Restoring dilapitated 100 year old chicken barn...help needed!

[MotherCharlotte]

Hello folks!
I am in definite need of some assistance. My husband and I just moved into our new home on 3 acres. The property has an old brick chicken barn, which I assume is the same age as the house (100 years).

Although right up until we moved in animals were being kept here, the barn is in very bad shape. We were going to wait to fix it up until next year, but we sort of have to do it now since the previous owner left behind a few chickens wandering the property (2 hens, 2 pullets, 3 roosters) and we would like to make it into a proper home for them before winter comes. We are in Southern Ontario, where the winters can get pretty cold.

Okay, so I am just going to include some pictures here, and I hope that some kind people will give me some ideas on what we should do with this structure. Keep in mind that we are complete newbies and we basically have no idea what we are doing!

Here is a picture of the barn. Yeah, it's in pretty bad shape isn't it?

I don't know if we can replace the glass in the broken windows, so we might just put wire over the windows, not sure yet.


Here is a picture of the side, which has the only people door:

Obviously, my husband is going to rebuild the door and the rotted frame.

A picture of the interior:

Yes I know, rather gross...there is garbage all over the place in there. It appears that the previous owner was using deep litter in there - apparently she had quite a few chickens on the property at one point this year - and I guess she thought it was also a good place to use as a garbage dump.

Anyway - against the far wall are two rows of nesting boxes. They are all filled with old poop, and there is no way to access them from the outside. I don't know how I am going to clean them. On the floor in front of the boxes is a feeding trough.

I am confused about the set up here. Maybe this is a dumb question, but why is there a door in front of the nesting boxes, and chicken wire across? It's not like the chickens would sleep in there, right? Because there is a roost in the main section...

Here is the roost:


We are going to make some nice new roosts with some small tree trunks we have.

Well, that's the interior...pretty yucky, and I can see why the chickens here stay out of here pretty much, and roost at night on the steps going up to our pool!

I'll make another post for the run.

 

[MotherCharlotte]

Okay, here is the run:

There are some big holes we need to fill in where soil was removed (since it is the best soil on the property, no surprise!) Once the holes are filled in and it is leveled out, we hope to plant a few fruit trees in this area.

The previous owner fenced this run, one side has what looks like good fencing:


And the other side had the larger wire mesh, the kind for horses (she had lots of horses here). Then, part of the fence was removed. So we'll have to redo the other side:

There are two little chicken doors on the front of the barn, one in the nesting box area and one in the main area. They are completely open, so I guess we need to put a door on them to close at night? I don't know what predators are around here, but I know for sure there are skunks.

I am still not sure how this barn is supposed to be used...as I mentioned in the first post, I am a TOTAL beginner so any help or advice is very much appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Chad the Chicken Man]

I dont think this chicken coop is in as bad of shape as you think. as for the windows you can either use plexi glass of regular glass. to cut glass is really simple just go to your local big box store and get a glass cutter which is really cheap. and then just scoar the glass and it will break down the scoared edge. and then you can just caulk it in place. i wouldnt put straight chicken wire over the windows with out covering them up first with something. a wet and cold chicken coop is not good. and after you fix the windows and the doors , a simple cleaning and your ready to go. i would shovel out everything in there and start new. I would also rib down the divider in between the coop and nest boxes as well. and then you could just power wash the whole inside. let it dry. and them lay down some hay. I think its a very nice chicken coop and huge!!!!

 

[msladyhawke]

I dont think this chicken coop is in as bad of shape as you think. as for the windows you can either use plexi glass of regular glass. to cut glass is really simple just go to your local big box store and get a glass cutter which is really cheap. and then just scoar the glass and it will break down the scoared edge. and then you can just caulk it in place. i wouldnt put straight chicken wire over the windows with out covering them up first with something. a wet and cold chicken coop is not good. and after you fix the windows and the doors , a simple cleaning and your ready to go. i would shovel out everything in there and start new. I would also rib down the divider in between the coop and nest boxes as well. and then you could just power wash the whole inside. let it dry. and them lay down some hay. I think its a very nice chicken coop and huge!!!!

Gotta agree with Chad! I'd take it in a heartbeat!

 

[MotherCharlotte]

Thanks for the replies! Yes, it is a big coop...this place was a working farm for many decades so the people here didn't mess around. It's good to hear that you don't think it's in too bad of shape...I guess it just really needs a good cleaning.

So, we should rip out the barrier between the nesting boxes and the main area? What, I wonder, was the original idea in having that barrier there?

 

[devora]

That building looks good! I'm not seeing the "gross" factor, but then again I spend a lot of my day covered in dirt and chicken poop.

It's going to be a great coop.

I agree w/ the windows but I'd leave some of them available for opening. Frame, hinges, etc.

What a fun project!

 

[Chad the Chicken Man]

Yes i would rip down the barrier. you never know why people do things sometime. maybe they werent using it as a chicken coop but for the horses like you said. but maybe the free range chickens could still lay in there but still keep the horses out. you never know. they could of just had the chickens locked in there as well.make sure to take lots of pictures... before and after, not only for us. but you will appreciate it more down the road with the work you guys are doing.

 

[ladyrsanti]

Wow! Great score! I don't think it's gross at all. It looks great - better than our barn when we moved in. I agree with the windows, just cover them. Plexi would be the easiest, but a little more expensive. Our old barn has plexi screwed over most of the windows and it isn't the prettiest but it keeps the drafts out. You'll want some ventilation though. Hang some feeders and waterers from the rafters on chain to get them off the ground. Deep litter is okay. You'll be up and running in no time.

 

[Chad the Chicken Man]

now that i looked at the outside picture. it looks like theres a chicken door that goes to the nest boxes. it would make sence because you only said that they had a hand full of chickens running around. they didnt need that big of a coop for them. just a thought

 

[kellanv]

It all looks pretty stellar to me. As long as you are careful and don't remove structural bits you will have a great and very solid coop! I've seen people fix up and live in worse places than that!