Araucanas are cool. They have sideburns and lay blue eggs! Or Rhode Island Reds with their brown eggs. I hear they are pretty hardy. My wife wants some, too. I asked if she wanted them outside the fence so the coyotes could eat them or inside the fence so the dogs could. She wants a chain link chicken yard with chain link on top to keep all non-chickens out. The only problem is roosters. She freaks out about the dogs barking at coyotes in the middle of the night and disturbing the neighbors. Roosters don't just crow at first light. Sometimes they crow all through the night. So I think she is not ready for that. We would have to make sure we have no roosters, ever.