So, who here has chickens on a normal suburban block similar to ours (about 650sqm)? Or do you all live on large blocks or in semi-rural areas.
I have always kept my ladies in small suburban backyards in Melbourne. I grew up with Chooks in our house in a suburb about 10km from the city and then got some when I moved out of home, moving them with me as I lived in different inner city properties within 5km of city. The council in those municipalities were ok about having a few hens (not roosters).

That said, there was still an issue with foxes in all of those houses as foxes use the green pathways through the city (train lines, parks etc) to access the suburbs. I even watched a fox run across Lygon Street (North Carlton near houses rather than the eatery part) one night! Keep that in mind if you are urban as you would not think foxes would be a problem there.

I second Yeddi's advice about getting chicks. It is so much better to have hand reared chooks for the personality factor and relationship. As a child we reared chooks from eggs in an incubator. We did have to get rid of a few surprise roosters but ended up with THE most delightful birds as a result. I used to cuddle my chicken ("Mrs Boccker") sitting on the swing, telling her of all my woes when my brother picked on me, loved her! As Kate mentioned, they were also great company when gardening! Later I have picked up point of lay chooks and have never found them to be as good as pets.