So you think you want your very own flock of chickens?

First and foremost, find out whether they're legal in your community.

"The last thing you want to do is get this all set up and then get busted by a neighbor," says Lisa Schwartz, who's raising four to five dozen birds on her Rainbeau Ridge farm in Bedford Hills.

Because chickens straddle the fuzzy line between pets and livestock, communities have a wide range of ways to regulate them. Some very large cities, like New York, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Houston and Portland have allowed chickens for years. But they're banned in Boston - and in White Plains and Yonkers.

New Rochelle forbids farm animals on parcels under 2 acres, and then you have to allow 1 acre per animal if you do own 2 or more acres.

Some communities require that residents seeking a permit for chickens get signatures of approval from neighbors. Other variables include whether roosters are allowed and how large and close to your neighbors the coop can be. In Bedford Hills, for example, you're allowed 12 chickens on a half-acre lot - but no roosters. In Rye, chickens have to be kept at least 25 feet from your neighbors.

In Pound Ridge, you can have up to 200 chickens. In Croton-on-Hudson, you're allowed 25.

Yes, chickens are allowed in Kent, but no, not in Mahopac - unless you've got official designation as a farm. In general, jurisdictions north of Interstate 287 tend to be more chicken-friendly because so much of northern Westchester and Putnam used to be farmland.

While fairly easy to care for on a daily basis, chickens are a serious commitment nonetheless. They need to be fed every day and brought into shelter before dark each evening. While most hens stop laying eggs after a few years, they have a lifespan of 8 to 12 years.

Most people buy new chicks in the spring. In much of the country, they're sold in feed and grain stores for a couple or three dollars, but those are hard to come by in the Lower Hudson Valley. So most would-be local farmers turn to the Internet for baby chicks. The McMurray Hatchery in Webster City, Iowa, is a particularly popular source.

Chickens are very social creatures, so be sure to buy more than one. New chicks usually take five to nine months to produce eggs, depending on the breed.

In the Hudson Valley, you want to get cold-hardy breeds that don't need to be pampered through long winters.

Kleinpeter recommends three varieties that are a good standard mix for the average homeowner: White Leghorns, which produce white eggs; Rhode Island Reds, which produce brown eggs; and Araucanas, with eggs that are green, blue or pink. "White Leghorns are the most efficient egg layers," he says.

Other good choices include Black Stars, Buff Orpingtons and New Hampshire Reds.

Schwartz, who has lots of livestock on her farm in Bedford Hills, says raising chickens couldn't be easier. She got her first chickens more than 20 years ago, in part to teach her children where their food comes from.

"I think raising chickens is incredibly satisfying," she says. "It's relatively easy, once you get everything set up. It's about as easy an operation as there is. And the benefits are incredible. There's nothing like a fresh egg, the way it sits up in a pan or for baking."