# We are finally getting a barn!!!



## thebirdguy

I am planning a barn for our 10 acres... It will house our heritage pigs, chickens, turkeys and goats during the winter primarily..  

I am debating on what style barn to build and what to use for a floor..  

What have you used and what would you suggest??

THANKS!!!


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## DonnaBelle

Most barns have dirt floors.  Bedding is added, depending on what type of animal you have.  Don't build it in a low area or one that doesn't drain.  We have brought in dirt to make sure the barn doesn't hold water.  Standing water is bad for any kind of animal.  Dirt can be sweetened with lime when you clean it out...

You are probably going to devote different areas/sections of the barns to different animals.  There are websites that you can look at barn plans/layouts for free.  Google it...

Whatever you build, it won't be big enough, so plan what you can afford now, (unless you have unlimited funds) and make it so you can add on later.

We built our goat barn and have already added on twice.  Plus we built a second barn for the bucks.

Research feeders, what type???  Also, can you get water and electric to the barn, if you can, do so for sure.  It's no fun hauling water.  Or trying to see in the dark or by a lantern.  Remember what happened to Mrs. O'leary??  

Do your research.

DonnaBelle


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## thebirdguy

I am planning on approximately 36' x 60'..  Pigs and goat stalls down one side and birds on the other.. More than I can really afford right now.. getting bids so we'll see.  I'd rather stretch a little now than be too small in 3 months.. LOL

I'm debating on dirt floors throughout, dirt everywhere but a cement walkway between the two sides and a rough finish cement floor throughout.. still weighing pros and cons of each..  Opinions?


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## redtailgal

x


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## DonnaBelle

I agree.  Maybe a cement center aisle, but stalls, pens, etc. should be dirt.  You can always sprinkle it with lime to sweeten it.   Plus you can add more dirt to the barn later if it gets worn down.

I use stall dry on urine spots and I have 17 goats penned in the barn at night.  No problems with odor.  

We have cement in our milking room, that's it.

DonnaBelle


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## goodhors

We have a traditional pole barn, center 12' aisle, with horse stalls on each side, sliding doors at each end of aisle.  Center doors open 12' wide and high, for good air flow, allows us to drive trucks inside for hay unloading, manure spreader thru for cleaning stalls so I don't have to wheel it out, vet to park inside for working on the animals.  You are planning smaller animals and birds, but you still will need feed and bedding unloaded, so doing an "aisle to hay pile or grain room", is MUCH shorter to carry things than parking outside, walking in thru people doors.  When you do clean stalls or pens, being able to drive thru barn with a spreader, trailer or truck for major cleaning, refilling bedding, is a lot easier than small wheelbarrows full.

Put a flag outside in new barn location and take notes DAILY over several months and seasons.  Learn your weather patterns and prevailing wind directions.  You want to build doors to face the wind, catch cooling breezes so inside barn is not hot in summer.  Our long North side faces our woodlot for a windbreak, lessens snow piling up by the doors during the worst winter storms.  We really don't get much daily prevailing wind locally from our North, so long side is helpful there.  Our prevailing wind is from the South during winter, blows all the time, while in warmer seasons the wind is mostly from the West.  Our doors face East and West, so barn has a breeze going in from April thru Oct to keep it cool and fresh.  At my mother's house the wind is always from the North in winter, west wind in summer, so that would be where you want your doors facing for summer cooling breezes.  So your local area may be special with local wind changes and you need to plan for it in placement of the barn doors, barn direction for comfort of the animals during various seasons.  You probably won't need mechanical cooling devices like fans (that cost electricity and possible fire issues) when real heat happens.  

You want good air exchange using the prevailing wind without drafts in winter.  Cold itself or cold STILL air is not usually the problem, it is stale air, ammonia from urine that causes pnuemonia in animals, other illnesses.  Drafty barn doesn't help the animals stay healthy either, but roof vents allow a good air exchange without drafts, to keep smells down if you need to keep the big doors shut with cold.  I never want to smell ammonia when I enter a barn, and our barn does not smell, ever.  Animals except newborns, will develop enough coat to stay warm in their local cold if they are not in drafty places and they have fresh air so they stay healthy.

A couple things we did building our barn were suggestions from brother-in-law the barn builder.  Get your dirt base established as soon as possible.  Know how much you will need to raise the level of the barn above the surrounding area, to keep it higher than any possible flooding ever goes.  We raised our barn level about 5ft, took a LOT of dirt, but that has prevented the barn ever flooding, even with "100 year flood levels" we got in the last couple years.  Records of the past were all smashed with quantity of water recorded recently, so the dirt base paid off BIG time by preventing water in the barn.  Everything around the barn is downhill, so all drainage is away, helpful to staying dry.  

