3 Steps Every Homesteader Must Take Before they Get Started

Before you start digging in your yard or shopping for chickens, stop. Take a step back and put down the shovel. There are three important steps to take before you dive into homesteading. These three steps will help you create the homesteading lifestyle you desire.

1. Set Priorities

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

What are your homesteading priorities? Do you want to conserve energy, produce most of your vegetables, or raise animals? Make a list of all of the homesteading projects you’re interested in and why you’re interested in them. For example, maybe you’re interested in raising goats because they’re adorable and you would like goat milk and goat cheese. Or maybe you’re interested in growing all of your own vegetables so you can raise a healthier family. Establish your priorities. When you get started with homesteading you can start with the most important item on your list first and go from there.

2. Make A Plan

Once you’ve established your priorities, the next step is to create a plan. This plan can and should include everything from materials to systems and a timeline. For example, if you’re going to start raising chickens then how and when are you going to build a coop? Where will you buy your chickens from and what type of chickens are you going to buy? Plan ahead so you don’t miss any steps.

3. Assess Your Space

The final component of your new homesteading lifestyle is to identify the place and space. For example, if you’re going to build a chicken coop where are you going to put it? Is that the best place for a coop and do you have enough space? Also, if you build the coop and you want to build a garden next year, do you have the space for them both? Thinking about these considerations beforehand will save you costly mistakes down the road.

Homesteading is a rewarding and fun lifestyle. It’s not an easy lifestyle but for tens of thousands of people, it’s a lifestyle they wouldn’t change for anything. The homesteading movement is growing in popularity and it might just be the best change you can make for yourself if this is something you're interested in pursuing.

More more helpful information on getting started with homesteading, check out the excellent resources at Self-Sufficient-Life. 

5 Questions to Answer Before You Get Started Homesteading

Are you ready to get started with your homesteading lifestyle? It’s true, it offers numerous benefits including reduced monthly expenses, sustainable living, and a rewarding lifestyle. But before you get started there are five questions you need to answer.

1. How much space do you  have? – Homesteading doesn’t have to take up much space. Many urban homesteaders garden on their patio, roof, or in a small back yard. Take a look around you and evaluate how much space you have. Do you have enough room for what you want to grow?

2. Are animals allowed? If you’re interested in raising or keeping animals, it’s important to check your local zoning and ordinances first. Some communities don’t allow livestock to be kept. And some cities restrict the number or type of animal that you can keep. Even if you’re only interested in beekeeping, it’s important to know whether you will be able to do this where you live.

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

3. Sustainability and systems – How will you make the most of your resources? For example, you might install a rain barrel to collect water for your garden. Can you use lumber and items you already have to build container gardens or a chicken coop?

4. What will you grow? The best advice is to grow what you eat. Make a list of the produce you buy most often at the supermarket. Cross off the items that don’t grow well in your area and review the list. Prioritize the list according to your available space.

5. What's the most important to you to start with? The best advice is to start small – There’s no need to run out and buy a hundred acres. You can start small with a few containers or a backyard garden. You can start a small bee colony or get a few chickens. Think about where you want to start and how quickly you want to grow your homesteading lifestyle. Think about what’s most important to you and what you can reasonably manage.

Starting homesteading is a fun and exciting project, but it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Taking the time to answer the 5 questions above, and prioritize, will make all the difference to your success.

Be sure to stay tuned, as next week, we’ll take a look at urban homesteading and offer some tips and ideas for bringing homesteading into your neighborhood - even if you don't live in the country.

Video: Build A Chicken Coop - Step-By-Step

This short video demonstrates building a pretty nice and fairly complex small chicken coop. It goes pretty fast, but will give you a good idea of another way to build a backyard chicken coop to house your chickens.  For some more plans, see link below video. Now is a great time to start getting outdoors, and a good time to get some chickens. They tend to lay more in the summer, so spring is a good time to get everything set up and get them acclimated to their new home - you'll be eating fresh healthy eggs in no time!

How To Build a Chicken Coop
Watch more How to Raise Farm Animals videos: www.howcast.com Subscribe to Howcast's YouTube Channel - howc.st Construct a chicken coop in your backyard using the steps described here. Howcast uploads the highest quality how-to videos daily! Be sure t...

How to Build a Backyard Chicken Coop

Before you begin building your backyard chicken coop, there are some things you'll need to consider. Here are some easy steps to building your own backyard chicken coop.

Traditional chicken coop (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

1. Determine the coop's purpose. If the coop will only be where the chickens sleep at night, then it can be very small and minimal. If the chickens will spend time in the coop to lay eggs and nest, it will need to be a bit more elaborate.

2. Decide on how many chickens you plan to keep. For most families, 2-4 chickens is plenty.

3. Plan the location of the coop. Putting it near your house helps keep it warm and discourages predators. This also means you have easy access to it, which can be very helpful. Keeping it further from the house is fine, too. A coop can get unsightly and smelly. (Regular cleaning keeps it from smelling bad, though.)

4. Now to build the coop. A coop needs ventilation but not drafts. It needs perches and bedding. A mixture of pine shavings and straw does well. Chickens are not picky - thick sticks, sideways 2x4s, and even old broom handles work fine for perches.

5. First, build a frame. Lay 2x4s on the ground to make a rectangle, and then attach them at the corners using nails or screws. You can skip this step if you begin with a wire structure such as an old dog kennel. Then you need only cover the kennel with plywood.

