I tried to let them know but couldn't figure out how to do so. I talk chickens to anyone who wants to just to let them know the truth.
No those cute little coops and all that in the magazine is not the real deal. I love how they never show a coop that needs cleaning nor mentions that not all chicken breeds are created equal.
I suspect many don't do the research first. Good garden o' peas!
Oh the show was aired today.
My pet peeve is people who advise others to keep some high strung, flying, noisy, cannibalistic breed because it is an "endangered" or "critical" heritage breed and then the new chicken keeper finds that they have problems with both the neighbors and the biddies. I'd say most of my information to people planning on getting chickens is to help them choose a breed that both they and the neighbors can get along with. On a personal level I hate seeing it when people are trying to rehome biddies because they can't manage them. I'm also sick of coops that are adorably cute, usually flimsy, and completely unsuitable for poor biddy who could care less if her house looked like a hobbit cottage or Mount Vernon and likely thinks the apple tree is the best housing in the yard.
Once when I ordered chicks one of the supposed Black Stars took up being tall, gangly, noisy, and laid dark speckled eggs. She developed a long, curved neck and it was pretty clear that she was the hatchery version of a Marans. I found someone who wanted her and sold her; they had a coop of noisy, nervous birds and the space to not annoy the neighbors while my neighbors didn't appreciate the noise she made. That was a situation where I knew what would work, and darn it, fate just wouldn't cooperate!
One thing I always try to do is point out that different breeds originated under different conditions, that some were essentially always left to scavenge for themselves, while others, especially some of the British and American breeds, spent more time around people and were selected for better manners with children. I enjoy pointing out how some of the ancestors of breeds like the Sussex and Orpington were raised by small cottagers who actually brought the birds in at night, and this helped to select for friendlier, calmer breeds that tend to not attack the children. I point out the American class birds which often have strong admixtures of the calmer British and Asian breeds in their pedigree.
In my personal opinion, it is mportant to point out that if someone has a small space and the birds will be living in a small yard, that you should consider getting all of one breed all the same color for the best chance of peace in the coop - and then someone will pipe up with how they have dozens of different breeds of chickens living together without problems on their forty acres. Unfortunately, it seems the point that confinement has its own set of problems goes right over some people's heads. I get really annoyed when this happens because it is hard on both the new chicken keepers and the poor biddies.
One situation that really hurt was a lady who asked my advice and I suggested she choose from the calmer American and British breeds and possibly Black Stars and that she needed to be aware that more active breeds might seriously bully the Silky she wanted, and she might consider keeping a couple of Silkies in a separate coop. A couple of people then announced they had no problems keeping different breeds together, and they even raised rare breeds, and they encouraged the first poor woman to combine Red Stars and a Silky in one coop because the breeds I suggested were "only beginner breeds." The result was vicious bullying and attacks on the poor Silky and the biddies were given away, with the new chicken keeper swearing off chickens because the bloodlust really bothered her. I tried to encourage her to try again, with a flock more conducive to backyard confinement harmony, but the memories of the blood all over the poor Silky were too much for her. I've often marveled that anyone could refer to Rocks or Orpingtons as "beginner breeds" since several generations of famous poultry raising families kept them, and I doubt that these families remained "beginners" through three or more generations.
It's important to teach new keepers that biddies are all individuals. Not all biddies will sleep on the roost; some prefer to sleep in a pile on the floor, while I have a couple of Dominiques that prefer to sit on the ledge outside the coop in even the coldest weather. Others insist that poor biddy can find enough to eat "free ranging" in a manicured suburban backyard. It's 3AM here and I just looked out back, and the same pair of Dominiques are once again sitting on the ledge outside the coop door with the temperature in the 20s F.
we have had a lot of fun experiencing the different breeds of chickens as well as hatching our own chicks. If you let your chickens run free they will dig in your gardens that's just the way it is. They are birds. The upside is that they eat the peat and bugs in the garden and yard. You can build a chicken run and keep them in there. Chickens have a lot of personality and they are interesting and sweet and develop a lot of trust in their owners. They can be some work but they are less work than dogs. 
