2021 Update – our final animal addition – Chickens!

When we got our ducklings, we had the mistaken idea that as soon as they were fully grown, we would start getting eggs.  Not true!  Even after they were fully grown, we had to wait another two months before they started laying.

Our second poultry addition came to us by chance.  We were visiting with our next-door neighbors and found out they were selling their property.  They had a chicken coop and chickens and would not be able to take those to their new location.  We offered to take the chickens and the coop since the new owner was planning to have horses on the property.  We really didn’t think that moving a coop from their house to our house would be a major adventure – but it was!

Our first idea was to load the coop on our truck, but the coop was 8 ft X 8 ft x 8 ft and made of pretty solid plywood.  To say it was built strongly is a complete understatement!  And it was very heavy!!  There was no way we would be able to get the coop into the bed of our pickup truck.  We talked to a neighbor about getting a trailer and even checked out some rentals at the local hardware store.  Our neighbor offered to help us with his trailer, if we were willing to wait until he had some spare time.

We talked this over with the neighbors who were moving, and they had no problem with it!  That was so great of them!  We got the go ahead from the neighbor with the trailer one afternoon and headed next door to wait for him.  The neighbors with the chickens had already secured them in the coop, which probably saved us a few hours at least.

The next step was getting the coop onto the trailer, which luckily, had a winch.  The neighbor who brought it came with his tractor pulling a trailer.  He also brought his front-end loader and hoisted the coop up enough so that it could be set on blocks.

A ramp was improvised so the coop could be winched onto the trailer.  It also really helped to have five strong men to work on this: our next-door neighbor, his two adult sons, my husband and the neighbor with the trailer.  It was about 6 PM when the coop was finally secured on the trailer and ready to transport to its new location.

A slow caravan with my husband’s truck and the neighbor’s tractor pulling the trailer made its way to our property via the access road, just a few hundred feet away.  We decided on a location under some trees that would not be too difficult to back into and get out of.  That was a good idea, but it still took our neighbor and my husband several hours to get the coop off the trailer and into place.  An anchoring rope was secured between two trees to help pull the coop slowly off the trailer as it was moved forward, and the winch was let out.

I made the men some soup for dinner and ginger snaps as a snack so they could keep working.  Some time after midnight, the coop was finally in place.

I hoped the chickens had not been too badly traumatized by the move, but I feared it was likely.  They had been free ranged at our neighbors so we let them out and waited to see if they would enjoy being at our property.  They headed right back to our neighbors’ place along the access road!

I walked over there and explained what had happened.  Our next-door neighbors offered to help us get the birds into a transport cage.  Unfortunately, the chickens knew something was happening and scattered.  We tried all kinds of ideas to get them

corralled, but  finally, the only thing that worked was having each one picked up and dropped into a dog travel kennel standing on one end.  We brought the chickens home and I had to pick up each one from the dog kennel to get them out.

We kept them in the coop with food and water until we could recreate the run they had before the move.  My husband took the pieces that had been

removed for the transport and added more to make an L-shape on one side.  There was a coop door that opened to let the chickens out. Now they had a place outside and could not escape!

Our adventure in moving the coop and chickens was rewarded a day or so later when the chickens gave us their first eggs!  I also rewarded our neighbor with all of the equipment by baking him a pecan pie!  The move was at the

beginning of winter, so the weather got colder.  We only got an egg or two each day from the seven chickens at first.  Now, we get as many as five but average three eggs each day!  These are some productive chickens!