Thank you everyone for the warm welcome! I am already browsing and just getting a "feel" for the forum.
Drumstick Diva, the cats and rats live in the house, so the chickens will be very safe! I can actually trust most of my cats alone in the reptile room (NOT on purpose, ever! Sometimes they sneak in and we don't notice until we come back in hours later though!), there's only one cat who is our "Master Hunter" for anything but insects. :-D
Kelsey2290 Thank you for the link!!! Checking it out now. I do have some friends in neighboring towns who raise chickens legally, and even a few in my town, I just have no idea of what weird rules they might have. lol