Making eggs

I just mainly lurk on this forum. I sure do enjoy reading folks stories though : ) So I thought I would ask here and hope this the right forum.

I tired of going to the store and always getting old rotten eggs. There a few people in the neighborhood who have chickens but they look kinda fancy to me and nobody even at the markets sell fresh eggs.

I got the room so, I thought I would try and raise some chickens to get some fresh eggs. I have no idea if it hard to do or where to even begin. What kind and how many chickens do I need and what kind of stucture do I need to build.

I want them only for eggs. I don't mind guting and cleanign anythign dead, but I don't have the heart to kill anything and nobody aroudn here that I know of that wouldn't either, so I don't want to many chickens since they won't be made into chicken and dumplings, but don't even know how many eggs a chicken can lay and how often.

The fair is going on and I went to it purposely to check out the chickens. I saw chickens I never knew existed. Some was pretty cool to look at, some was funny looking, and some looked down right mean. I'm more lost now than I was at the begining. I would appreciate any advice if somebody has the time to throw some input out.