Lucy Katz has 11 pets in the backyard of her home in Decatur, Ga.

Skinny is the most affectionate. She follows Katz around until she squats down on the ground. And then she tucks her head under her keeper's arm and stands there, cooing like a baby.

Petunia is the ornery one. She's just like Petunia in the Harry Potter books. Lily is the same way.

And then we have Dottie and Lolly and Primrose and Buttercup. Booger died.

These are not dogs. They are not cats. They are not rabbits.

They are chickens.

Lucy Katz is not that unusual. A whole backyard-chicken movement has taken wing in several cities, including Decatur. Enthusiasts hold meetups and classes and parties. On Feb. 6, they'll gather in downtown Decatur for a half-day-long "Chicks in the City Symposium."

One of the speakers will be Andy Schneider, who calls himself "the chicken whisperer." He has a regular speaking tour and his own Internet radio show called "Backyard Poultry with the Chicken Whisperer."

As a "chicken whisperer," Schneider doesn't claim he can communicate with grouchy chickens and convert them into docile, loving hens. He communicates with people who want to keep chickens. The benefits, he says, are tremendous. You get fresh eggs, fresh fertilizer, fresh material for composting, insect control and instant pets that don't require much petting.

"You wouldn't believe the tomatoes I get from using chicken poop as fertilizer," he says. "The plants are just bending over with tomatoes."

Some city folks keep chickens for meat, too, but not Lucy Katz. "That would be like eating your dog," she says.

Allison Adams, another speaker for the symposium, says keeping chickens is about knowing your neighbors as much as it is about eating. "It's a delightful thing to watch the community (of chicken keepers) grow, even week by week," she says.

They keep up with each other through Yahoo groups and Facebook, and when the Walcotts get their first egg, everybody knows it.

In the Decatur area, chicken keepers are invited to Adams' annual Cluckapalooza, where neighbors sing chicken songs ("Who Broke the Lock on the Henhouse Door?"), play chicken-related games and compete in a Funky Chicken Dance Off. Sixty people showed up last time.

Do other neighbors complain about the chickens?

Well, city chicks are not a nuisance if kept right, Chicken Whisperer Schneider says. We're talking about maybe a dozen hens-seldom any roosters-kept in a pen and locked in a coop at night. Everything's neat.

Lucy Katz actually gets up before the chickens - at 5 a.m. - and sometimes lets them out to peck in the grass and practice chicken politics. But she watches them. Emma, the daughter who came up with the idea of getting chickens, is still fast asleep.

It's fun, Katz says. And if she needs to be reassured that she's needed, all she has to do is squat down. Skinny will be there.