No, it is not too late, and you'd have to start them inside anyway. They will be large enough you will WANT them outside about the time our lovely cold rains set in, but by then you can have a cozy, water tight coop for the pullets with a little run.. Also, you very likely won't get eggs until next year (spring) as the short winter light will keep them from laying in the usual 4 months or so (which would be about December)....unless you buy older pullets and not baby chicks...which would give you a head start. When I started later chicks, I didn't get eggs until almost 7 months.
I live in your area too, and finding them this late is a little trickier with our local places; however, a couple of places still have chicks (the major feeds store only stock in spring). Otherwise you have to go
find a small farmer...easier if you visit one of the local Chicken swaps or connect with their online forum.
I'll post links that have chicks now below.
Good Luck on your new endeavor,
Lady of McCamley
http://www.ludemans.com/ click on the Healing Ponds Farm and Garden center. Located in Beaverton. Call and ask for Tammy, she is very knowledgeable. They had a lot of chicks in when I visited just a week ago as well as a number of pullets. I think you can pretty much get chicks or pullets through them all year. Their store is linked to an actual farm.
Urban Farm Store in SE Portland has an arrival slotted for August 9th
As well as earlier chicks that came in.
http://www.urbanfarmstore.com/ Click on their calendar to see the breeds coming in.
Oregon Poultry Swap
http://www.oregonpoultryswap.com/
You just missed the Summer swap in Brownsville; there is another Fall swap in Benton County; more importantly the Spring swap (should you get hooked and want more in Spring or want to trade what you get now) is in Canby. Great places to connect locally. You can connect through the Facebook page and even arrange an outside swap purchase.
.. Just make sure you have a good coop for winter!
