Building New Coop/Barn...Phase 5 Great Barn Build, OCCUPIED! 3/6/16

[speckledhen]

We are considering a steel building to retrofit for a coop, either this

Or, possibly a more regular type but it will be large enough to replace all the coops plus have storage for all waterers, feeders, hay, etc., maybe even an office room, in the building.




My question, especially with the first one is about the floor. We don't really want concrete because of possible leg injury to the birds, not to mention added expense, and don't really want just dirt because I can't figure how to keep rats from tunneling inside. If anyone has done one of these, what did you do for the floor? We are thinking about sand, but how, exactly? Over wire mesh and dirt? Having trouble figuring the floor issue.

 

[speckledhen]

You would have to take the cute and cuddly kitten approach. Our dad never wanted any animals, but we ended up with 30 of them because no one can resist the cute faces of baby animals. Although I think he just now realizes what hit him. It would be better to get kittens anyways because they need to be raised outdoors to have the full cat instinct. Let me coach you through the 'adorable baby animal approach' (works every time.)

Step 1: Go get yourself a couple of kittens without talking to your husband first.

Step 2: When you bring the kittens home, put the adorable kittens in your husband's lap and make sure you talk with a baby voice about how cute and adorable they are (give them a name too, this will help a lot.)

Step 3: Talk dreamily about a mouse/rat free farm and all the good things they will do. He will go on about not keeping them while he is petting the cute and adorable kittens, but I assure you, you have already won and there is nothing he can do about it.
We have 11 ducks, 7 bunnies, 5 chickens, 3 cats, 2 dogs, and 2 cockatiels, 30 altogether. Of course they are all outdoor animals, except for the cockatiels, and the ducks and chickens are inside only because they are babies, but they will soon to go out to the barn that's almost finished. All of our animals are really sweet and you can hold them every which way because there are 10 of us kids that give them lots of kisses every day

. All of the animals we have we got as babies using the 'adorable baby animal approach.'

Haha, that approach just won't work in our house. We wouldn't make a decision like that without consulting the other, but it's a cute idea. Now, if a cat shows up again like Finn did, that's another story. If it's chicken-friendly and gets along with Finn, I might lobby for it to stay.
We don't really want a lot of animals that we have to take for shots on a yearly basis. Finn's rabies booster is coming up the middle of November. Though I'd love to have another dog, I don't like the vet bills.

 

[speckledhen]

Hey, all. Adding to the thread because we made a new addition to one of the barn pens, a double "condo" for two very arthritic (as in, lost use of one leg to it) hens in our Old Hens' Retirement Home & Hospice pen. They had a double dog bowl and it was murder trying to manage them with others wanting to eat their food, throwing shavings into their food and water, Tiny wanting attention when you bend over (if it's DH, she will peck and flog, the crazy wench). So, with Snow and Amanda up high with their own dedicated food and water dishes and the other four below, they're all set, and so are we, for an easier management.
All of this is scrap wood and fencing scavenged from other projects/buildings. We only bought hinges and some very long screws we didn't have.
Later, we will do a complete wall in the center, but as long as it's just Snow and Amanda, no real need for that. If one dies, we will have to put up a panel to separate whoever is in one side from a new bird in the other. And it's tall enough for any rooster to stand up inside.

Below, on the end, you see two short 2x4's screwed together, which is a holder for a rabbit feeder that can be put in there if we have a bird whose feed/water doesn't have to travel around the pen with it. It was for the purple feeder you see sitting on top at the far end, but we just decided to use the double bowls for now.

 

[aart]

Nice!
I was thinking good for arthritic hens,
and arthritic keepers-easy stand up access.

 

[speckledhen]

Nice!
I was thinking good for arthritic hens,
and arthritic keepers-easy stand up access.

Exactly! It was a trial getting both those hens food and water on the floor every day, multiple times each day, with the four others scratching shavings into their water and eating their food rather than the food in the wall PVC feeder. This way, they don't have to put up with that and neither do we. Better on DH's back, too. Less frustration. I hated to separate them because, believe it or not, Amanda is the head hen as well as my oldest bird (almost 11), though she can't really even walk. And she's been laying over the past two weeks, four eggs! That hen is a wonder. Now, she has her own condo, but is not really alone.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

My multi purpose shed, I have my large chickens, goats and donkeys in mine as well as hay storage, we have divided it up into pens, a goat area, donkey area, and three separate chicken areas where I can confine them if I wish, but the chickens can go all over except in the hay storage.

We have a mixed flooring, in the two chicken pens we have put concrete to discourage rats and to make it easier to clean, other parts are packed gravel which gets a bit of hay on it in winter, the donkey and goat areas are deep litter which is cleaned out once a year and restarted.




I personally would make the floor a packed gravel with some bedding on top, we do have to battle rats every fall until it freezes, they tunnel up everywhere.

 

[speckledhen]

Found someone's photo on the web, I'm not sure whose it is, so sorry not to give credit (whoever you are, you did a great job) but this is what I'm envisioning, a metal carport building as the basis for a barn type coop, insulated walls and ceiling. I see that someone did cut pop doors so we might be able to do that and frame the edges out with wood or other soft material to cover the sharp raw metal. Thinking now we could do a 22' x 26' (actual footprint is 22x25, other foot is front and back roof overhang) ETA: Found him-it's one of our members, Redwood Forest Bantams. Hasn't been around in awhile. These pics were posted in 2009.









My question is that WILL this coop be okay in winter and summer with insulated walls and ceiling and a sealed motor barn exhaust fan in a wall for summer? There will be shade from big oaks to protect it in summer. I've avoided metal, always thought it way too hot, but we could also just have a carport delivered and build up wood walls with treated lumber like some have done and stain rather than paint it. The site is not conducive to having a pre-fab building delivered because of the trees.
Found this photo online as well-great job on this one, could do something similar tweaked for chickens from this site: http://diycozyhome.com/turn-a-carport-into-a-barn/

What's good about a metal carport is that they deliver in sections, better for our location, plus you get a much larger building than with a wood shed, at least from these companies. Now, I would love for some guy to build me a coop but I have no idea who to hire. Been disappointed in folks I hired for different jobs in the past, even with references checking out.

@Bear Foot Farm you did one, didn't you? Your photos are gone from BYC, if you see this, would you post pics of what you did with yours? Thanks!



ETA: we just ran string lines and checked the drop from front to back and not sure a metal carport would even work. It would really need a foundation that would jack up the back end off the ground too much. The drop on the most level side is about 14" from front corner to back corner. Sigh. May be back to trying to buy a wood building and it won't be as large as I wanted, probably only 12'x 24'. We'll have to get a few huge stumps out of the way from where they'd have to bring it in but it's doable, I think.

 

[aart]

Are you where you have an Amish community, they build nice barns, though I don't know how they compare in price.

The Amish are just like any other people, some are great and some are terrible....with building and with animal rearing.
That maybe used to mean something good, now it's just overused and misused marketing term.

 

[aart]

Funny how 'ease' is so complex.

 

[speckledhen]

Oh, I forgot to post the tentative pen plans for inside.