If you're going to have a few chickens, it's really not that cost effective unless you plan to sell the eggs, so you would need more than a few chickens. Each chicken will lay an egg a day (depends on age and type of chicken though) and not all year round. Our chickens (ISA browns) laid in the spring through the fall and only after their first year. They are fun to raise and not all that hard. Get a good coop and, preferably, a fenced in area for 'free-ranging' and you're good to go. There are other issues involved, but it's really not bad at all. Ours were hand raised, so they were comfortable with us and when we sat outside or walked around, they would follow us around. I'm using past tense because a fox (or something) got into our coop a few months back...sad time. My daughter still isn't over it. But we plan on starting again in the spring.