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I have had chickens before, and I agree with everything that Yatte says about keeping them. I have never used shavings for bedding before, but I don't see any reason why that could not work okay.
The chickens themselves are not smelly, but the chicken house will need to be kept clean. It is kind of like having a cat, the cat is not smelly, but the litterbox is very smelly if not cleaned and changed regularly.
If you are going to also have a garden as part of your self-sufficiency drive, then the manure and also your eggshells will be great for the compost pile. You don't want to put fresh manure on the garden, it if you compost it, then it should be fine.
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