Does the hen house have to be separate from the barn?

[aruralone]

I've noticed that most old farmstead have a separate chicken house from the other animals. Does anyone know why? I have my chickens in a corner of the general purpose building now. But we are going to redo the building and wander if I should make a separate chicken coop? Thanks for any opinions.

 

[cafarmgirl]

I don't know that there would be any specific reason for their building to be separate from another main barn or out builidng. We built our coop in a corner of our existing goat barn.

 

[LynneP]

We built our coop in a former horse stall. The only thing you have to be very specific about is keeping poultry dust from the bedding and from grooming away from your other animals. We installed recycled windows and it worked well.

You can see here (scroll):

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=7693

 

[Chirpy]

It won't make any difference where you keep your chickens. It's your personal preference and what works for you.

The bigger issue is are they safe from predators? A horse stall is a great idea just make sure that nothing can dig under the walls and get into the stall. I have friends who didn't think anything could get to their chicks inside a 100% enclosed horse stall (made of wood). They lost several chicks one night to something that dug 10 inches down and under their wall.

Also, you want to keep the chickens away from all feed for your other animals. Don't let them get onto hay, etc. I keep mine covered with a tarp... inside my barn to keep my chickens from pooping on it.

 

[FrontPorchIndiana]

You don't want sheep to eat chicken feed. There is too much copper in it and it can kill them. I've also seen pigs kill and eat chickens that have accidentally fallen into the pig pens. I suspect that is why they have historically been housed separately. I'm going to be getting sheep in about a month and will be keeping separate housing. The chickens will have access to free range the pasture with the sheep, but the sheep will not have access to the chicken run or hen house to keep them from getting into the feed.

 

[aruralone]

Thanks for all the imput. I think I will build a separate house for the chickens. We had a goat and kept them in separate pens but under the same roof. I am thinking of getting a couple goats again and maybe some sheep. So going with separate housing seems like the thing to do.

 

[FrontPorchIndiana]

Probably the best, I think goats are susceptible to the chicken feed too.

 

[dacjohns]

Chicken poo everywhere.