Aquarium as housing and smelly chicks?

[Tala]

I changed my pine shavings every 3rd day.
For the first day they smelled like pine, the second day they smelled like animals but not bad, by the third day you knew it was time for a change so I always changed it first thing in the morning.

I doubt 4 hens would be too bad, unless the neighbors already don't like you. The laws here are friendly, but ya never know how people might react. When I told my neighbor I had chicks her response was "ooooh, I love chickens!!" so you could get lucky and have neighbors like that

 

[Lairvine]

I use a 55 gallon tank for a brooder as well. I love it. I have the screen top for it. Shavings go in at about 3-4 inches deep. They love to scratch in them. The smell should not be bad for 4, I have 18 chicks and 4 ducklings that are almost 2 weeks old in mine right now, and hardly any smell. The more room your chicks have the happier they will be. with so few chicks if you had the shavings deep-3-4 inches you could just kinda stir them a bit with a small shovel for a few days then completely change them after about 4 days the first time. They do get messier as they get older. When I clean I use a small shovel to scoop the nasty shavings out and into a waiting 5 gallon bucket for compost. The sides of the tank also get nasty but a wet paper towel or rag cleans that right up.

 

[chickenguysmom]

As far as the noise thing goes ..... up until the latest batch of chicks the most we had in our backyard was 5 (I guess we will now test our neighbors patientence with our "chicken experiment"). We live on 1 acre in a nice subdivision. We have a privacy fence that really is not so private and all the neighbors can see in. All the neighbors whose properties abutt ours know we have chickens (they cant help knowing because they can see them in our yard). THe rest I am not so sure about because I don't bring it up.

Loudness: I think some breeds can be louder than others even with just hens. Mine sqwawk VERY LOUDLY when they want to be let out of their pen to free range. My two older hens try to crow, I guess because someboy has to do it??? One neighbor said she heard my "rooster" crowing but she said it didn't bother her.

Not sure if this could help, but I go to Henderson's Chicken Chart (google) and look up the characteristics of the breeds I want and then stay away from breeds that are known for aggressive behavior, flightyness (read: flying over your fence into your neighbors yard) and not liking confinement (as mine are penned up for most of the day). Hope that helps.

 

[enola]

If I have to keep chicks in the house, after the first week, I put them in brooders with wire bottoms. Then put newspaper under the cage. I take the newspaper out a couple of times a day and put it in the compost pile.

Newspaper under the cages cuts down on the amount of 'dust' the chicks can make and helps keep the smell down too.