We knew we were going to build the barn, so husband would order a truckload of dirt every time we got some money ahead.  The dirt pile was huge by summer's end, when he had a dozer come level it, put all the dirt together.  The rain, snow, freezing weather worked on the pile all winter and into summer, removing air, settling the dirt for building time.  Dirt was pretty firmly packed, so there was very little settling or movement after getting up the poles, roof and walls of the barn up.  BIL then recommended we continue wetting the inside dirt down about every other week for a month or two, which would continue settling the dirt under cover.  We did that, put a few little things under cover in new barn, but didn't really do anything else for about 6 months.  With winter slack time in work, husband built horse stalls, tack room, inside the barn.  They poured a rough finish center aisle floor, and floors beyond the stalls for hay storage in spring.  We had added about 20ft in length beyond what we thought we needed because BIL said barn was too small for our plans.  Husband excavated some dirt out of stalls to lower floors, and brought in crushed limestone in various sizes to fill the stall floors back to aisle height.  He rented a power tamper to compact the stone floors, pack them in hard so horse weight above would not move anything.  Knowing more NOW, we would use geotextile fabric on the dirt base, and a layer of the geotextile fabric between each stone layer to prevent mixing the sizes of stones.  Didn't have geotextile fabrics then.  I definately recommend them, keeps everything in place to do a better job for you over time.  Then when he finished compacting, we put rubber mats on packed stone for the floor that horses stand on.

The coarse stone below allows good drainage of urine, while rubber mats as toppers are softer to lay on, do not conduct heat away from animals laying down, and rubber mats are EASY to clean fast and get VERY clean for rebedding down.  Dirt floors freeze, can be a PITA to get frozen bedding off of with ANY tool, do NOT stay level with using dirt.  Maybe you don't have freezing, but dirt is just very hard to deal with in the cold places over winters.  We clean stalls daily, I want dry, non poopy bedding for horses to lay in.  Dry powdery poop comes up in the air as animals move around on it, poop/bedding crushes into layers as dirt.  Poop dust from any species is not something that is good for horse lungs, other animals, birds or YOUR lungs to breathe in.  I am not a fan of deep bedding for many reasons, with cleanliness being up top.  Animals laying on the ever deepening layers, especially baby animals that might be born in it, are just exposed to too much sickness and health issues to suit me.  I feel they stay equally warm on new, dry bedding after stalls or pens are cleaned each day.  Daily cleaning means less volume bedding and poop to move for cleaning, than doing massive stall and pen cleaning in spring or whenever your scheduled cleaning time is.  Digging out INCHES or a foot or more of dirty bedding is work, and way more than I want to deal with.  A muck tub daily each stall or less, from calf stalls, horse stall keeps them easy to deal with, quickly done. 

You may want to do a paper layout of the barn dimensions, post locations.  Then cut out the stall sizes, pen sizes, lay then inside the barn to see how they fit.  You can move them about to check out fit, with proposed outside door locations, feed storage room, work areas.  Sure easy to do as paper than actually moving pen walls or cages in the barn!  We did several layouts, argued out our reasons for choices, to come up with the final plan.  Final plan has been excellent over the years.  We have changed two of the original box stalls, 12'x24' space into 4 tie stalls when we purchased more horses.  Husband used one sliding door, put in walls to make an enclosed, lockable, 8'x12' feed room with loft above that is very handy, beside the 2 box stalls we kept.  Otherwise the layout has been adaptable with our changing wants over the years, easy to work in and use for a number of things we NEVER dreamed we would be doing when we built.  During the year the open areas may be filled with winter hay or lamb pens when hay is gone, extra carriage for working horses.  Tack room is wonderful for keeping horse equipment contained, with loft above adding extra storage for hay or straw.  I would probably do the barn almost exactly the same if we would ever need to rebuild, with the change being to add 2ft to height, making trusses 14ft off the ground.  Always cheaper to go up instead of out, and that 2ft higher would add an incredible amount of hay storage without having to pack quite as tight as we do now.  Also easier to drive the semi truck inside with a taller load and not hit the lights!  

Put all your wiring in metal conduits, with more circuts in the box than you think you will EVER need.  Get good lights and plenty of them.  Extra GFI outlets by doors, some outside the barn in case you need them later on.  Get snappy covers for those outlets to protect them from animals and dirt. Switches for lights at EVERY door entrance.  Plastic conduit for power wires is cheaper but does NOT holdup to rat chewing, you need metal.

Keep us posted on how your barn is shaping up as you go along!!


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## SheepGirl

I absolutely LOVE my neighbor's barn! I keep my sheep at my neighbor's house (with his sheep), but we will eventually be moving them to my house, so I'm planning for a new barn, too.

