could scratch near the fence and before you knew it, the fox and raccoons gets the idea and figures out a way to get their dinner easy. The way to prevent this is to sink the bottom of the fence about 10" into the ground. The area near the fence are usually forgotten so don't. If that is not possible in some areas along the perimeter, sink 8" planks to prevent predators from scraping underneath.