Home-based chicken-raising is actually *not* a public health problem--bird flu is present in Asian home flocks because poor people save money by buying chickens from commercial chicken producers who sell off their sick birds. Purchasing birds from a reputable hatchery and following basic sanitation practices (handwashing, mostly) makes keeping an urban flock quite safe.

Also, a surprisingly large number of urban areas allow chicken-raising with a few limits--here in Austin, the coop must be 40 feet from neighboring homes. In my neighborhood, (just a couple of miles from downtown) there are at least five flocks, enough that our roosters can hear each other crow and can call back and forth.

About the Eglu: looks nice, but it's expensive and pretty small for 10 chickens. Much better to build your own.