too many options! (update with barn pics added)

[patandchickens]

Woo, great barn!

If you wanted to use it longer-term, it seems like you could build a run out to one side or the other of the barn?

As for water, you could go the rain-barrel route to some extent (although you have to be careful about storing too much roof water for too long, water-quality-and-health-wise). Or you could just haul water from the house -- 15 chickens don't go thru *that* much water, really. Those white square buckets that cat litter comes in, with the snap-on lids, are excellent for transporting water, btw. You could put a couple on a tarp (to catch drips) in the trunk of your car, and there ya go.

Just make sure you are really serious about predatorproofing the existing space. Raccoons can get in through surprisingly small spaces, and are surprisingly strong. And tend to like being in old barns

Good luck, have fun, beautiful place you've got there,

Pat

 

[sherrydeanne]

Just save some milk jugs and fill with water. They'll probably only drink 3/4 gallons a week or so, no biggie

I would SOOO use that barn in a heartbeat.

 

[patandchickens]

I have a pen of 7 that I am pretty positive uses 2.5-3 gallons (one very full tall catlitter bucket) of water per week, if that helps any.

(I really want to excavate/repair the frostfree hydrant in the chicken building once the ground is dry this summer, but for now ahve to haul water from my house in buckets)

Pat

 

[DarkWolf]

Quote:
Why run a hose when you have free water. Run a gutter along one of the sections of roof and then collect water into several 55 gallon drums from it.

Sectioning off parts of the barn is easy as pie, you just need to put up some interal walls. Since they're not load barring they can be 24" OC, then just put up chicken wire against the new walls.

As for an outside run, there are plenty of places for that from the looks of the photos. But it all depends on WHERE at in the building they will be located. In the first picture, looks like a fence exists. In that area would be a good run.

Second picture, looks fine there too, but you'd have to remove the lower limbs on the trees which would be within the run area.

Free range is also an option depending on how busy the road is. Just post up some chicken crossing signs well before the barn to alert people. Granted, may still loose one or two to a car, but with fair warning, should be no excuse.


At any rate, there's plenty of options for partitioning off a section.. But pictures of the inside of the barn, especially the corner where you want to keep them would help greatly in aiding your decisions.

It's a shame that you tore down the old coop without first making a place for the bats to roost. They're wonderful at keeping the bugs down. Might consider building a good sized bat house for them out of that salvaged wood?

 

[ducks4you]

I'm with DarkWolf. O M Gosh, do you KNOW how envious many BYCer's are of you!

BTW, a friend (Farmer) has kept his daughters chickens in HIS barn (since she saved them from being hawk bait!) Anyway, they free range only. The PROBLEM? They lay their eggs
E V E R Y W H E R E! Then, the eggs start to rot, and...you know

You definitely should portion off a part of the barn, then figure out if and how you want them to have "outside time." This way, as a benefit, you can train them where to lay.

 

[tdgill]

Haul the water over by car! hahahahah

I like the rainwater idea...We have one of those large barrels that my dad put a faucet spout in. He used it for kerosene for his workshop, before he put in propane heater.

Gorgeous barn. Just to rehash, I would definately do a double, triple check on security against predators. The money and time spent building something new could go towards securing the barn and making a very nice run! You could also make a large frame covered with hardware cloth to act as a screen door for added sunlight, if you arent about to cut some windows in the barn. I would add windows though. Your hubby could make them very attractive I am sure!

 

[chickpeaz]

Quote:
OMG that is too funny. There are bats EVERYWHERE on this property. Thousands of them. There are several outbuildings (shed, machinery shed, garage, barn, outhouse), all of which squeak when you walk by,

and the bats roost in the eaves of the house and the porches, too. We tore the coop down before they migrated back in the spring so I'm sure they were able to find suitable lodging elsewhere. I love them and I appreciate their tenancy -- I would never do anything to jeopardize a thriving bat colony!

I spent some time yesterday looking at the barn (we're not actually living at this place full-time yet while the remodel is in progress, so we haven't spent much time doing anything other than big projects in the house). It appears that at one time the barn was probably set up for *hundreds* of birds. The old-timer neighbors have told us that The Mrs. had chickens, ducks, geese and turkeys and had quite a little egg-and-poultry business going. We found galvanized nest boxes with straw still inside! There's a big old feed chute with a rolling feed cart, and there's scads of feed still littering the floor. (We also found a dried-up old mummified rat corpse which completely freaked me out -- it will have to be removed by a Brave and Strong Husband before I do any more in there.) But it does look like it can be pretty easily partitioned, and after looking further it won't be that hard to fence off a small run area. There's plenty of ventilation, electric lights, and maybe even water! We found something that looks like an old terracotta drain and possibly a well. We need to investigate it further, but if we can hook up a pump we will most likely have a permanent chicken house in the barn.

Now I'm getting excited. My chicks should arrive at the end of June so I'm hoping to have the barn all set up and done by then -- they'll be living in the house for awhile but it's good to have goals.

 

[Judy]

What a dream of a setup!

Wonder if they had a shallow well with a hand pump? Wouldn't that be great!

 

[chickpeaz]

So we've committed to using the barn. Still not sure if that's a well or not; hubby hasn't had time to investigate further. But we're hopeful. Here are some photos of the current situation:

This is the doorway into the part of the barn we'll be using. We'll cut a chicken door beneath the first set of windows and fence a run area to the right of the door going up the bank.

This is taken from the doorway. We're planning to partition off half of this space (a new wall will come down from that big rafter) which will give us a 20x12 area. The floor will need to be scrubbed and patched. We'll put in a doorway to the area in the back so we can use that for feed storage, etc.

Here are the nestboxes which are already in place. The ones on the left are quite rusted and will be removed, but the ones on the right are in very good shape. The wall that they are attached to faces the corridor, and has drop-down egg access built in. Very nice!

This is the roosting area -- there are perches with hardware cloth beneath, and the whole thing sits over a droppings board. The platform is hinged to raise up, and there's a giant hook and eye to latch it to the ceiling while cleaning. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to rework this or just clean it up really well and try reusing it.

Anyway, this is but a tiny corner of a huge barn, but I think it will work well for my flock to start out in. Eggs are arriving this week or next and hatchery chicks the following week, so I have a couple of weeks of brooder time to pull it all together...clean it up, build a new wall, patch the floor, replace rusted wire, set up a run and make sure the whole thing is predator-proof. Any opinions, comments, and suggestions are welcomed!

 

[chickenwhisperer123]

I want your barn.

Jason