Need help securing my barn for new chickens

[Tiffy316]

I've got 8 little chickens. Half are chanteclers, and half are silver laced wyandottes. They're still pretty young, at 1 month for the 1st half and 2 or 3 weeks for the others, so I've got time to figure out how to keep predators out.

I have an old barn that's designed to be a nice little chicken home, complete with a rack, some nesting boxes, and a chick brooder. But it's also an old barn with lots of gaps. Even after patching it up a bit, there are still some gaps between the walls and the roof, and there is a gap in the door that leads inside of the barn that is just by design.

Since I live in the country, there are lots of predators out there that might want to devour my sweet little chickens, and I'm worried about what might happen to them, especially since I lost a couple of mine to a raccoon last month. So I would like some suggestions on how to fortify my barn so that my fluffy little love bugs don't get eaten by some predator. What can I do to make it secure?

 

[Percheron chick]

Give us some pictures to work with.
I had a stall converted into a coop as well. Lots of challenges to keep everyone out. I had a bobcat get in between the rafters. Straight up the wall. When they're hungry, they find a way.

 

[RobertaD1]

Picture would be GREAT! We renovated our farms old coop.... did it over the last 8 yrs...LOL
But, we can help in the ...."What needs to Happen First" dept.

 

[Tiffy316]

Here is the basic floor plan of the barn.

 

[Tiffy316]

I'll take some pics later, but I don't think I'll be able to upload them till tomorrow. The internet in my area is terrible, so it won't load, unless I do it while I'm in town.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I'm guessing the answer is going to be electric fencing, but I'm no expert on that subject (not that its going to stop me from installing a mile's worth on my property in the coming weeks), so I'll defer to the more experienced experts on that. and learn from my errors once I have practical, hands on, example.

The good news is, for such a small structure, you won't need a powerful (relatively speaking) Charger or much wire - heck, poly tape would probably be all you need, since the area to be protected is so small. Might be cheaper than trying to repair the various gaps in the barn, particularly if you can use AC power.

 

[aart]

Here is the basic floor plan of the barn.

Get some graph paper, or a cad program,
and measure barn(when you take pics of it), then sketch layout to scale.

 

[Tiffy316]

I don't think an electric fence would be a good idea, since much of the paneling is metal. And it's not a small structure. There's about 30 feet of space in the indoor part. The rack can easily hold a dozen chickens, and the roof is very high. I can easily walk around inside. I'm not building a barn, just fixing it up, so I don't need any blueprints. That was just to give you guys an idea of what it's like. Anyway, here are some pics of it.

As you can see, there are some loose panels which should be easy enough to fix. My main concern is the gaps in the door and roof. I can probably fix the metal holes with some special putty.

 

[RobertaD1]

The door may need to re-hung that door to make it sound. Depending on the framework of the door, if its sound, a tad larger screw, or fill the old holes with a dowel rod, cut it flush with the jam, and put the screws back in. If the frame isnt sound, and has some rot, you will need some new lumber for that to re-hang it. That should take care of that gap. How far up are the soffits? If they are above the roosts, just cover the gaps with hardware cloth. But, if you have some that will cause a draft lower, fill those with 2x4s, and nail into place. Depending on the overhang of your roof, you may be just fine with the hardware cloth.

 

[Danny188]

For the door I would make it overlap so when you close it there is wood behind the door so when you close it the crack is covered on the backside, you could do this to the top and bottom, dont know if it would work well with that door though and it would probably be best to make a new one.Then make sure it closes tightly against the wood and then latch it. For the holes in between the rafters use hardware cloth or cut plywood out to screw in.