Welcome to Backyard chickens!! I would recommend keeping 2 or 3, so they keep each other company when you are not around, 1 lone chicken gets very bored and lonely. I hope you enjoy Backyard chickens as much as I have!
Greetings from Kansas, Phobia, and ! Pleased you joined us. Chickens are pretty social beings and generally do not do well singly. That said, many on BYC have single chickens as pets - inside the house as well as out. I think it takes a higher level of commitment than just raising them for eggs, etc. Type in 'chicken as pet' into the BYC search box and get ready to read - a lot of old threads on the matter. Best of luck to you!
Welcome to BYC! It's great to have you. That depends on your definition of pet. If you treat it like a dog or cat, i.e. keeping it inside the house, diapered, and giving it plenty of attention, then yes, you can have just one chicken. Chickens are very social animals - so if they don't have another chicken for company, they need the same kind of attention and interaction as any other animal.
Absolutely!! Please check out "people with house chickens," thread. Just put that in the search box and it will come up. Chickens are flock animals but, I know they can consider humans as their flock . The Serama breed of tiny chickens were purposely developed in Malaysia to be house pets.. my friend has had house pet chickens for over 25 years - various breeds: cochins, silkies, buff orpingtons and seramas.