emalin, welcome to the world of chickens.
not knowing your location, everything everyone has said is good information... I will add a couple things I've learned.
build your coop and pen first. then you'll know how many birds it'll be capable of holding. a good estimate is 4 sq ft of coop splace per bird (2'x2' floor space) and 10 sq ft in a pen. depending on your location, IMO the coop can vary. here in sw Virginia it is rare to have a day when the birds won't come out of the coop, so I based my coop on roosting space, not floor space. 12" minimum roost space per bird (that is pretty much a standard anyways), but in colder climates, there may be days on end when they won't want to come out, so that is something to consider.
my own coop is an old, repurposed horse trailer with 4 6' roosts and I free range the birds living in there every day, once they're large enough to not be hawkbait...
I also suggest building ahead of time, because chicks grow a lot faster than people expect, while building can take a lot longer than you plan. LOL
another thing to consider... if you're wanting to breed (or might down the road) stick with one breed. otherwise you'll need multiple pens to keep each breed separated. my friends with only one primary breed have a huge advantage over me. LOL they can free range everyone every day and still have purebred birds, while my free rangers are all likely to produce mutts with an occasional purebred by pure chance.
you also asked about confinement and free ranging in the same breath. LOL penned and foraging are two different worlds IMO... my pens end up denuded quite rapidly so there is nothing to forage for, while some of my best foragers do NOT do well confined (and refuse to lay when they are).
as for breeds, are you looking for meat, eggs, show potential, etc? that might change what options are available... I have a number of different breeds, some are more for meat than eggs, tho they lay well enough, some are considered dual purpose, some are more ornamental but lay well too.. I refuse to keep a breed that is anything other than calm and easy going.
the breeds I have are:
Dorking - the 'original' meat/dual purpose breed with very fine textured meat and good flavor. they trace their roots back to ancient Rome and were brought to Britain by the roman conquerors. many breeds have roots in the Dorking. they are an 'ok' layer (3-5 cream to lightly tinted eggs a week) calm and laid back and very social with people, very good foragers and do ok with confinement as well. (they seem to like high ceilings and daytime roosts) they may be a bit broody at times though, and can be aggressive when on eggs or chicks, making them good mothers usually.
Wyandotte - another good dual purpose bird, with good flavor in the meat as well (but I prefer the Dorking for that) they are friendly and easy going but not as outgoing as the Dorking or SFH. they are also good layers (4-5 light brown eggs a week). They are also very good foragers and seem to tolerate confinement fairly well (they don't mind my shorter breeding pens). my 'dottes have gone broody, but not as often or consistently as some other breeds do.
Swedish Flower Hen (SFH) - this is a landrace breed from Sweden, having evolved over several hundred years to be excellent foragers. the breed is not recognized by the APA due to the wide variety of colors possible. these birds are exceptionally friendly and outgoing. often under foot. smaller than the dorking and 'dotte, I don't consider them a dual purpose breed, but as someone pointed out on another thread recently, every chicken is edible, you just get more meat on some than others.. They seem to be a pretty consistent layer of medium to large eggs (lightly tinted to light brown). as for confinement, some say they do well with large pens. my own started out free ranging and when pens refuse to lay for me... go figure. I have some growing out that will not free range until after they start laying, in the hopes that they will prove otherwise.
bantam Cochin - primarily considered an exhibition breed, they are also very friendly and easy going. hens lay fairly well (cream to light brown eggs) when they're not broody (which can be frequent!) and tend to give me a nice medium sized egg (some girls lay larger than others).
my last "breed" is the
Easter Egger. simply put it's a mixed breed bird that lays colorful eggs, usually anywhere from blue to green or olive. the personality will depend largely on the breeds involved in it's creation, my own tend to be friendly but aloof and keep their distance from people for the most part. they mix well in the flock. again depending on the breeds that make up the individual birds, they can be anything from extremely good layers or dual purpose to a poor layer but excellent meatie. I have a few simply for their colorful eggs. my own have not shown any signs of being broody at all, but lay a nice large to extra large blue to blue green egg..
pictures of all of my own birds can be found on
http://www.kmvfarm.com/gallery
as for care, I do not vaccinate any birds, preferring to keep birds that are naturally resistant to whatever comes along. I also do not use a medicated feed (ever) as I've found chicks show signs of vitamin deficiencies if fed it over any length of time. I do feed a fermented feed to everyone with pellets and scratch when necessary (due to time or weather constraints mostly) or as an occasional 'treat' to give them something to do.
I also feed animal protein to them 2-3 times a week as an added bonus - raw and chopped or ground depending on the source, usually frozen in burger-shaped patties for them to work on as it thaws. they also get any bones available. I also feed raw to the dog, so he gets most raw bones, the chickens tend to get the cooked ones put out of range of the dog because they tend to splinter more easily. I gave them a whole 4 pound sliced ham (on the bone) that had been freezer burned, and 18 adult birds devoured it down to bare bone within a matter of hours. (I think the cats helped some) so the belief by some that chickens are vegetarians is entirely false!
