Moving The Homestead

We are officially in our new home.  Technically we've been here since Thanksgiving, but with the holidays and everything that comes with that time of year, it didn't feel like we moved in until now.  Looking out at our pastures and the unfenced in parts of our property, we definitely have some work to do.  We want to change the fencing around so that the paddocks are bigger and fence in more of the property.  There is about 2 acres of grass/hayfield that we want to fence in and just let the cows eat it.

But back to moving.  Everything was pretty easy, then it came time to move the chickens.  Thinking about how are we going to get our chickens from the old homestead to the new one, an hour away, I spotted an old metal dog carrier that we had sitting in the wood shed. 

I waited until dark so that the chickens were calm and in their coop.  They looked a little cramped in there, but in hindsight it was probably perfect since there was really no room for them to move around and get injured during the drive.

We decided not to bring the old chicken coop, since I wanted to build a new/bigger one anyway.  Our barn had a section that was fenced off with gates, so we put up some chicken wire and put the chickens in there until a new coop was built.  I let them out to tour the pasture and eat bugs, but they seem pretty happy in the barn, with plenty of light.

Chickens in Barn

Our new chicken coop is going to be approximately 8x8, like a shed, with 1/2 of it for the chickens and the other half for storage.  I'll start construction this week, so look for a new series of posts detailing the construction of the new coop.