Hi!
A warm welcome from Sydney, Australia, your neighbours across the Tasman!
Your chickens look a lot like the ones I have, red sex-links. Have fun with them!
Free ranging is a good idea. I don't have much of a garden but they are free to their own part of it whenever they want
Sure they eat our veggies, but they also get rid of things like gruesome bugs and weeds. I think it's great
Thanks for the feedback on coup size. I emailed a retailer in the UK who was really great, and reassured me the coop will be fine for 4 free ranging birds (you can always trust someone who can't sell you anything). The ladies are really happy in their coop, and one day I'll build them a nice one (with my wifes input on colour etc no doubt), but till now, they are laying, not pecking each other to bits and scratching anything they can get to.