Micro-Farm Barn Layout - Preliminary

[FreedomLover]

As mentioned in a previous post, my DH is going to build me a 40' x 24' pole barn to house my "Micro-Farm" animals.

I finally had an opportunity to sit down for a bit and do a rough layout plan for the barn to include the following (estimated size) -

2 - 8' x 8' Chicken Coops
1 - 8' x 8' Turkey Coop
1 - 3' x 6' Brooder Coop
1 - 5' x 15' Rabbit Run (Colony)
1 - 10' x 11.5' Goat Pen

I've also marked off an area for grain/feed storage and hay storage.

The poultry coops are on the left side of the picture. The chicken coops are on the top and bottom side of the image and include runs accessable on the side of the barn.
The turkey coop is in the middle of the chicken coops with a run that extends across the entire end of the barn.

Each coop will have a 4' wide people door to make it easier for me to get the wheelbarrow in there for cleaning if needed. I may divide that into 2 - 2' wide doors so that I don't have to open all 4' any time I want to go check for eggs, feed and water, etc.

The goat pen is on the bottom right of the picture and rabbit colony area is on the top right of the picture.

In the center are (from bottom to top) the grain/feed storage area, hay storage area and the small brooder/coop.

There is a set of double doors next to the grain/feed storage area in order to get the grain/feed & hay in easier and to get a wheelbarrow in and out for cleaning time. I made the doors 4' wide each so that if we need/want to we can back the pickup partially into the barn for loading/unloading.

Now, keep in mind this is just a rough draft but gives the general areas that I would like to place everything. The devil is in the details which I haven't really finished deciding on yet. (i.e. roosts, nest boxes, feed/water areas, etc.)

Feedback is more than welcome!

 

[Mahonri]

Looks great!

You are blessed.

 

[patman75]

What a fun project! Keep us updated!

 

[FreedomLover]

Will do! And Thanks!

I'm really looking forward to this. It'll be a long process, since we are truck drivers and don't spend alot of time at the house, but I think taking our time with it all will help us to get it done the way that I ... err ... we want it done

Once we get the basic outline of the barn done we're going to install a cement floor throughout to help with predators and cleaning.

We plan on starting with two dozen buff orp eggs to hatch and, depending on what we end up with, cull after about 4-6 months. We want to keep approximately 6-8 hens and one roo. I figure with two 8x8 coops (with 8x16 runs) that'll give us enough room to grow out whatever we end up with from the hatch and seperate the ones we're going to keep from those who are going to become lunch/dinner.

Once our chickens are established, we're going to get a dozen Bourbon Red turkey eggs to hatch. From those we will keep one Tom and two hens. They will have the center 8x8 coop and the 24x8 run area.

All the poultry will be free-ranged as much as possible to help control feed costs.

I'm even contemplating adding a "run" area for the rabbits as well so that they can get fresh greens in their diet too. That will take a little extra work, since rabbits love to dig! But I think we can pull it off.

This is going to be so much fun! I can't wait until the truck is paid off because then we can really get the ball rolling on all of this since we'll be able to spend a bit more time at home!

 

[patandchickens]

Fun!

One thing to think about is future expansion and how you will be able to squeeze every square foot of usable space out of the design when your requirements increase in the future (as tends to happen

). I'm a little concerned that the present layout wastes a HUGE amount of space in aisles of various sorts, and can't easily be converted into a more 'packed' design without blocking access to a number of pens. A dead-end or L-shaped aisle often works well, or there are a lot of other options depending ont he size and shapes of pens/stalls/rooms you think you might in future want to make. But if you do not design for that NOW, you can find yourself kind of 'boxed in' as the years go by.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[FreedomLover]

Quote:
Pat, excellent points and I couldn't agree more!

The center area I have "marked off" for hay storage won't have any type of walls. If necessary that can be relocated, even to a "loft" if I can talk DH into building one for me over the goat pen. Since they (and the rabbits) will be the ones primarily utilizing the hay.

The brooder coop was set more than 5 feet away from the corner coop (for cleanout ability/door swing) but if I make 2 - 2ft doors as I had mentioned in my last post, that space can be decreased by about 2 feet (still want to have a few feet available to move the wheelbarrow around). Then I can "extend" the left wall of the brooder coop to the left and create an almost 8' wide coop. Then if the hay is moved to a loft that will open up oodles of space there. I can then extend the brooder coop to be a full 8x8 like the others. I can then add another run on the outer backside of the barn for that coop.

Then, if necessary we can move the grain/feed storage to the edge of that coop and then add another small coop or a brooder coop to the area where the feed/grain storage area is.

Oh goodness, now you have my mind churning. I think I'm going to do a bit of re-design work and post the results.

