Keeping chickens is less common than it was a couple of generations ago. In fact, back during World Wars One and Two, the government encouraged families to keep chickens because they knew that it would be best to keep as many food systems as possible as close to home as possible. (Of course, there is an argument to be made that the same could be said today).
One government poster from 1918 declared “Uncle Sam Expects You To Keep Hens and Raise Chickens”.
After those wars were over, Victory Gardens and backyard chicken keeping fell in popularity. Fast forward to today, when not only isn’t it popular but in many places, it is not even permitted. Take my situation for instance. I live in a town that allows chickens, but my HOA does not. When I moved here I tried for literally years to get the HOA to change the rules, but the fact is that most people who buy homes in an HOA don’t want a neighbor with chickens.
Of course, they have probably never HAD a neighbor with chickens. Dogs (I have two) can certainly be louder (mine aren’t) and certainly output a larger volume of poop (guilty as charged). Yet, they’re allowed in any neighborhood.
I was blessed to be able to find nearby land and got the permission of the landowner to put my girls there. Now of course I own land so that’s where I put my chickens.