We've had backyard chooks (chickens) for several years now and I love them! They're friendly and curious and follow me around and I love the contented clucking noises they make when they're just poking about and scratching in the dirt. We have five at the moment - four layers and one old girl (the last that's left from our first lot of chooks) who is now retired. We converted the area under our cubbyhouse into a coop - probably 4x1.5 square metres, with one end closed in where their perch and nest are. The floor is dirt but I cover it with redwood mulch and sugar cane mulch (any straw or hay would work). We're in suburbia in a big city so our backyard isn't huge but I let them out to 'free range' sometimes during the day.
Once you're set up they're fairly low maintenance - food (a layer crumble/pellet thing), water each day. They're great composters too - I give them most of our table scraps (incl. meat but obviously not chicken!, pasta, rice, veggies, fruit, bread, etc) and there's not much they don't eat (avoid onions or your eggs can start tasting like onions apparently, green potatoes/potato skins, nothing that's mouldy or going rotten). I also have a seed and grain mix that I give them as a treat (ahem, bribe) to get them back in their cage after I've let them out.
I give their coop a thorough clean on the change of each season and dust them with a pest control powder called Pestene (not sure if it's sold in other countries) to prevent mites and bird lice. May not be a problem depending on where you live. They do poop ALOT so best to clean that out of their coop other times too. Best part about the poop (mixed in with all the broken down mulch) is it makes great compost for the veggie patch.
As for breeds, my first lot were Isa Browns and my current layers are Australorps which are an Australian breed so you may not get them in other countries?? They're both good layers - from four chooks I'd average 2-3 eggs/day every day of the week for a couple of years before they start slowing down. They tend to stop laying altogether for about a month when they moult (around mid Autumn for us). The Australorps are a bit more feisty/flighty and wreak more havoc in the garden (I've had to fence off areas I don't want them going in (or pooping on - like the patio). Overall I'd say the Isa Browns are a bit more gentle in nature but it can vary from chook to chook, and they all have their own unique personalities!
They're definitely fun to keep. Good luck!
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