I live just north of Portland, OR and I have everything from Rhodes to Wyandottes. Just don't get birds with feathered feet if you plan to have them free range or be in a run at all. Birds with feathered feet are indoor only birds in the Northwest. Though I have found that English breeds do very well here due to the similar climate. Golden Sexlink are a good choice if you want egg laying machines.
My rule for letting my birds out is, do I want to be out in that weather? If the answer is no I leave them in their coop for the day. With that being said, I would make sure you have a good size coop for your needs. For example, my coop with its sq footage can hold about 20-25 hens, I have 14. This allows them to be inside without being crowded. I am not saying you need to go that big. But I would build or expand your coop to fit the sq footage per bird needed for the hens to be indoor birds. Yes you have a bigger coop to clean but if you need to leave them inside due to weather you won't feel bad about it. And I have found it keeps my girls from fighting.
My coop is set up so when I walk in the people door, the chicken door is to my left, their food can to my right. Along the right wall is their nesting buckets (5 gal buckets are easy to clean and fit most chickens. Even my fat Delawares fit.) The left wall has a window for venting and light. And the back wall has a poop door in the middle bottom and the roosts are varying heights along it. This allows me to only have to clean about 1/3 of the coop every time it needs to be cleaned. And cleaning is easy with a smooth steel floor, (straw over the top) the poop that sticks is easily removed with a flat shovel and when it comes time to get the water and soap once a year it makes fast work of a normally slow process. Chicken poop is like super glue once dried, I have to take a paint scraper and a lot of muscle to get the stuff off the roosts when it falls on them. I also use 2x4's for my roosts, this lets my girls sit down and cover their toes if they are cold. My water sits on cinder blocks on the floor and this helps keep the girls from making straw soup and my feeder hangs from the ceiling.
Even if its not cold enough out to require it, I leave at lest one heat lamp on for them in the wet months, this allows them to dry off and get warmed up if they get wet. And since the silly things seem to like wadding in the pond that is more often than not. You will need a heat lamp on the water when the temp outside dips into the low 30's. I have found with two heat lamps I can keep it about 10 degrees warmer in the coop than outside. So if its 30 outside I can keep it about 40 inside, which doesn't seem that hot but if you pick a hen up and hold her and stick your hands under her wings you will find that they are very warm birds. As long as your coop is dry and draft free (but vented) your girls will be happy.
My girls lay almost an egg a day EACH. So unless you want almost two dozen eggs a day I would cut back on your hens. Thankfully local food banks will gladly take the eggs and give you a tax recipe for them. My 14 hens lay about 10-14 eggs a day, if you notice a MAJOR drop in laying check for worms. Also the more hens you have the more expensive they become, they require more food, more bedding, more worming meds, and so on.
Me and my mom wanted to get about 8 hens, we some how ended up with 15 (14 hens, 1 roo). We got rid of the roo and now have 14. Chicken math.
Wilco (for you a somewhat local feed store). Has a good number of chickens on hand in the spring (starting in Feb) so for a little drive you can save the shipping and just pick them up in the area. Just be mindful of how long your drive home is and let the clerk know so they can really pack them in when putting them in their boxes. I would also bring a heating pad to put in the bottom of a big box and then put the little boxes on top of it. That would keep them nice and warm while you drove home.
TIP NUMBER ONE: Build Coop and run FIRST, then get chickens. (we did it the other way around, and still don't have a run)
TIP NUMBER TWO: A homemade wooden brooding box is your best friend, just remember they grow FAST. (I like a homemade box to that of the store bought ones, its cheaper and you can build it to however big you want it. And if you want to keep on the chicken track you will need it again)
TIP NUMBER THREE: Chicken Shows are FUN! Even if you don't win. And don't let some stuck up elitist tell you, that you can't take your feed store birds to a show. I have champion birds that are feed store birds.
TIP NUMBER FOUR: Chickens are friends not food. If possible train your dog (if you own one) that the chickens are friends and not to be eaten.
TIP NUMBER FIVE: We have coons here in the Northwest and they love chicken food and chickens if they can get them. Clean your feeding stations inside the coop and make sure if you give them food outside that they clean it up or you will have pests around your girls that you don't want.
TIP NUMBER SIX: Deworm your hens about ever 6 months, use a chicken (not chicken and pig) dewormer, that way you wont lose eggs when you deworm them.
TIP NUMBER SEVEN: HANDLE your birds ALOT. Doing this will make health checks and baths easier.
TIP NUMBER EIGHT: Train your birds to come will called. Some corn in a coffee can and a few weeks of calling, rattling the can and then rewarding with a treat will make it easier to round them up. (downside is they will fallow you around like little shadows wanting food)
TIP NUMBER NINE: Check your hens for wounds at lest once a week. And keep a chicken first aid kit handy. Bagbalm is your friend.
TIP NUMBER TEN: A window in the coop in the summer with a fan will keep your girls nice and cool.
TIP NUMBER ELVEN: A multivitamin added into the water is a MUST for chicks on non medicated feed, and for Northwest summers.
TIP NUMBER TWELVE: Have more than one water station in the summer time, chickens drink a lot of water.
TIP NUMBER THIRTEEN: Pellets not crumbs, once they are grown up ladies put them on a pellet if you can (some hens don't like pellets) I have found you have less feed waste.
Well that about sums up what I have learned in a year of owning chickens. Books are helpful but in the end the people that are everyday bird owners are going to be able to help you out a lot more than any book.
Chickens are kinda like having a baby, you start out as a compete novice and quickly become an expert in the subject.
PS: (last thing promise) Pick a brand of food and stay with it, don't brand jump a lot. I raised my hens on Nutrena so that is what layer feed I use. Do your homework on food brands ahead of time and pick the one you like.
And leave the fancy lighting and curtains out of the coop, chickens make a lot of "chicken dust" and its already hard enough to keep everything clean(ish) with out adding extra stuff to clean. If the birds don't need it, it doesn't need to be in there.
