It depends on the chicken. I had two buff silkies that simply could not deal with life outside. They sat like lumps and would starve to death if they had to walk any distance to the food and water. They had good vision and could walk just fine when they wanted to. They just refused to. So in the house they came and spent their lives in a plastic tote. One sat comatose inside the tote day and night, and the other would actually sit on the edge for a few hours during the day. Jumping back into the tote was a HUGE production that lasted several minutes. She would lean to one side while one foot tapping the edge of the tote . Then she would lean to the other side and tap with the other foot. That went on until she felt it was safe. All of a sudden...1...2...3....JUMP! About a foot down. Once in awhile she would fall out which was about 2' down. I would hear a loud scream and a thud. She would sit there until rescued. I still have one (she is 8 years old now) and she spends most of her time free ranging the house with a diaper. As far as them being smelly, they were/are NOT. ANY animal will stink if you are not diligent about cleaning up after them. An added bonus was that they made excellent "watch dogs" and would alert me when anyone drove in the driveway. Though it was more of a greeting than an alert sound.
