Getting Chickens on the Homestead – Homesteading Journey

We finally got chickens. Getting chickens took way longer that I wanted it too. Yet still I was not yet ready for them. It wasn’t for a lack of research. I’ve done plenty of that! We just didn’t have everything we needed for them.

 

Someone ended up not wanting their chickens anymore, and gave them to us spur of the moment kind of thing… So before I had any supplies or a chicken coop ready, we had chickens.

I went and bought almost all of the essentials that they need. I bought food pellets, a feeder, waterer, oyster shell, grit, and bedding. Check out my second post on chickens Raccoon in the chicken coop!

All that costed about $100. It was a stretch to pull that money out of our budget. There simply was not enough money to buy a chicken coop. We made a makeshift coop for our chickens. You can check it out in the YouTube video below.

So the heat is on to get a coop and fast. Let me tell you the story of how we got these chickens. My husband’s co-worker decided he has too many chickens and wanted to thin them out a little. He knew we wanted to have chickens sometime soon. So one day he shows up at work with 3 chickens in a cage for my husband to take home. My husband called me to let me know, he would be bringing them home that evening. Oh, talk about frantic! What will they eat, where will they sleep thoughts run through my brain, like crazy!

I went to Tractor Supply, to get what I could with what little money we have. The chickens came home and we let them out of the cage while we scavenged our property for items that could be used for a makeshift chicken pen.

We found an old frame that was used to hold ladders in the back of a pickup truck. There was also some fencing that was laying around. We grabbed it and rolled it around the frame. We placed this under the carport, to cover it during the weather. We thought that we wouldn’t need a roof on the actual pen, since the fencing and frame was pretty tall. We thought we were done, until we went inside and heard some noises. One of the chickens flew up, and climbed up the fence and got out. This girl is feisty! So we had to put something over the top to ensure they stayed inside.

Rookie mistake right? I found an old tent rain shield to use to cover up the top. We knew this was temporary and we would be lucky if we didn’t lose some chickens. Three days later, we received three more chickens. The first week or so this set up worked pretty well. I went on vacation for about a week. My husband stayed home holding down the fort, and taking care of the chickens.

On my way home, my van broke down, when we were halfway home. My husband came to my rescue. Thank goodness! Long story short I got home but only after staying a night in a hotel. Since no one was home to make sure the chickens got put away in the pen, they decided to roost on top of this makeshift coop.

When we got home, we couldn’t figure out if we should just leave them to roost comfortably or try and put them in the pen. After trying to get them in the pen unsuccessfully, we left them to roost. We ended up losing 3 chickens to predators. So after that, we decided to go out there at nighttime when they can’t see very well to nab them and put them in the coop. So we went from having three chickens to six.

Here is a picture of their perfect eggs! Aren’t they precious? Maybe I am biased!

My husband was really upset. He really bonded with the chickens while I was gone. His favorite chicken was taken! I am sad but also realistic. I knew we would lose some going into this. Also, eventually I plan to have some meat chickens! Yes, I will have to cull them myself, because the hubs would never.

So where we are right now. We have to place the birds in the coop by hand every night when it gets dark. I really wish to find a coop that they will love and WILLINGLY go into at night! I want them to be comfortable, and happy!

I am currently contacting companies to see if they would like to work with me in exchange for a coop, because we simply cannot afford to buy or craft something better. I will keep you updated on this!

 

Are you getting chickens on your homestead? I would love to hear about your chicken adventures! Please share the story of when you first got chickens in the comments!

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