My neighbor's barn is about 30'x60'. He has six stalls on one side of the barn, all with cement floors. He primarily uses them for storage of random stuff. (The rest of the barn is dirt.) Only two of the pens (the only ones the sheep have access to) are bedded, and there's about a 3 inch layer of straw (though it's pretty compacted because we don't clean it out all that often). In addition to the main barn (it's made of cinder blocks), it's got two three sided shelters attached to it, both are about 72 feet long and about 30 feet wide.

The guy who owned the property before my neighbor was a cattle dealer, so in the main barn there is a working chute made for cattle in there, as well.

Here are some pictures (they are a couple years old and the barn has since been painted, so it looks much better than it did when these were taken):






Main barn with the side barn on the right.





This picture shows the side barn on the left.





This is a back view, you can see where the main barn and the right side barn attach and you can also see the left barn a bit. (That pasture with the three sheep in it is the ram pasture.)

I will take better photos if you want to see the inside of the barns to get some ideas.


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## thebirdguy

So it's finally happening!!!  We are doing a 36 x 60 pole barn and can't wait for it to be finished!!  Here's a picture of the progress so far...


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## SheepGirl

Congrats on starting your barn.  I can't wait 'til I get mine!


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## Ms. Research

Congratulations on starting your Pole Barn.  Please keep us posted on the progress.  Looking forward to seeing the finished project.

K


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## bonbean01

Congratulations!!!  I would love a "real" barn one day.

To DonnaBelle: Also, can you get water and electric to the barn, if you can, do so for sure.  It's no fun hauling water.  Or trying to see in the dark or by a lantern.  Remember what happened to Mrs. O'leary??  

hahahahahahahaha...love your sense of humour!  Thanks for the laughs


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## thebirdguy

We got over 4 inches of snow today but they kept working.. Should have all the framing finished and the concrete poured in the middle tomorrow... a couple more weeks and we'll be done..


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## Sunny & the 5 egg layers

It is looking so good! Congratulations! I bet you are excited! I know I would be!


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## thebirdguy

Well, they are pretty close to being finished with the framing.. They still need to frame out two windows on the front and build the stairs.  The steel could start going up as early as tomorrow!!!

This side faces West and is the front






This is the South side and will eventually have pop doors into outdoor runs for the birds






This is the North side and will have dutch doors into outdoor enclosures for the goats & pigs


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## SheepGirl

Looks good!


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## Goatherd

Very nice!  First class!


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## Chickie2378

Simply wonderful.

I love barns, any kind, old and new.
I am a barn gal.  

We have many barsn from dedicated to hay only, tractors/equip barns, horse barns, goat barns, and separate kidding barns and more.

truly there is nothing like a barn. feels so, I don't know, safe somehow.


Yea weird here but barns are me  

will you get hay storage out of that loft/attic area?


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## that's*satyrical

Nice! I think that barn is bigger than our house


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## Sunny & the 5 egg layers

Your barn is really coming a long. It looks great! Keep up the good work!


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## Chickie2378

On all road trips I survey the scene.  From critters in pastures to barns.

I always say to hubby-----I would love to ramble around in that old barn.   Older barns hold so much cool stuff.   

I search for barns lol   and then I see the massive beautiful horse barns, or chicken houses etc. and think, wow give me that! 


for some reason any 'out building' catches my interest.  I love little backyard tool sheds even.


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## thebirdguy

A little more progress..


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## Chickie2378

nice
I think our vinyl is one shade lighter on our 24 stall horse barn.
now Ihave to check lol


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## 77Herford

It will be nice, keep it up.


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## autumnprairie

awesome, it will come in real handy,


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## thebirdguy

Well, we are delayed again... apparently the insulation is backordered and will be in Thursday... They can't do the roof until they have the insulation and the can't do the walls until the roof is done..  I'm going to start on the stall divisions tomorrow since I have some more turkeys coming on Tuesday and need a place to put them.. 

They were able to do all the trim, install the windows etc.. 





Here's the back side


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## autumnprairie

so on one long side wall you have windows the other side will have doors? it looks good, I hate delays and I can only imagine how you are feeling.

I will be so awesome when it is done.


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## thebirdguy

Finally we have some progress!!!  The insulation has been sitting there for a week and a half after we waited for it for a couple of weeks...  Last week they came on Thursday and Friday but the wind was blowing too hard and they couldn't do anything on the roof.  They did work on the dutch doors though a little last week.  Today was partly cloudly and no wind so they worked on the roof..  They ended up getting the liner and insulation done for the whole roof and the steel on one side.  Hopefully tomorrow they'll finish the roof and a good portion of the sides...  If all goes well, they'll be finished by the end of the week!!!  I hope I didn't just jinx myself...


