and Welcome To BYC! TwoCrows gave you some great links to get you started on your breed search, also check out the BYC Breeds section for member reviews of the breeds when you have narrowed down your search. For pets,especially for children, Silkies and Cochins are probably the two most popular breeds, they are not very good egg layers but are very friendly. Silkies are special and may need to be kept separate from other breeds, so do consider this if you get some. So far as more layer breeds go, for egg numbers alone, the Red Sex Links (Golden Comet, Red Stars, ISA Browns etc) for brown eggs are probably the most popular layers around. If you want breeds that don't lay quite as well but will lay for a longer time, Orpingtons (lots of people really like these, great pets though broody), Australorps, Plymouth Rocks, Sussex, Delaware and Wyandottes are some other popular breeds that are usually pretty easy to get along with, they all lay different shades of brown eggs. If you like a colorful egg basket, the Easter Egger, often sold as Ameraucana by hatcheries, are a fun breed because they usually lay green/blue eggs, and they tend to be very nice girls, and then there are the Welsummer and Marans for dark brown eggs.
