I love the idea of having your own chickens! What do you need to do to set up for chickens? How many eggs does a chicken produce a week? How do you choose a chicken?
We have a coop and a yard. The coop I bought off ebay for a fraction of the price you would get in a shop. Chicken feed is super cheap. We got two chicks and raised them (no eggs until they're about 20 weeks), but we've bought two more at 20 wks so they start laying straight away. We lost one of our first girls to a mystery illness. They also get all of our leftovers and I buy straw for the nesting box (again, not expensive).

We have little Isa Browns. $20 each at 20 wks. They lay one egg a day each, with perhaps one day off a week. If they are laying less, it's usually because you need to include more protein in their diet (or so I'm told). They live for about 8 years, I'm not sure when they stop laying.

We let them out in the morning, put them back in their coop if we have to go out, and they put themselves to bed in their coop every evening. They eat all the nasty spiders we get here too (redbacks, funnel webs, etc). And weeds - DP only has to mow the lawn about twice a year where they are!

PS Ours are very friendly, one especially likes a pat and a seat on your knee. If we sit outside in the evening they try and roost on us instead of in their coop. They don't have a smell at all.