Welcome Hensbythesea!! How eggciting- more Cbad chicken people!
I bought my chickens from:
www.mypetchicken.com as day old chicks and I ordered only girls and raised them in the house until they were 5 weeks old then moved them out into the catawba style ark my husband built for me.
All six are now laying and are 8 months old- I have: 1 silverlaced wyandotte, 1 goldenlaced wyandotte, and 4 EasterEggers. I get two light brown eggs, one green egg, one aqua egg, and two baby blue eggs.
Here is a picture of the flock last month out in the run next to their ark.
Carter's Hay and Feed in Olivenhain on Rancho Santa Fe Road has some started RIR (rhode island red) pullets that are already laying. As far as the 4H loophole goes- I'm not 100% sure about it- I only heard through the "grapevine" ha. Good luck- post some pix when you get your girls.
Here are some pix of the eggs I've been getting- Easter Eggers are really fun when they start to lay- it's like a finding a treasure every time you look in the nest box.