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What! No Roosters?
Yup. Roosters are loud and frequently aggressive. They are not allowed in city limits.

Don't hens need roosters to lay eggs?
Nope. Just like human females release their eggs with or without men around, chicken females (hens) will lay eggs without roosters around. The only important difference is that chicken eggs laid without a rooster to fertilize them cannot develop into chicks.

Without a rooster around, won't one of the hens turn into a rooster?
No. This is a myth. Very, very rarely an older hen will develop a hormonal imbalance that will make her stop laying eggs and even make noise sort of similar to a rooster (think of this as extreme 'hen-o-pause') but this is really unusual. However, this rare occurrence is probably where the myth originates.

Can Missoula's urban hens spread Bird Flu?
This is tricky- the answer is yes and no. If the dangerous kind of bird flu (H5N1, the kind that can spread to humans, and the kind that can kill both humans and birds) actually makes it to the United States of America, then any chicken, turkey, duck or various other birds could potentially spread bird flu. However, this virus is not in the USA. Therefore, this threat is distant and currently non-existent in Montana. Basically, the bottom line is "no" for the forseeable future.

Can Missoula's urban hens spread West Nile virus?
Mosquitos spread West Nile virus. Chickens can get West Nile (just like people and horses get West Nile) but they are no more likely to cause a problem then any other animal. The reason that chickens are sometimes associated with West Nile in the media is that they are used to detect the presence of the disease in mosquitos... i.e. you keep a chicken in a cage, it gets bitten by an infected mosquito and gets sick, you test the chicken for West Nile. It is much easier to do this with a chicken then with a horse, logistically! But they are no more risky or contagious than other animals.

Can my kids get Salmonella or E. coli from handling the neighbor's chickens?
Like any animal, chickens can transmit diseases. Realistically, your neighbor's chickens probably do not carry these diseases- backyard chickens are rarely exposed to them and would quickly fall sick if they were infected. Regardless, your children need to maintain good hygiene habits as they would with any other animal- don't kiss the chickens and wash hands thoroughly with warm soapy water after touching chickens, eggs, or coops/enclosures. Very young children that are not yet ready to understand not to put things in their mouth should receive special cautionary procedures, of course.

Will my chickens aggravate the neighbor's allergy to down?
This is highly unlikely. First of all, adult chickens don't have down feathers- it is ducks and geese (waterfowl) that have down feathers. Secondly, the vast majority of down allergies are actually allergies to the mites that live in down products. Because your backyard chickens don't have down, and healthy chickens will not have mites, it is very, very unlikely that your neighbor's allergy will be affected. In respect to your neighbor's fears, however, you would be smart to keep your chickens away from their property line and maintain a very, very clean enclosure.