I have a lot of friends who have chickens in their backyards. The one thing that I've noticed is that ALL OF THEM put the coop as far away from their house, and as close as possible to their neighbors. I've asked a couple why this is so and they stated stuff about the odor, flies and noise. I found this attitude to be quite selfish and hypocritical: not wanting the "negatives" that come with keeping chickens, so trying to put them as close to their neighbors as possible. Not all, but many of my friends also don't know how to keep chickens… they essentially have them in ramshackle huts with no ground cover (only feces impacted mud) with dirty water to drink; some even had rats. These friends of mine; they're really something, aren't they?