If you have never had chickens before, I would suggest you start with day-old hatchery chicks to learn basic chicken-keeping. If you enjoy being a flock keeper, you can gradually upgrade your flock to the breed of your choice as time and finances permit. My parents, siblings and I have regularly ordered hatchery chicks over the past 40 years with uniformly good results; they are consistently healthy, vigorous and reasonably priced. These large companies are professionals and generally far more reliable than the poultry equivalent of puppy mills, no matter how cutesy their blogs or Facebook pages. I would also suggest you build all your coop/run before you bring home your first chick, and build it as strong and predator-proof as if their lives depend on it, (because it does!) But first and foremost, be certain your city ordinances, neighborhood covenants, rental agreement and the like will ALL permit chickens on your property.
Best wishes,
Angela
A question on this point - I decided to start with hatchery chicks (from Ideal), partly because of the monetary investment and the anticipated learning curve but also because I have a few breeds I'm interested in and wanted to start with a few of each to get a feel for them.
My question is - how representative do you think hatchery birds are as far as breed temperament? Will I really learn about keeping New Hampshires, for example, or are hatchery birds very different from breeder stock?
Unfortunately, it appears no one within a hundred miles keeps the breeds I'm looking for so the only way to get acquainted seems to be to just dive in.