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## SheepGirl

Looks good! I can't wait to hear when it's finished!


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## SmallFarmGirl

Nice !!!


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## thebirdguy

Not quite finished but they are finally making good progress... If we are lucky, they will be finished tomorrow!!!  Then I just have to finish the interior stall/pen separations..


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## Ms. Research

Looking AWESOME!

K


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## autumnprairie

It looks  great you must be so excited to finally have it done.


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## Cabinchick

Glad the winds have died down and some more work has been done. Must be a relief. 
We're still checking out barn styles here, and trying to figure out where we're going to get the money to get started! BTW this is Connie aka discoveregg


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## DonnaBelle

That is going to be a fabulous barn.  You need a little office/warm up room/spit and whittle clubroom in there somewhere.  Of course you put grubby old furniture in it, maybe a wood stove, have a desk in there, etc.  It's a HIDE-OUT room.  LOL.

Congratulations on your new barn.  Cannot have too much money or too many barns.

DonnaBelle


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## brentr

Looks great.  I"ve been following your posts with a mix of envy and entertainment.  Would really like to see a photo tour of the inside, the different stalls/pens, etc., when its finished.


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## kelsey2017

brentr said:
			
		

> Looks great.  I"ve been following your posts with a mix of envy and entertainment.  Would really like to see a photo tour of the inside, the different stalls/pens, etc., when its finished.


Hear Hear! It is beautiful.


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## thebirdguy

The barn is finished except for the big overhead door that will go in next Tuesday hopefully.  I still have some interior pen divisions to do before I can move the chickens and turkeys but hopefully we'll have everything done and everyone moved by next Saturday..  We did get the pigs moved out of the backyard today...  Should have had a camcorder going for that...   The kids will definitely have something to talk about on school Monday!!  I'm so relieved to not be in violation of zoning anymore    A renegade rooster is one thing... try having 6 pigs in your backyard without anyone finding out.... 

Here's a few pictures of the outside, I'll post more of the inside throughout this week as we get sections finished and animals moved.

Northwest corner






Southwest corner





Southeast corner





Northeast corner


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## SheepGirl

Yayy! It's beautiful. 

If you don't mind me asking, how big is the barn and how much did it cost to construct? (You don't have to answer the second question if you don't want to.)


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## autumnprairie




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## thebirdguy

It's 36 x 60 and will be close to 35k by the time I get the inside finished...  it ended up being about 10 more than I planned 1/2 because we hit lava and had to revise the "foundation" and then we ended up having them finish the trusses, stairs and floor upstairs... I'll post pictures of that tomorrow.


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## Ms. Research

It really looks good.  

There's always things that pop up to throw off the number.  But for it to be solid, especially need a good sound foundation, it is what it is. 


Looking forward to seeing pics when everyone is settled in.

Again Congratulations! 

K


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## thebirdguy

They came late this afternoon and installed the big door!!!!   He has to come back tomorrow to finish the trim etc but the barn is totally enclosed!!  We finished the two pig stalls, one bird pen and almost have three more bird pens finished.  It was too dark to take pictures but I will definitely get some taken and posted tomorrow.  I plan on moving all the chickens and turkeys into the barn tomorrow..  It is supposed to start snowing tomorrow night so we are barely making it.. I can't believe the weather has cooperated for so long.  It has been really cold off and on, tonight is supposed to get down to 5 degrees but at least we haven't had to fight the snow too!!


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## autumnprairie

I am so happy for you and can't wait to see the pictures.


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## thebirdguy

Ok, so I'm slow...  It has been super cold this week and now it's warmed up a bit and is raining of all things!!  I did get everything moved into the barn before the cold front hit but I'm still slowly finishing out the pens.


Here's the finished front of the barn






Here's my Icelandic pen





and a turkey pen





Tomorrow I plan to get the roosts and nestboxes finished in the finished pens and hopefully two more pens finished so I can separate the turkeys.  More pictures to come!!


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## SheepGirl

Awesome!! It looks great. Congratulations.


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## 77Herford

SheepGirl said:
			
		

> Awesome!! It looks great. Congratulations.


ditto


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## TTs Chicks

Very Nice!


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## autumnprairie

TTs Chicks said:
			
		

> Very Nice!


X2


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## brentr

Hey thebirdguy,  I need my barn fix from you!!  I'm really interested in seeing the rest of the interior of your barn.  I'm sure you've been busier using it than worrying about us backseat barnbuilders , but I'd really like to see how you partitioned it off as well has the animals you have occupying it.

Hope all's well!


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## Symphony

That is a nice little barn.  I like that fuzzy headed Rooster.


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## SarahFair

Jealous! 
Wonderful job!


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