chickens in the barn?

[watchdogps]

We may have found the place we are moving. There's a HUGE barn, and I was wondering if it's okay to just keep them in the barn rather than build a freestanding coop? Maybe not the whole barn, I was thinking of some kind of pen inside the barn? Input?

 

[LilyD]

I think that would be fine as long as you also have a way to let them outside as well if they are layers and if they have enough space that they won't be too cramped.

 

[watchdogps]

Oh sorry, let me clarify - they will be mainly free range, just penned at night.

 

[BetterHensandGardens]

We kept our chickens in the barn, and eventually got a coop because the chickens made the barn sooooooooo dusty. There's a little bit on some things we learned after keeping our chickens in the barn, and then looking for a coop here: http://www.betterhensandgardens.com/2010/06/09/chicken-housing-basics/

So even though I think chickens are better in a separate coop, if we had just a barn, we'd still have chickens in the barn.

 

[poodlepill]

I have a Coop and a Barn. My year old hens rarely go in the barn but my now (22) 17 week old pullets seem to think its a great place to spend the day, they also now climb and scratch around on my hay stacked in there. They also poop in MY fenced off section, fenced out the horses (inside the barn) so I could have my space and grain, work bench and stuff but the chickens poop all over the gravel floor. It is cooler in the barn and I have fans going so my mini horses can come and go to get some relief from the heat and flies but I am now going to put up chicken wire on the horse panels to keep out the chickens....I hope.

 

[Fred's Hens]

Yup, I have a small barn. Chicken get half and I get the other half, with lofts, for storage. With some thoughtful partitioning and re-working, you'll have a great set up. I would highly recommend you might plan on three pens. That way, you'll have options during brooding, growing out youngsters, etc.

 

[flnatv]

Mine are in a converted horse stall... they share the barn with 2 horses

Just predator proof and it and you will be good

Glad to finally find a place I am sure... good luck with it.

 

[gryeyes]

Why not?

I just bought a house with an old, detached garage, no door on it, just 3 walls and roof. Gonna transmorgrify it into a big coop for my flock. I have a contractor who is going to put up the front wall with a people door, cut the hole in a side wall for the chicken door, and wire it for electricity for me. He has built houses from the ground up and is kinda excited to be creating a chicken coop out of the ratty old garage.

Really! He listened to me about the coop needs, was impressed to learn the ventilation needs of chicken housing, was amused at my use of "people door" and then realized why I differentiated between it and a "chicken door." He even appreciated the information about security (half inch hardware cloth for ventilation and burying the front wall footing with more hardware cloth so predators could not dig in).

I think a barn would be a great coop, even half a barn. Go for it!

 

[jinxschuh]

We are just finishing up our 'chicken room' that we added inside our existing barn. So far it has worked quite well. Our yard isn't all that big so I didn't want to put another out building there and didn't want the chicken coop out in the pasture, but I had wasted space in the tack room... I have tons of pictures of our projects posted here in a thread titled "Show and Tell" if you are interested in seeing what we did with our barn.

 

[FuzzyButtsFarm]

A picture is worth a thousand words.

36' x 48' with a 12' isle. 8 12' x 12' stalls

Outside door with ramp.

Top of stalls fenced off with welded wire.

Hen boxes nailed to shelves and shelves nailed to wall.

Stall divided for brooder. Welded wire with hardware cloth around the bottom.
Use your imagination and have fun.