Im a new smallholder and started with 6 hybrid POL chickens so maybe as a novice my tips might help you
Our chickens are very quiet. I was surprised how quiet. I only hear them chattering when I take food out. I understand that ducks are much noisier, but you might like that.
Ive found chickens very easy to handle. Our hybrids are friendly, squat down when I offer to pick them up and are very good layers.
In fact..... TOO MANY EGGS!! There are only 2 of us but we get between 4 and 6 eggs a day! Ive never baked so many cakes in my life but Im still giving eggs away. We didn't expect this many eggs in the middle of winter from girls who were only just starting to lay.
Our hens are free range. They scratch around quite a big area of short grass, hedges and an old flower bed. We feed them layers pellets and they have mixed corn and mealworms mid afternoon as a treat. Occasionally we give them half a tin of sweetcorn, which they fight over. Their eggs are the most eggy-tasting eggs Ive ever eaten and the cakes come out bright yellow. I certainly wouldn't want richer eggs than we get.
I was also surprised at how busy the hens are all day. They never stop. We have dogs, cats and horses and they all take regularly snoozes....not the hens! So I think its important that you give them enough space to keep busy in all day.
The hens are not at all stupid and they are funny little things. I can spend a long time just watching them. They have their own personalities.
Our first 2 weeks were not easy as the 6 ladies sorted out the pecking order. We have 2 Light Sussex who are very much in charge.They had come from a different flock at the same breeder's farm. The Sussex picked on a small Black Rock and she stopped eating and drinking. Our farmer neighbour told us she would die as she had given up. NOPE!! I didn't want to give up on her so I used a pipette to give her water every few hours with a poultry tonic in it. On day 3 she rallied and she's now abs fine and the pecking order is established and all are happy.
You will need to de-louse them and worm them regularly but with hens that are easy to handle this isn't difficult. The wormer just goes in their water.
Oh yes, water: I was so surprised at how much water hens drink..... gallons. We have had to buy a second big water feeder as we were filling the tank up so often.
Chickens do a lot of scratching and tramping about and that does cause some mud but its not deep. On the other hand ducks are mud-masters.
There are some amazingly helpful poultry keepers on here and you will never be short of good advice. I just thought that you might like to hear some of the things that took another new keeper by surprise.