I'm new and have questions. But, will start with my coop design.

[daciab]

We have an old barn and we are re-purposing it for our lives now, not the farmer's life 100 years ago. I'm very excited about the things we will be doing in there. We also have an old chicken house. DH and I were talking about my desire to have chickens and about fixing up the old chicken house. He tells me it will be easier to build new rather than fix the old. He is giving me 1/4 of the barn for my interests. This room will be my "cat room", potting shed, garden shed and chicken coop.

What I am looking to do is build a screened room in this room that has a ramp to the outside. There will be a people size screen door for me to walk into the coop. The floor is concrete and two of the walls will be wood.

The chickens will be in the same room as the cats, but will have separate entrances. I am going to get larger breed chickens so the cats won't mess with them. My dog is very well behaved and I can train him to leave the chickens alone.

Anyways, I guess long story short, do you have any advice for me about putting my chicken coop INSIDE another building? Is there any special circumstances I need to think about?

Here is our big old barn

Here is the room that I hope will house my coop. It will be in the back right of this room.

 

[spartacus_63]

OH MY!!! What I could do with that BARN!!!!

 

[daciab]

Thanks! We are fixing it up. I know this is going a little off chicken topic. But here is a link to more barn photos. We are currently in the process of restoring it.
http://user.midlands.net/dacia/Barn.html
http://daciab.shutterfly.com/843

 

[brounii]

Good golly Miss Molly that's a large barn!

Think of all the chickens you could put in there, lol.

I found this page and thought it might interest you. Very similar idea.

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

Good luck on this adventure and keep us posted! Would love to see it progress!

 

[daciab]

Thanks! I printed that and will show it to DH. We also have horses in our barn, although in a different room. The poster who shared those photos had it all sealed up inside and only screen on outside. DH was thinking screened in coop on the inside of the barn. Maybe that won't work. This room will be sealed off from the other parts of the barn except my walk through door, the chicken door and cat door.

 

[spartacus_63]

Sounds like a great project and it reminds me of my Grandfathers barn when I was a kid. Lots of adventures in that old barn. Have fun.

 

[TigerLilly]

Quote:
MY thoughts exactly! Cant wait to see what you do with it!

 

[daciab]

I am leaning towards having the coop and run inside the barn. We are in the frigid north and have coyotes. My plan is to have them free range during daylight hours. But in the winter, I leave before sun up and come home after dark. So this time of year, they would not be let out except on Sundays. Do any of you see any reason why I should not do it this way?

 

[Crabella]

Personnally, I think you should carefully dismantle the whole shebang, number all the pieces, complete with photos and instructions, then ship them to me... I love my little coop, but I am suffering from some serious envy... sigh

Actually, I would have both. An indoor run for those times when there are piles of snow and below zero and an out door covered run, with a wire apron (& maybe hotwire) and very secure so you have the option of letting them out on warmer days even when you are gone. You can install automatic doors so it closes for added security after dark (on my wish list).

Do some reading on the coop pages and on the predator pages. Lots and lots of suggestions and ideas for making your chicken run safe and secure.

Happy chicken keeping and

 

[spartacus_63]

Actually, I would have both. An indoor run for those times when there are piles of snow and below zero and an out door covered run, with a wire apron (& maybe hotwire) and very secure so you have the option of letting them out on warmer days even when you are gone. You can install automatic doors so it closes for added security after dark (on my wish list).

I agree. My girls free range almost entirely, but I have a 30 sq ft run for times when I want to keep them penned, usually because I need to catch some of them. I didn't go all out on the chicken run fence because it was not for protection from preds, but as a containment method. If there is ever a time when you do not want them out on the pasture, but don't have to keep them in the barn, I think you would regret not having an out door run too.

Just my 2 cents. It isn't like you have anything else on your to-do-list anyway.

They are wonderful and are easy to put together.

Here is a link to the style I use: http://www.buildeazy.com/photo-chicken-coop-beatarticle.html

I have the D20 model. The D80 does not hold up well in the dust.​