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!