New barn stalls!

The battle continues. Finally have the ol man on the right path to get chickens. Now that its time to start putting coop and run together he is back sliding. We will have a coop built inside the barn. (Very old barn...not secure) and an indoor run as well as an outdoor run. The indoor will be great for those wet soggy days and when winter is bad. He wants to build the indoor run with metal up to knee high and rhe the 2x4" fencing up the rest of the way INSTEAD of the 1/2" hardware cloth I had thought he agreed to weeks ago. His theory is that wit the metal up e ft or so it will keep raccons from reaching in etc. Any comments and thoughts are appreciated. I am getting worn down and about to tell him to.... well... you know what I am about to tell him...

Loved seeing these pics. Thanks for sharing.

Lulu Lipshitz said:

The battle continues. Finally have the ol man on the right path to get chickens. Now that its time to start putting coop and run together he is back sliding. We will have a coop built inside the barn. (Very old barn...not secure) and an indoor run as well as an outdoor run. The indoor will be great for those wet soggy days and when winter is bad. He wants to build the indoor run with metal up to knee high and rhe the 2x4" fencing up the rest of the way INSTEAD of the 1/2" hardware cloth I had thought he agreed to weeks ago. His theory is that wit the metal up e ft or so it will keep raccons from reaching in etc. Any comments and thoughts are appreciated. I am getting worn down and about to tell him to.... well... you know what I am about to tell him...

Loved seeing these pics. Thanks for sharing.

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Sounds like a smart man . He thinks with his wallet.

I have a passive concern for predators at the moment. The budget was tight starting out and the chicken wire was a gift. So, I have the reject roosters in the stall nearest the door (which has a coyote sized hole rotted into it), the decent roosters in the 2nd stall, and the 3rd/4th stall has the girls. It gets more secure as you go down the line. Call it a test, to see what's going to try to come in before we have it beefed up once the much more expensive birds are ready to move in. Right now the dogs are at the house, until we have the barn fenced in and an additional set of barn dogs added.

They're on a concrete pad, so nothing digging in. The new loft has new flooring, and every gap between has been filled with 2" lumber. The only way in is through the chicken wire. Working on getting game cams to see if anything visits in the night. Driving to work the other morning I saw a young coyote run across the road about 500 feet down from the house, so they're for sure around.

None of the roost bars are within reach of grabby coon hands, I learned that lesson long ago. They don't get free choice feed, just enough to get them through the day, leaving an empty pan overnight. All feed stored in galvanized cans and so far nothing has pried the lids up. We pulled plywood off of a wall to use elsewhere, and there was a heck of a nest for something behind it. Thinking rat, it was too big for mice and too small for anything much bigger than a rat. Traps are in, no activity yet. Perhaps it was abandoned. Again, game cams to know what's hanging around. Based on findings, we can camp in the loft with the .22.

I got a heck of a deal on privacy fencing at work, I bought all of it from last year that had picked up the weathered patina from being stored outdoors. So now we can run fence all the way to the creek on both sides of the property. Will be running welded fence on the inside of the wood panels with a skirt for added security. Thinking on treating the fence line with acid to retard plant growth, laying down landscape fabric, then the skirting, then a layer of gravel over it to make a clean mow line and reduce maintenance. Otherwise the string trimmer will be working A LOT.

We have several different species of hawks, ranging in size. No one has gotten to free range yet, not until they can do so with reasonable protection.

I need to get pictures of the new work table and brooders that are in progress, located directly across from the stalls in the center of the barn.

I walked out there the other day and husband had a big beam that had been running between posts on the ground. That got a raised eyebrow! He wasn't happy with it's limited contact with those posts, given how twisted the posts were. He has since replaced it with 4 2x10's that are bolted through each other, with an outer one strapping it to the posts. He was able to accommodate the twist in the uprights by custom fitting each of the 4 2x10s, so now there is actual support and maximum contact. Once he did that he felt comfortable building the start of the divider wall, work table, and brooder boxes. Just needs electric ran to the spot to fire up brooder bulbs.

Was thinking I wanted galvanized panels around the base of the stalls, to reduce rooster visibility and for the deep litter method, as well as it being a sturdier barrier. The chicken wire is on there with just staples (really pushing our luck...) so it can be recycled to garden fence.

Hindsight but I would have used the chicken wire between the pens and 14ga 2x4 on the doors/walls facing the barn interior.
Solid lower walls between cock/erel pens is a good idea.
Big project(s)...looking forward to seeing your progress...Best of cLuck!

aart said:

Hindsight but I would have used the chicken wire between the pens and 14ga 2x4 on the doors/walls facing the barn interior.
Solid lower walls between cock/erel pens is a good idea.
Big project(s)...looking forward to seeing your progress...Best of cLuck!

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LOL yeah, I would have too. But I put husband in charge of it and he's learning as he goes. I offer advice and chicken keeping pointers, and building options to consider. But ultimately the barn remodel is his domain with very little involvement from me. I manage people all day, just want to come home and spot check his progress!

The last time I put him in charge of chicken building, I came home to runs tall enough for Giraffes. That was the only time I had him take it down and repeat. Hahahaha

Need to get pictures of his brooder boxes he just built for the incoming babies. I'm super excited! He's starting to get pretty good at this!