you should also check (or you may know) whether you are allowed to keep hens. My own house has a covenant on it (as do all the houses on the estate) not to keep pigs, pigeons, or poultry and I can see why....but oddly no covenant against keeping a horse, cow or goat! I have got chicken keeping friends, many of whom have battery rescues...they all say the same, that chickens are not especially hardy and not to get attached, and also that if you keep chickens, you will get rats and need to deal with them.