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I am not expert, but this looks like a great start to me. If you want to see what others are doing, there is a thread called hot weather coops. Well, I couldn't find that one, but here is the thread showing ArizonaDesertChicks coup:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=111571
I am sure she will comment on her experience with it.
I looked some more and failed to find the hot weather coup thread. I really enjoyed it. It was nice to see so many "relevent" designs.
Your coop looks very nice - should protect them from the weather just fine.
I found one more thread on hot weather coops for you:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=163417
You can see pictures of my coop after adding the nestboxes here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=19548
Our entire coop/run area is 18' x 7' (3 sided section is 5 x 7, open area is 13 x 7), and we let our chickens out into the backyard every afternoon for about 3-4 hours. Once the chickens grew up, I felt that our pen was just a bit too small for the 13 full-grown hens (most people here recommend 10 sf per standard size chicken in the run). For more space, we ended up adding another 6' x 10' run onto the side of their original pen (no pictures yet) AND getting a few more chickens
For even more pictures of nice desert coops, try clicking on the BYC pages of the members here on this AZ thread.
As for putting your 4 week old chicks outside - I think it would be fine, as long as you hang the heat lamp out there for them to get extra warmth. At 4 weeks, they still need 70 degree temperatures and here in Phx/Glendale it's getting down to about 61 degrees (still too cold for 4 week olds). It'll be even colder by the end of this week - 49 on Saturday.
Thanks for the links!
It looks like we are on the right track. We will probably add a yard to the side of this one eventually. Right now we're just trying to get it done so they can go outside soon.
They spend some time each day outside in a dog exercise pen. We run back and forth moving them all out and then again back and forth moving them in. I don't leave them out there unattended yet.
We planned to have the coop done a couple of weeks ago, but then my hubby had to have hernia repair surgery and we got behind schedule.
It probably won't be done for at least a week or two so I'll check back with you on temps and ages then if that's OK.
AZDesertchick, I noticed on your page that you homeschool your 2 girls. I have 3 girls and we homeschool. They are helping to build the coop which is another reason it is taking so long. It's hard to get our schedules in sync.
