Need advice on using barn as chicken coop

JimmyJenkins

Hatching
7 Years
Sep 20, 2012
4
0
7
I have a large 3 stall horse barn (30'x35') that is essentially being used as equipment storage. It is all metal construction with a dirt floor. See here for an example - mine is the raised center roof style, plenty of ventilation. I would like to take one of the stalls (at least 10x10) and turn it into an enclosure. Two of the stalls have windows with bars on them, and the third stall has a door.

My thought was to use the third stall with the door as the chicken house, build some nesting boxes, etc. Then have about a 150'x40' run. More than likely when we are at home the chickens will roam about our 5 acre property. The stall walls are floor to ceiling with a typical horse type door with about 4' of solid metal panel and bars on the window. The roof of the barn is ventilated and I have power and water run to the barn.

Am I missing anything here? I am new to this and I see everyone has these fancy coops. Do I need anything more than what i'm proposing?
 
I did the exact same thing! my windows have plexi (SP?) glass over them. We put caulk in the cracks in the window frame and the door frame. (barn is over 100 years old.) The stall was about 8' by 20', but we made it 7' by 8'. One side of the coop is planks (roosts on this side) , one side has the nesting box and people door, (the rest is covered in chicken wire), one sides is plywood with chicken door, other is chicken wire/partial board. my run is 18' by 6', out of a dog run, with a shelter on one end to keep drafts outs. How many chickens are you getting?
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even for 10 chickens, 10x10 will be huge! Lucky chickens. ;P One thing i wish i had done, was add a poop board. You'll be AMAZED at how quickly a few chickens can dirty up the roosting area. Not saying it will be a ton of work, but a poop board would be a wise investment. :D
 
Sounds like a great plan to utilize a stall. All you have to do is add chicken wire so nothing gets in and they don't get out and your good to go. :)
 

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