6. Nail or screw 2x4s vertically at the four corners. Make two of the 2x4s shorter than the other two, so that the roof will slant. You can decide how you want it to slant - sideways or back.

7. Next, you'll need a jigsaw and four sheets of plywood. Cut the sheets of plywood so that they are the correct height and width to attach to the vertical 2x4s. You will need to cut 2 of the sheets at a slant so that they will attach to the tall and shorter 2x4s.

8. Cut a hole for the door, and save the piece you cut out.

9. Cut two small windows along the top of the plywood and save the pieces you cut out. Using a staple gun, attach hardware cloth or chicken wire over the window holes.

An A-frame chicken coop in a Portland, Oregon backyard. Dimensions are 4 feet tall, 8 feet long, and 6 feet across. The metal device in the front is their 3-gallon waterer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

10. Attach hinges to the window pieces and the door. You will need to rig up a latch of some sort to keep the door shut and locked. The window holes will need to be propped open during the day and on warm nights, and then shut when it's cold. Position the hinges with this in mind.

11. Attach perches with nails or screws. You may even want to cut holes in the walls and slide the perches through.

12. Nail roofing tiles to the piece of plywood you are using for a roof. Using the jigsaw, cut the tops of the vertical 2x4s at a slant. Lay the roof across the top of the coop - it should be slanted without much of a gap. Nail it into place.

There it is - a simple chicken coop that you built, yourself! It's pretty basic, but it's really all you need. Of course you can also buy a chicken coop, or get a kit, but in most cases the instructions above should provide the basics that you will need.

Backyard Chickens: Tips for Getting Started

Welcome back, and I do apologize for the lack of posts last week - after week's lack of sleep, I was struck down with the flu - the first time in almost 15 years! And it was NOT fun. Thank goodness that's over, and today it feels like spring, and I'm back with some more great stuff about living the organic sustainable life! This week's topic is backyard (or city) chickens!

Chickens in the chicken tractor at an organic farm. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A few years ago, it seemed a little bizarre that someone would keep chickens in their backyard. These days, no one bats an eye at this inexpensive and rewarding way to feed the family.

There are a few reasons why people raise chickens:

- Obviously, for the fresh eggs
- Natural removal of weeds and bugs
- To save money
- It’s pretty easy, once you get started

Of course, always check local laws about raising chickens in your yard and ensure you’re in compliance before you start. You can purchase chickens from a variety of suppliers. You can actually hatch eggs or raise chicks, but they are more work than just getting already grown chickens.  Keep your climate in mind, the egg size you want and whether or not the chicken will be raised strictly for eggs. You can use the handy tool here to select a breed appropriate for your purposes:  http://www.backyardchickens.com/products/category/chicken-breeds

One chicken will lay about 4-6 eggs per week, but they generally lay less in colder months, so keep this in mind when planning their space.

To raise chickens, you can have them running free, but a coop provides protection from the elements and predators, so make a plan to build one. A coop should provide about 2-3 square feet per hen, and for the outside area, each hen should have about 5 square feet of space. In a coop they can peck each other without enough space, so never try to cram them in.

As you build, keep seasonal temperatures in mind. Make sure air can get through in summer and keep it from going through in winter. You can even use a tarp to keep it warm, and remove it as needed. Use a slanted roof to let rain roll off, if you live in a rainy area.

Inside the coop, use pine shavings for the flooring. This makes it comfortable for the chickens and easy for clean up as you scoop out and replace the shavings. Provide plenty of roosting space. They will also need nesting space. Wooden boxes work well for this.

Chickens ranging. (Photo credit: Allie's.Dad)

You can feed chicken store-bought feed pellets. They also love vegetable scraps, bread and bugs, and they'll love foraging around outside as much as possible. Having access to grass and bugs will also cause them to produce much healthier and more nutritious eggs, so make sure they do have access to the outdoors! Give them fresh water regularly, keep their area clean and you’ll have happy chickens. Check on them daily and collect their eggs each day as well. Eggs can go bad quickly in warm weather and in cold weather; they can freeze, expand and crack.

If you have young children, always supervise them with the chickens. Chickens will peck to defend themselves and although it won’t take a child too long to learn this, you need to be there to ensure proper handling of the chickens. In addition, live poultry can carry salmonella. Everyone should wash their hands thoroughly and immediately after handling the chickens or being in your chicken’s area.

Overall, having chickens can be a very rewarding experience and many people come to see chickens as part of their family. It is a long term commitment because chickens can live for 12 years or more. Just care for them, protect them and they will serve and feed you well!

On Wednesday we'll discuss building a chicken coop in more detail, so be sure to check back!

Video - Raising Chickens Naturally

Here is a cute video on raising chickens - it shows a nice little chicken coop, nesting boxes, fresh eggs, and some happy free-ranging chickens and children. She also dispels some chicken myths, shows you how to tell if your eggs are fresh (in case you find a hidden nest that may have been around for a while), dealing with snakes in the hen house, and more. Check it out if you're at all interested in raising your own chickens for tasty and healthy fresh eggs! (And the kids may like it too.)

Raising Chickens Naturally
On candling eggs: www.backyardchickens.com
If you like eggs then you really should be raising them yourself! It's so healthy ...


Want to try raising chickens yourself? Here are a couple of places to find plans for building chicken coops - the easy way: