• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Montana Homesteader

Sharing vintage skills so you can live a simple, more meaningful homemade life- one canning jar at a time!

  • Start here
    • Home
    • About
    • Shop
    • Privacy Policy
  • Newsletter
  • Recipes
  • Forage
  • Grow
  • Make
  • Preserve
  • Raise
    • Beekeeping
    • Chickens
  • Homesteading Resources
  • Start here
    • Home
    • About
    • Shop
    • Privacy Policy
  • Newsletter
  • Recipes
  • Forage
  • Grow
  • Make
  • Preserve
  • Raise
    • Beekeeping
    • Chickens
  • Homesteading Resources
You are here: Home / CHICKENS / Introducing New Chickens on the Homestead

Introducing New Chickens on the Homestead

December 6, 2014 //  by Annie Bernauer//  4 Comments

Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Share on Yummly
Yummly

Today we welcomed a new flock of chickens to our homestead. I have been pining away for chickens for a number of years now so you can imagine just how excited I am! When we moved onto our new homestead last fall, we thought we’d get chickens in the spring. Thanks to the financial challenges of homesteading and the string of crappy events we had, chickens just weren’t in the cards for a while.

I started a Pinterest Board for chickens last year and have been pinning, reading and learning in preparation for “one day” when I would finally become a “chicken farmer” as Little A likes to say. Then two nights ago my husband showed me an ad on Craigslist for a chicken coop built on a trailer frame with ten chickens. It was exactly what we were looking for! It is actually a work in progress since the former owner started building it and didn’t have a chance to finish it so now my husband has another project on his hands.

Introducing new chickens on the homestead | Montana Homesteader

This post may contain affiliate links. I receive a small commission when a product is purchased through these links, at no additional charge to you. Thank you for your support! 

 As luck would have it, we were the first ones to respond to the Craigslist ad. We drove over to check the coop out the next morning and were smitten with this big ol’ coop. My husband hitched the coop on wheels to the truck with all the chickens inside and drove ’em home. Initially we thought we’d have to drive them a couple miles on a windy, bumpy, snowy dirt road to get to a paved side road and then slowly drive them home.

Instead, my husband (who is much braver than I am) drove the coop down a major interstate for about one mile until he could turn off and hop onto the side road to head home. I was sure the coop would blow apart and there would be chickens scattered across the highway, but the coop held strong. I can just imagine what people driving down the highway thought as they saw him trucking along with this coop towing behind!

salvaged wood chicken coop made from a dismantled old cabin | Montana Homesteader

What I love about our chicken coop is that it is made of all salvaged and repurposed materials. The base of the coop used to be a pop up camper that burnt down. The coop is built of salvaged materials from a century old cabin that was dismantled. The coop will eventually be covered in a beautiful cedar siding and have a metal roof. For now it is predator proof and rain/snow proof. 

The flock we bought consists of 9 hens and 1 rooster. They’re all about 1.5 years old and the hens are producing about six eggs per day. The rooster is just a little guy although he is full grown. He is a beautiful bird but a tad shy so we didn’t get any pictures of him yet. The rest of the flock were pretty social and friendly once they took a few minutes to check out their new digs from the back of the coop. 

introducing a new chicken flock to the garden | Montana Homesteader

We parked the coop in the middle of our 7,000 square foot garden. We figured the chickens could forage for old fallen produce and dead plants. Plus their poop will be great fertilizer in the garden! We bought a bunch of big straw bales this fall with the intent of spreading them over the garden before the snow arrived. That unfortunately didn’t happen. Luckily the bales aren’t completely frozen yet so I broke one open and pulled the dry straw out and filled the coop with straw on top of the wood chips in there. I’ve read quite a few articles about the deep litter method in a coop so we decided we’d try that out. Plus I’ve heard that a nice thick layer of bedding can help them stay a bit warmer and we need that out here in the cold Montana winters! The wet straw I spread on the ground outside the coop and they immediately started scratching and pecking. 

chickens scratching and pecking in straw and dirt in the garden | Montana Homesteader

