Building coop in horse barn?

[KnightsMist]

I have an old 1800s bank barn that currently has stalls for my horse and 2 mini donkeys. I have additional storage space that I'm planning to convert to a fully enclosed coop with an attached outside fenced run. Will I regret keeping chickens in my horse barn?

My reasons for using this space is it already exists, will be quite easy to enclose, I'm already in the barn several times per day so it is convenient, and I already have electric and water in the barn. Assuming that the chickens are mostly confined to their coop and run with limited free ranging, are there health concerns to worry about? How bad will dust be? (There is already dust because...it's an old barn being used!)

I'm planning to start with 8-10 chicks and will build it big enough for #chickenmath, probably with a max number of 30 but probably will try to keep the total at or below 20.

Is anyone doing this with success? Or has anyone had chickens in an existing barn and then moved them out to their own standalone structure?

Picture of my barn and the area I'm considering below.

 

[3KillerBs]

There are a lot of chickens out there living in converted barn stalls. It's probably one of the easiest conversions around assuming that the barn is sound and well-ventilated. You don't have to spend $$$ on lumber or plywood for solid walls -- just build frames to attach wire.

If the outer shell is predator-proof you can even use chicken wire instead of hardware cloth (though you might still want to use hardware cloth if you have a mouse problem).

 

[KnightsMist]

There are a lot of chickens out there living in converted barn stalls. It's probably one of the easiest conversions around assuming that the barn is sound and well-ventilated. You don't have to spend $$$ on lumber or plywood for solid walls -- just build frames to attach wire.

If the outer shell is predator-proof you can even use chicken wire instead of hardware cloth (though you might still want to use hardware cloth if you have a mouse problem).

Thanks! That's what I'm hoping- would be so nice and easy to keep everything under 1 roof, especially in the winter with cold, snow, and less daylight (I'm in Massachusetts).

 

[aart]

Mesh walls on the coop will let dust out into the rest of the barn.
Not sure how significant, if at all, that might be for the horse and donkeys.
My coop is in a large shed, and there is prodigious dust coating every surface and item that is not frequently touched.
Hopefully the barn is predator proof, if not, you might want to make the coop mesh walls 1/2" HC, and any opening(people doors, nest boxes) tight joined with carbineered latches.

Will your run be solid roofed and winter proofed, with easy human access?

 

[Percheron chick]

You will love it. Having everyone together in the middle of a snow storm will help get you out of bed on those mornings. At my last place, I converted a stall into the chicken coop. Nice and roomy. In a 12x10 stall I had as many as 25 chickens and 8 guineas. When it got really bad, I even ran my 3 geese in there at night. Dust is dust. It's a battle we can't win so just keep the big doors open as much as possible. Never had the horses get after the chickens. Geese, that's another story as they swarm the hay piles. The biggest drawback is if you free range your chickens, they will congregate in the shady breezeway and poop on everything. They will also find where the feed room is and help themselves. They will clean up dropped feed, scavenge the poop piles for juicy bits and significantly reduce the fly population. Be diligent and keep the spider webs and dust swept off the lights.
I would just frame out the top of the wall and the front of the stall and cover it with hardware cloth. Maximize any natural light you get. Looks like it can be rather dark in there. I would want a door to go from the "coop" to the run. Having to go out and around to the run will get old.

 

[KnightsMist]

Thanks for the feedback. We decided to go with converting the space into a coop and I've been detailing the process here Thread 'Happy dance- coop is almost done!' https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/happy-dance-coop-is-almost-done.1471725/.

They've been in the barn for about 6 weeks and it's going really well so far. We have them free ranging for now during the days, we have someone coming to start building an attached run off the barn tomorrow- hoping to have it all complete in the next week or so.

We have a horse and 2 mini donkeys sharing the barn with the chickens, but they are rarely locked in- pretty much only during nor'easters and tropical storms (24/7 turnout off the other end of the barn with access to stalls at night), so no issues there thus far. Very happy with my decision for now, hopefully will continue that way!