Spring and summer are an uncontrolled and busy time in the garden. Many plants and animals are young and full of promise but you just don’t know what to expect. A rough dry spell or intense heat can change quickly shift directions as can a patch of cool and misty days. It is a practice in patience and acceptance to plant seeds and look with hope to be able to harvest.

Thus far, things look rather good. The first harvest of berries is ready on the boysenberry vine. Two varieties of the hops rhizomes I planted in a narrow strip between our property line and the neighbors fence have sprouted! Very exciting! The bees are due for a check and the Langstroth Hive needs additional levels added.

The chicks are down to the Urban Sprouts flock only and a lovely flock it is. Other urban farming organizations shared the chicks with us. Three went to Edible Schoolyard and eleven went to Urban Tilth. Now we just need to complete the coop and move these ladies to their new permanent home.

It is really tough to get a good photo of these chicks. Every time I enter the chick hut they run for their dear lives and stuff themselves in a a tight corner. Chickens are not really known for careful thought but when they panic, they become hysterical and impetuous. Several birds will pile on top of the first bird that makes it to the “safe” corner. Wings will go askew and tiny feet get caught in wire mesh. I am not exactly sure why a chicken feels it has a greater chance of survival when it has jammed its head and half of one wing into a tight corner but I have seen my adult hens do this in the face of danger as well. Are they not aware that the bulk of their body is perfectly accessible? Is their frenzied attempt to save themselves a form of defense against rational predators causing bewilderment and repulsion, much like a Skunk’s spray?

All in all the progress on building the coop is moving along quite nicely. I went overkill on ensuring my coop design was feasible by reviewing my designs with two engineers and two skilled carpenters (thank you Gregory, Andris, Juan Carlos and Dan!). However, I needed to ensure its stability as it will be on school grounds. Students at June Jordan Small School for Equity have been helping with construction. One student in particular, Reggie, has been my building partner. He helped put the roof beams up and has near mastered the drill.

After some sad losses with the chicks, I reassessed things and identified the problem. Chicks have zero capacity to maintain their own body heat so the slightest draft can be dangerous. According to the downloadable Cyclodpedia of American Agriculture from 1910 (a great source of information and history on American livestock practices), in the first week of life, a chick needs a hover temperature of 95°F to 100°F and a nursery temperature kept at 80°F to 85°F. I am happy to say that after insulating the chicks hut and powering up the heat lamps, everyone has been doing very well. I also replaced the make shift watering and feeding containers I had and replaced them with an actual chick feeder and waterer. It turns out that if a chick can climb into the feed container, it will. And it will poop in the food. And the others birds will eat it. I also learned that water containers can be deadly. Even though the container had a minimal level of water somehow a chick manged to trip, fall backwards (it is apparently hard for them to right themselves) and land on the back of its head with its beak in the water. Though this was the equivalent to me slipping off a curb in Oakland on a rainy day, landing with my face in the gutter and drowning, apparently, it can happen. I found my new safe containers at a great feed store called Concord Feed (they have everything you can possibly need for all manner of livestock and a practical and knowledgeable staff). After these replacements, there has been no more poop eating and no more water related deaths. Within only one week, there is already a noticeable difference in the chick’s size and behavior. They are now acting like mini chicken instead of wobbling around and peeping helplessly, okay maybe they are still doing that a little, but they are doing it with greater confidence. The next step is to build the chicken coop at the Urban Sprouts’ garden. To design the coop both the director and myself looked to the

book Chicken Coops, by Judy Pangman. There are several great designs in the book. However, there are very few construction notes. It appears you can purchase some of the plans online directly from the individuals that built the coops. At Urban Sprouts we are a tribe that takes doing things yourself to another level. Which means I busted out the calculator, the drafting paper and a ruler and have created a building plan for the coop. Next week we have a great group of students, teachers and volunteers coming out to construct. Until then the coop is an idea (a good one at that).

The chicks arrived today. They came from the Murray Mcmurray Hatchery. The post office dropped the box of chicks off on my porch and my father-in-law, Kumar, brought them inside, out of the cold I guess. However, I have two cats…not sure what happened while I was away but they chicks seemed to have made it.

Kumar also expressed being really glad that I showed up when I did because they were making so much noise they were clearly hungry. He was worried about how he was going to feed them and water them. I am really glad I showed up when I did too.

The chicks got moved to their brand new hut and I discovered there was too much straw. Wings and legs were getting entangled and the chicks were face planting. I also discovered handling four chicks is very different from handling twenty-five. Some of them are really fast runners already. One chick, I believe the Buff Laced Polish somehow made it out of the hut when I opened the door. This chick also was the first to figure out the water and food source. I try not to get attached in the beginning, chicks are very fragile and tend to have a high mortality rate, but I like this one already!

We have a total of seven breeds in the batch. 12 Cuckoo Maran; 5 Rose Comb Brown Leghorn; 4 Single Comb Brown Leghorn; 1 Buttercup; 1 Lakenvelder; 1 Blue Andalusian; 1 Buffed Laced Polish (pictured left). I can only identify the Marans and the Polish at this point.

Everybody else is just a brownish fuzz ball.

A few of the chicks seemed really small and out of it. In fact their eyes weren’t even open. These must be the youngest. They had no chance to make their way to the food. They could not even rest quietly without the other chicks stepping on them. So I removed the chicks that appeared too young. I placed them in a box inside the house for warmth, protection, and surveillance. Things began going awry a few hours in. One chick already fell in the water. The stress of being newborn, transported cross country in a box and handled seemed to have caught up with a few others. I pointed this fact of life out to Dipak and he was quiet disturbed by what he called the “attrition” of a clutch of chicks. The chicks in the hut currently have a heat lamp and tarp around the hut to protect against the wind. Tomorrow will reveal the sturdier of the clutch.

I have twenty-five chicks arriving in two days. They are however, not for my own coop. Urban Sprouts is creating a chicken coop at one of its school sites. We will not be keeping all twenty-five at our coop. Other school and urban gardens with coops will be adopting most of the chicks. As an aside, when mail ordering chicks from a hatchery the minimum order is often twenty-five to ensure proper body heat during transportation. In preparation for these chicks, we need a place where the chicks could get the extra care they need before they have their feathers. Last time I cared for chicks I used a cardboard box but it was not strong enough to endure the outdoors. I had to keep the cardboard box in the basement and move the chicks back out to the coop each day. This was labor intensive with four chicks, with twenty-five, it is impossible. This time I created a chick hut that can hold all twenty-five for the month or two before they can relocate to their permanent coops. I got the idea for the Chicks n’ the ‘Hood design from the book Chicken Coops by Judy Pangman. This is a great resource but doesn’t include a materials list or exact measurements for all designs. Still it is worth having on hand if you are designing your own coop. As it happened, I have lots of redwood decking from the deck demolition. The wood is not in the best condition but some pieces are strong. I would much prefer to reuse as much of that wood as possible, so I used the decking for the frame. Carefully using a chop saw, I cut four 4 foot pieces and eight 3 foot pieces. I then nailed these together.

I used 6 foot whitewood fence board cut in half for the siding. I then cut a 4′x4′ piece of plywood in half for the retractable roof and the front door and roof sides came from the first coop Dipak made but which got crushed by our tree (I knew we had that front door laying around for two years for a reason). The roof was attached to the hut using small hinges. The two sections of the roof were attached using door hinges. I also attached an outdoor handle on the roof and a latch on the front door.

When the construction was complete, I sealed the wood using a nontoxic sealant called Soy Guard; moved the chick hut to its location; dug a trench around it and buried chicken wire running along the outside to discourage predators from digging. Viola! The chick hut is ready!