Resurrection of an old barn.

[WyandotteTX]

I have taken on the task of resurrecting an old layer barn that my grandfather built in the late 1940's. It is 22ft x 30ft and needs serious work. This is going to be a long term project to say the least. The foundation is starting to fail on three sides of the barn so I have decided to rebuild those foundations and walls one at a time to make the building sound again. Eventually it will have 7 breeding pens on the inside with each one being 8ft x4ft approximately. There is a whole lot to do before I get to that point though. The other area of the barn will have small grow out cages and other cages to keep birds individually. I have the ideas of what I am going to do and how I am going to do it in my head...I know a scary place haha!
Eventually it will not have the tin on the side of the building as I rebuild the walls etc.
I am posting some pics to give you an idea of what the barn looks like at the moment. I am in the process right now of doing clean up in and around the building. Have lots of weed eating to do around the site to say the least. Be patient on the pics as I will take some each time I am up there working on the building.
This barn originally housed my grandfathers flock of White Leghorn layers. It housed 500 and they were free ranged at that time. This was back in the day when they sold eggs at the market each week. It was my fathers job to wash all of the eggs each day and then put them in the cellar so they would stay cool until they took them to town on Fridays.
John




This is looking at the east end of the old layer barn. As you look southwest you can see two of our grow out buildings.




This is looking at the north side of the layer barn. This is the only side that is still structurally sound but I am still most likely going to take off the tin and make smaller ventilation openings since it does face north.




This is looking east inside of the layer barn. It has very old tongue in groove shiplap on the inside as the building was used as a grain bin after it was retired from housing layers. I spent the last week digging out all of the mess inside of the building. I am not done with that task but will finish the next time I go up. Then hopefully finish tearing out the east end so that I can put down the forms and pour a new foundation, then I will reframe the wall. A little at a time.......it will get done. Hate to see the old building just fall down and figured its alot easier to save it than to build a new one.

 

[NHN]

Very cool. Can't wait to see more

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

How cool that you not only have this large, workable building to begin with, but you are also continuing a piece of your father and grandfather's legacy. I too am living on a property where my kids are fourth generation residents. There was an old chicken coop here when I was a kid that my siblings and I used as a playhouse, but it was long gone by the time I started my chicken husbandry. Funny thing is, it still shows up in my dreams from time to time. Good luck and keep posting pictures as the project develops.

 

[kreagerm]

Good Luck, Can't wait to see it's progression.