 

[FreedomLover]

Okay. After a bit of quick redesign I've been able to add 2 more large coops, one smaller coop and an extra brooder.

In addition, the rabbit area has been relocated and made a bit larger. An additional area has been added for the goats as well on the bottom right corner so that I have a place to do the morning milking before setting the goats loose to browse.

Hay storage can be moved to a "loft" that I will ask DH to put in over the Rabbit/Goat end of the barn.

I think with these additions we should have plenty of space for any future expansions. I think I'm still going to stick with one brooder and the three coops at the left end of the building to start out with.

 

[patandchickens]

That looks somewhat more efficient, and of course removing the hay storage to elsewhere frees up more room too

(HOWEVER see below to make sure you've thought the hayloft thing through...)

Still, you have a lot more 'dead space' (that is currently aisle, and can never be anything BUT aisle without blocking access to other units) than is really necessary. For instance, you seem to be giving yourself about 6' of "stallfront" (presumably not *all* door

) to the rabbit and chicken coops. If this were reduced to just 4' for an ample-width door to each chicken coop, you could make your two "brooder" areas (along front and back walls) TWICE the size they currently are. You could either brood more chicks <g>, or give them more ROOM which is always nice, or use half the space for storage or other little projects. (I think you will need a lot more storage than you've got planned anyhow, unless you have a closely-adjacent building in which all manner of things can be stashed). Or if you didn't mind whacking off a corner of the rabbit pen and the uppermost chicken coop, you could put a triangular indent there to provide door space for the chicken coop and make the adjacent currently-small "brooder" area run all the way 8' out from the wall, even with the front of the next pen.

There *are* consequences to planning this in advance vs deciding to rearrange later -- not only the work factor, but also you will be best off sinking 4x4 posts to serve as the corners of the stalls/pens in the building, and will then be somewhat 'stuck with' where they are (or are not!) located.

Have you considered putting the rabbits in a corner pen rather than between the two chicken coops -- that will make it easier to install solid walls so that the rabbits have their own ventilation and are closed off from chicken- and barn-dust, should that turn out to be necessary?

Finally, as far as a hayloft, I am not trying to talk you out of it as such, but I do want to make sure you have considered the following types of issues: a loft is more of a fire hazard (especially in the sense that if there IS a fire, it makes it far less likely for you to be able to get any animals out alive), and often makes the barn dustier as fine haydust filters down between floorboards or down the loft hole(s); if you have not allowed room for a STAIRCASE rather than a ladder, you can land in quite a predicament if you become injured or heavily-pregnant and cannot climb the ladder to get hay; also, while it is possible to toss "a few" small light bales up from the bed of a pickup truck or use a pulley, really you ought to have a hay elevator to get any appreciable amount of hay into a loft, which you then have to buy, maintain and STORE the hay elevator; and finally, it restricts you to using only small square bales, as round bales (of any size) or large squares cannot be put into a loft, although they are often cheaper and sometimes more efficient to feed or the only thing available in decent quality in a bad hay year.

Really a separate-but-very-close building is IMO usually the best bet, or an outdoor shed-roofed extension of the barn, although I realize those are not always feasible.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Bossroo]

The most efficient use of space is to have one long center aisle and have pens on both sides. I would also rethink the hay loft ( from someone who has 33 head of horses, me). It is also an accident waiting to happen...my hay guy stored his hay in stacks 20 ft tall on the ground and also a hay loft above his office/store. He lifted a hay bale and stepped forward near the edge of a stack and whent down 20', landed on both of his feet that fractured into multiple pieces... unable to walk without 2 crutches for life. He almost always is now in a wheelchair. I have stepped between the top hay bales and twisted my ancles or sprained my wrists or sprained my back more times that I can count when moveing the stacked bales. It also becomes more of a thrill ride than a rollercoaster when you are on top of a stack and the whole end starts to fall ( been there, done that). Too After you get 8 feet from the ground level, it becomes very hard to move the bales, so save your back and sanity too. I would utilize the end of the center aisle for hay storage up to the roof and between the end pens ( make these as wide along the center iesle as possible, but not to block their doors so that you could store more hay there).

 

[FreedomLover]

Well, after looking at my design I'm a bit torn about changing it too much. I'm working up a variation with the center being the aisle, but that leaves 7' 6" of isle all the way down the barn. While that may be needed for large animals, I think it might be a bit much for the small animals I plan on keeping?

I'll be the first to admit I don't have a freakin clue about barns, so I'm taking all of the advice you guys are giving to heart.

I'm trying to work in the runs as well. With the coops running down both sides, it makes it difficult to build the runs without going "out" from the barn 2x as far as I had originally planned. (i.e. 16' vs 8')

BUT ... I'm still squirling around with sketchup and may come up with a solution!

Thanks to all who have posted and given me such good advice.