Barn Conversion - Ideas for This Project...

[ColtHandorf]

So when we moved in back in February/March of this year there was entirely too much rain to even begin to think about any work on the existing structure. Now that it's dried enough that we've been able to mow some of the grass between the house and the barn, and it has dried out enough that I can walk without waders on to get there I've been rummaging around. We are renting so I'm not intending on spending a ridiculous amount of time or money on it, but I figure any improvement is better than storing the old furniture and other miscellaneous things out there that have been left over the years. I don't actually have the dimensions on the building but I'll try to answer any questions, or take any pictures that are needed to answer questions. What I'm envisioning would be something similar to what you see here in post 7:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/building-material-for-interior-house.1326022/

I'd like three breeding pens total.

The barn appears to have electricity running to it, but I do not know if the bulbs in the overhead lights are all just burnt out, or if the power has been cut. I'll have to investigate by plugging something in to the outlet. There is a slab/concrete pad in half of the barn with space between it and the outer walls that drives me insane. The property holds a lot of water, so previously over the spring and part of the summer, there has been a lot of water around the barn. It may end up being a terrible idea, but I'm entertaining it for the time being.

Obviously the barn isn't predator proof and would need to be. Especially with it against the tree line and further away from the house. Anyway, I'll ramble forever about it, so take a look at the pictures and tell me what you think. Is it worth messing with, or should I just stick to replicating what I already have seen here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/nearly-done.1292803/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-ramblings-on-things-that-need-input.1293953/

Keep in mind I am not the handiest person, but I'm tenacious...lol

Barn Pictures:

Google Satellite Image showing the position of the barn. Black lines are the fence I put up for the backyard, the pink line is the current chicken pen. Red dots are sprinklers for the septic system. You can see the corrugated aluminum roof of the barn against the tree line.

Front of the barn:

I'd want to remove the middle panel of tin to have three pens of equal size.

For some reason I'm having an issue uploading the other pictures from the computer, so I'll post this and add the other few pictures from my phone instead.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Interior shots of the barn:

Anyway what would you do with it? What changes would you make, etc?

 

[ColtHandorf]

*crickets*

Anybody?

 

[Khaleesi_of_the_coop]

I used pre-fab horse stalls as a base for my coop inside my barn. Super easy to set any way you want them and i attached my hardware cloth over the bars so there's lots of ventilation. I use the aisle of the barn as a covered indoor run and the chickens are the BEST at cleaning up after my horses!

 

[ColtHandorf]

@Khaleesi_of_the_coop Do you have any photos of your set-up?

 

[Khaleesi_of_the_coop]

@Khaleesi_of_the_coop Do you have any photos of your set-up?

I'll try to get some!

 

[ColtHandorf]

Thank you!

 

[aart]

What I'm envisioning would be something similar to what you see here in post 7:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/building-material-for-interior-house.1326022/

This thread only has 4 posts??

We are renting so I'm not intending on spending a ridiculous amount of time or money on it,

Think about panels out of 2x2's and HC that can be bolted together, then you can take them with you.

Interior shots of the barn:

Does that slab stay dry?

Google Satellite Image showing the position of the barn. Black lines are the fence I put up for the backyard, the pink line is the current chicken pen. Red dots are sprinklers for the septic system. You can see the corrugated aluminum roof of the barn against the tree line.

What kind of fence(black lines)? Is current chicken pen dry?

 

[ColtHandorf]

This thread only has 4 posts??

I'm so sorry, I linked the wrong thread. I meant to link this one...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/building-material-for-house-interior.1326019/#post-21643505

It's KSingBee's peafowl barn. Obviously the runs don't need to be that large, but I like the way one large structure is used to house multiple roosting areas that are contained by a separate breeding pen. I also like the solid walls so that the males won't scrap through the fence, although I've very seldom had issues with them doing that.

Think about panels out of 2x2's and HC that can be bolted together, then you can take them with you.

That's a lovely idea. It would be fairly easy to create panels and mount them to the central supports...

Originally I was thinking of a horizontal piece of lumber running on top of the slab, at the correct height for the tin and bottom of the wire to be screwed into and another much higher for the top of the wire (although netting would probably be much less expensive). So something like...

top board ________
wire /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
middle board _____
solid tin [][][][][][][]
bottom board on slab ____

Does that slab stay dry?

Yes, I've never seen the slab under water; however, the ground slopes down from the slab, out the entrance, and gently slopes up again (but never as high as the slab). The whole area from the treeline where the barn is to the drive way in front of the garage turns into a shallow flood plain after heavy or lengthy rain. I'm hoping that once the last of the grass has been mowed and I'm able to better see what the land is actually doing I'll be able divert the water by digging a ditch to the much larger ditch that runs across the road, or something else. A lot of it seems to be deep ruts from a large vehicle, but that only explains the deep spots. For the majority of the time we've lived there there have been massive crayfish chimneys so the water table is high here obviously.

In the aerial photo that weird division between the green of the kept lawn and the more wild-looking grass is actually a ditch that's about the width and height of a standard 4-wheeler. After heavy rains that pasture is under water for a time as well. The fenced pasture behind the land we rent has ponds that overflow and the run-off doesn't stop at the fenceline...

What kind of fence(black lines)? Is current chicken pen dry?

The fence I put up (both the black and the pink lines) are five foot high standard welded wire fencing. The yard has huge wooden fencing posts for the corner posts, but the poultry pen is only t-posts. The land slopes up towards the trees that are there so the current pen stays dry. It is at the moment just dirt though, so it does get various levels of sloppy after a rain. I'm currently awaiting on a load of ramial wood chips to put down from a local tree trimming service. With the current set-up I open the chicken pen up onto the entire fenced in yard and the birds get to "free-range" (pastured really) until I put them up. If the weather is really horrible or I'm out of town they are stuck in their pen.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Did I answer those alright for you @aart ?