Built a chicken house in an empty horse stall in the barn

[StoverCreek]

We have a very open horse barn with two empty stall areas on one side of the concrete aisle and four built-out and occupied horse stalls on the other side.



It is a typical 12x12 stall area with the big dutch door window to the outside and a stall door size opening to the barn aisleway with a half wall that is open above.



My husband insulated the walls with a variety of different insulation we had left over and covered the walls with some left-over cement board. The floor has a thick layer of gravel topped with M10 (crushed rock). We plan on layering it with sand when done.



He dropped a ceiling in. There is room to store hay bales for the horses up there too!




We already had electricity and water, so he wired in another aisle light and a hanging light inside the 12X12 area.




We framed the dividing wall and covered it with hex shaped chicken wire. We will over that with hardware cloth too.








David had a left-over fiberglass door and we covered it with the rough cut on the outside to make it match the horsey part of the barn.


Here is the little door area to the outside that still has to be cut out with their gangplank to free ranging.

I need to get the rest of the pics off the other camera to show the final outcome.

 

[MoonShadows]

Looks like a great chicken coop. I'd love to see the other pics once you get them off your camera.

 

[StoverCreek]

Ok, so this was about Day 1, what a mess



Getting ready to put the outside door and it is getting closer



Little door for the chickens to go outside is in and sand on the floor.



They come out on their fancy brick pathway


The gangplank flips down. It needs to be painted.




Here it is with the hardware cloth on and we put cement board halfway up on the dividing wall. All the wire was run long and buried down until the heavy gravel base. I hope that deters anything that might get in the barn from digging under.




Found a stone tile pallet and cleaned it up, covered it with chicken wire for a brooder box.




It became home to 10 baby barred rocks, should be female (I hope)






At 5 weeks let them have the run of the 12x12 stall fully built out with a little roost for them to sit on. The heat lamp was transferred in while we wean them off it.





Outside grazing with supervision. One turned out to be a frizzle. We named her Curly.




8 weeks old and up on their big chick roosts, ready to say good night.




Don't let them ride around on your shoulder. Here is my pecked eye. Ouch.

Next step: Build some nest boxes.

 

[QuirkySue]

OUCH! Some days I'm glad I wear glasses!

 

[mpgo4th]

That's an awesome coop you have there.

 

[Baymule]

I have coop envy! I hope your eye is ok, you can get a serious infection from getting pecked in the eye. Chickens are attracted to the shiny eyes, they just can't help themselves. Be sure to caution children as well to protect their eyes.

 

[Percheron chick]

Just a word of caution since I can't tell by the pictures. Make sure you have no gaps in the ceiling where the rafters and the roof come together. I use an old stall as well as a grow out pen and a bobcat got in Christmas morning, climbed down the wire covered walls and back up with all but 2 of my chickens.

 

[MoonShadows]

Thanks for the additional pics. Best of luck with it and those barred rocks.

 

[StoverCreek]

Thanks everyone for the kind words! My eye is still very red but I think it will be ok.

I am so sorry to hear of the bobcat attack. We hope we built this one very secure with no gaps even small enough for a thin snake to get through. I was worried about exactly that kind of thing. There are coyotes, raccoons, possums, stray dogs,eagles, falcons, hawks, king snakes, moccasins and other critters aplenty around here. We doubled that wire with chicken wire and then hardware cloth to try and keep them all out. Any gaps around where the walls and ceiling meets were covered with trim pieces. I hope we didn't miss anything and any suggestions or observations are very much appreciated.

 

[Larrickchick]

Love your coop! Their brick walkway is a great touch