Thank you for all the welcomes and for sharing what you like!
I followed the links for chicken breeds and coop designs. There's so much information, and I'm already learning.
I'm still not sure what breed(s) I should get. There's so many to choose from, and I haven't narrowed it down much. I thought I wanted a friendly hen, but after reading some about them, I've realized that my definition of a friendly animal was written by my cats! That definition allows for quite a bit of assertiveness, although flighty or aggressive birds don't sound appealing. A hen that can be cuddled sounds adorable, but I'm in the wild wooded hills with hawks, foxes, racoons, feral dogs, and the odd bobcat. I'm already thinking that I should use a sturdy coop with a decent-sized run for protection, but if I had escapees or an invasion, I wouldn't want the poor things to be defenseless by genetic design.
I'm also considering a mixed flock, but I'll have to choose carefully. I don't want to put breeds together that have different levels of social aggressiveness. More research! Yay! (I am such a nerd.)