trying to convert old, unused dairy barn to coop

[kjrchickcraze]

Hi. I am new to BYC and I have begun the crazy adventure of owning chickens. I have an old, unused dairy barn with a concrete floor that I would like to use part of for a chicken coop. The old metal sanchions and concrete moldings are kind of standing in the way....any ideas on how to remove the stanchions so I can lay level footers for the coop? Thanks!

 

[Blue EE]

Rent a center tool store and look at electric jack hammers. Thats if you have electric power in the barn. If not sledge hammer is gonna take a lot longer. Plan on breaking it all out in half a day and return the jack hammer. Next remove all the materials and if no reuse is planned for the steel depending on volume take it to a scrap yard. The broken up concrete if it has no re bar in it can be lifted into wheel barrel and out of the barn Then you will need to buy some concrete mix and level patch the holes. Find a friend to help.

 

[kjrchickcraze]

Thanks! We used a saws-all with a metal blade to remove the stanchions, then decided on a long, narrow coop so we would not have to bust out any concrete.

Here are a couple of almost finished pics...just need to get a predator proof latch and make things cozy for the chicks!



You can't tell in this pic, but there is hardware cloth all the way up to the rafters...

 

[JeffNew]

I like it! Question: How drafty is your barn? I'm just starting a similar project in an old horse stall and don't know if I should be trying to eliminate the barn drafts or not worry about it. I have a half-door which I was going to turn into a full-height door with a frame and hardware cloth.

There's a difference of opinion as to whether I need to build a house inside the stall or if the stall itself (with walls almost up to the rafters) is good enough. We live in the Pacific Northwest (15 miles east of Seattle) so it's not getting super cold here. I know that I need to get hardware cloth up to the roof to keep predators out.

I don't have power in the barn but I am going to remedy that so we can have a heat lamp or something similar in the coop.

Any thoughts?

 

[allpeepedout]

Looks great! I did a similar thing but just left the two levels on the concrete floor and the stantions in place, doing extra carpentry around the different levels to effectively build a small room inside the bigger barn. I wanted to preserve the original barn intact for historic reasons. The area in the stantions can be screened off to make a great place to raise chicks or isolate a bird, I figure. I just keep them out with netting for now.

Love the concrete floor! Anyway, nice work.