Chickens

OMG OMG, I want chickens like nobody's business.

I've decided I want three chickens.  They are social creatures, so you need at least two.  I've read that you should have 2-3 hens per person in your household.  I think that's a bit much though.  That'd be 4-6 hens for my house, and I don't want to take care of that many chickens!  But three I think would work.  Some weeks we eat about seven eggs (one for me each day) and then other weeks we eat a bit more if my husband eats an egg.

So which breeds would I get?  I read "A Chicken in Every Yard" by Robert and Hannah Litt that had a great summary of pros and cons of each breed.  Also, mypetchicken.com has a good comparison page.

I think I've decided:

Leghorn (white chicken) or Australorp (black chicken) -- best layer...  Australorp has brown eggs, and leghorns have white eggs.  However the site and book disagree with one another on who is the best layer.  The book says the Leghorn is the best layer, and the website says the Australorp is.  Hmmmm.  Mypetchicken.com says the Australorp lays five eggs per week and the leghorn lays four.

Easter Egger (brown) or Legbar -- green/blue eggs...  mypetchicken.com says both lay about 4 eggs per week.

Plymouth Rock -- really pretty hen, with black and white spots...  mypetchicken.com says they lay 4x per week.

I don't know whether it's worth it to have a really pretty hen that's not as prolific a layer?  There are three other good layer breeds (besides the Australorp), according to mypetchicken.com:  Star and Rhode Island and Ancona, all 5 eggs per week.

Should you just get the breeds that are the best layers?  Or should you go with some diversity in bird color and in egg color....