it seems that any time we get new neighbors to rural living they feel compelled to start raising chickens but like clockwork within 6 months or so they realize how much the feed costs, how much work goes into it AND how it draws predators to their property that then get attracted to their little dogs and cats...there are at least a half dozen very nice (electrically wired for heat lamps and all) chicken coop set ups within walking distance to our home that have not been used in years (we had one neighbor whose chickens that were spared in a raccoon attack ended up with PTSD and stopped laying entirely-yeah, he did'nt count on having a couple dozen 'pet chickens' for the next 8 or 10 years).