How to Build a Handy Hut

Whether you use this simple enclosure as a chicken hut to temporarily house growing chickens, as I did in this photo, or as a deer and rabbit proof shield for growing veggies, it's a handy 10ft wide x 16ft. long x 37in. high assembly. It can be used as a cold frame for growing that can be covered with sheet plastic while the temps are still cool. A door at each end makes access easy. Used as a poultry shelter, a plastic tarp can cover part or all of it to protect the fowls from hot sun or stormy downpours. Feed tubes can be hung from above at each end so they can easily be reached. The corrugated steel sheet along each side stiffens the structure, and the overall light weight of the whole thing allows it to be simply drug by hand or with an atv/tractor to another grassy spot when the present one has been grazed. Easy to build, this handy hut assembly also makes a good place to keep a couple of dogs. The portability is the best part. I've improved and changed some features since I built this, and drawings here reflect the changes. I've raised several batches of chicks in this one and it's outside 24/7/365 and still alive and well after ten years of service. Here's how you make one.

Electric or battery powered drill
Driver bit - hex - for screws
1/8 in dia. drill bit
Diagonal wire cutters
Wire pliers for twisting the tie wire
Hacksaw or plastic pipe cutter
Hand saw or power saw
Tape measure
Small square
Carpenter's pencil
Tin snips for cutting the chicken wire
Safety glasses
Leather gloves
Can of PVC glue
72 bugle head galv. screws x 3/4in long
36 bugle head galv. screws x 1 1/2in. long
10 1in dia. x 20ft schedule 40 PVC pipe
1 - 3/4in dia. x 20 ft. schedule 40 PVC pipe
4 - 1in dia. 90 degree, schedule 40 PVC elbows
16 - 1in dia. schedule 40 PVC tee
4 - 3/4in dia. 90 degree, schedule 40 PVC elbows
2 - 10ft pressure treated 1 x 4
2 - 8ft pressure treated 1 x 4
2 sheets galvanized/corrugated barn steel 26in wide x 16ft long
1 roll of plastic coated tie wire for tying mesh to frame
1 50ft roll of 1in, hex mesh chicken wire x 48 inches high

Instructions

- 1
  
  Make 3 interior frames per the drawing. Make the horizontal cross member up first, the one with a tee on each end. Glue a 2in long pipe in each of the tees to connect the tees that carry the top hoop pipe. By making it up like this you can determine the angle of the tees that carry the hoop pipe. If you want to set the angle of the tee it is about 60 degrees. Remove burrs around the cut edges of the PVC pipe that you cut.
- 2
  
  Make up the two end frames - the ones with the elbows - per the drawing.
- 3
  
  After the interior and end frames are made up then determine by measurement the lengths of the side connecting pipes so that the hoops will all be on 48 in. centers. Glue these side bottom pipes from tee to tee so that all of the frames are connected. Be certain that the center to center distance of the end frame hoops are 16ft. or a little less so that the 16ft. corrugated sheets can connect to them at each end.
- 4
  
  Screw the corrugated sheets to the frames on both sides of the assembly. Screw them to the hoop pipes and also to the horizontal pipes at the bottom. This furnishes rigidity to the structure.
  Now frame each end of the enclosure as shown to carry the end doors. Screw the cut 1 x 4's to the PVC end frame parts and to each other.
- 5
  Cut two pieces of 48in wide chicken wire, 16ft 6inches long. Cover the upper part of the hoop frames with the chicken wire, using pieces of tie wire to connect to the hoop pipes. Drill 1/8 in dia holes along the top edges of the two steel sheets so that the mesh can be secured along these lines. The top edge of each strip of chicken wire will be about on the top centerline of the structure. Wire the two pieces of chicken wire together along this edge.
- 6
  
  Cover each end of the structure with chicken wire, and make up the two doors using 3/4 in dia. PVC pipe as shown in the drawing. Cover the doors with chicken wire, tied in place with tie wire or nylon zip ties. You can simply use the tie wire to make simple hinges, drilling holes in the 1 x 4 vertical frame pieces that will pass the wire. Make a double or triple wrap around the door pipe frame for longevity. The latch can simply be a piece of wire tied around the door and the fixed frame. As an option you can screw on standard small butt hinges and hook type door latch.

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