The day we brought the coop home, it was in the 40’s and raining off and on. During the hard rain, the birds took shelter in the coop. When it cleared off a bit, they were back outside exploring their new home. A couple of them enjoyed a dust bath in a bare patch of soil they found after we moved one of the big straw bales. 

chickens taking a dust bath in the dirt in the garden | Montana Homesteader

We thought maybe the drive would’ve rattled the chickens and stop them from laying for a few days. We were so surprised to find two beautiful brown eggs in one of the nesting boxes at the end of the day! 

our first two brown chicken eggs from our new flock | Montana Homesteader

I was so enamored with our new flock that I pulled up a chunk of straw bale, sat down and hung out with them for a little while. The family we bought the chickens from raised them from chicks and had young children. Thankfully the hens weren’t phased at all when Little A started chasing them around trying to feed them handfuls of straw! 

toddler feeding chickens | Montana Homesteader

I can still hardly believe this day has arrived. Finally! After so many years of wanting to raise chickens, the stars finally aligned and it happened. We’re already talking about adding some chicks to our flock this spring and maybe even a couple turkeys! 

Do you raise chickens? Do you have any tips to share? 

Pin on Pinterest
Pinterest
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on LinkedIn
Linkedin
Share on Yummly
Yummly

More Homesteading Inspiration

Chicken Coop buying guide with a picture of chickens and a chicken coop with attached run and exterior nest boxes

Chicken Coop Buying Guide

DIY cheap and easy chick brooder in a kiddie pool | Montana Homesteader

DIY Chick Brooder

chickens from scratch book a must have guide for raising baby chicks | Montana Homesteader

Chickens From Scratch Book Giveaway

Making Tough Decisions on the Homesteader | Montana Homesteader

Making Tough Decisions on the Homestead

Tips for introducing new chickens to the flock | Montana Homesteader

Introducing New Chickens to the Flock

How to transport chickens

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rachel @ Grow a Good Life

    December 8, 2014 at 7:10 am

    Wow! What a perfect situation! Coop and established flock all in one swoop and eggs right away too. It seems like this was meant to be. You will have so much fun getting to know your flock.

    Reply
  2. MM

    December 8, 2014 at 10:21 am

    Congratulations on your new flock and coop! We are new as well to raising chickens. We were given six hens by a neighbor, and they are now currently all laying. They are Banty hens with small but beautiful eggs, and they are laying apprx 6-7 a day (which equals to about 2-3 large eggs). It is so fun to interact with them, and I know you are going to really enjoy your new hens!

    Reply
  3. carolyn webber

    December 15, 2014 at 8:32 am

    I too have wanted chickens FOREVER (since I watched little house on the prairie as a kiddo) and this was our year too! I have 34 plus a rooster that we got as chicks. It was a VERY LONG wait but in the last month and a half they are producing beautifully, 2 dozen a day! I LOVE my chickens – and I know you will LOVE yours too! We are also in Montana (Augusta) and so hubbie built our coop with insulation, etc… for the brutal winters/winds here. We haven’t tried the deep litter method – you’ll have to post again as to how you like it!

    Reply
  4. Jenne

    May 13, 2016 at 6:13 pm

    We are getting a coop and 6 chickens on monday! I literally cannot wait!! Any helpful information is greatly appreciated! We are new to this, but slowly turning our old farmland into a farm, being sustainable and teaching our youngsters to live off the land! By the way, I made that dandelion salve and I love it!! I added fresh lavender for scent and its amazing!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Hello I'm Annie and welcome to our blog!

I was raised in an old farmhouse in the country and taught by three generations of women in my family to cook from scratch, can and preserve food, nurture plants to grow, craft with my hands, and live a simple, meaningful life. Now I'm teaching my own children these skills on our little homestead in Montana. I'm sharing these vintage skills here so you too can live a simple, more connected homemade life- one canning jar at a time! Read more...

Site Footer

Some of the posts on this website contain affiliate links. This means I receive a small commission when a product is purchased through these links at no additional cost to you. Montana Homesteader  participates in the Amazon Associates Program. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support!

Follow Montana Homesteader

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • About
  • Shop
  • Newsletter
  • Homesteading Resources
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2021 Montana Homesteader · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Mai Theme