Need some suggestions

[needlessjunk]

Okay... I finally figured out how I want to do my coop and where I'm putting it. Now I need someone to bounce some ideas off of. I'm in central texas and the heat is going to be my biggest concern however it does get cold in the winter. About a week out of the year it will stay right bellow freezin for the high and winter nights are usually in the 20's.

I'm recycling old wood fencing to build my coop and have treated 4x4's for the base. I was thinking of making the coop 5' tall on the back and 6' on the front so I can walk in to clean it and whatnot. The front will be all hardwear cloth with a door. It will back up to a fence and gets all shade from 11 am on. Now I was thinking that the difference in the roof height I would use hardwear cloth for extra ventilation. Bad idea or needed? The other trick question is how big do I build this thing? I was thinking 5'x7' but that may be much... I was thinking 6 chickens would be the max... But you know how that goes. I really do think 8 would be the absolute most we could ever practically have in our yard. The run is going to be 136 sq ft and they would free range the yard at least 2 hours a day.


This is what i am modeling my coop after

 

[Y N dottes]

I have a 3x5 coop that can house 8 hens. I sometimes wish it was slightly bigger but it works totally fine. I wouldn't go smaller though so somewhere between 4x5 to 5x7 would be good for 6-8 chickens I think. since they are going to be outside all day everyday the coop size isn't always the most important thing as long as its not crazy small.