# My buck pen is done!



## PznIvyFarm (Jul 25, 2010)

Just in time too, we are supposed to pick him up next week. Could use a coat of whitewash, but i'm sure he won't care if i don't get to it right away.

Took alot longer than planned - two weeks. (which is why i've been absent from here  I originally had a double-decker pen for my silkies, and another one under the stairs. I had to move the silkies upstairs with the other chickens since they aren't selling as quickly as expected. Luckily i had a divided area for them already made.

The previous owners let the barn go to wrack and ruin by leaving half of the roof missing. This caused some water damage and bowing out of the wall. (what we could see) We fixed it up to be useable. My chickens ended up on the second floor because it was the only liveable space at the time. (good thing too, b/c i doubt the goats could live upstairs. Someone must have been planning on me getting goats)

Last year when i replaced a window on one side i had to cut a larger hole, and remove the siding partially. At that time I found out a major vertical post was halfway rotted out. My previous 'fix it' work of screwing posts into the beam was useless - i found my super long bolts were screwed into .....nothing. the horizontal upper beam had some damage, as did the one at ground level.....so we fixed all of them. 

For my buck pen i was working on the other side of the post, replacing the window which was sagging, fixing the last of the bowed out wall, putting up insulation and covering it, redoing the wall between the old pen and the new (chicken wire just wouldn't cut it, worked okay to keep the chickens in, but I doubt it would hold a determined buck), reinforced the wall between the buck pen and the small pen under the stairs, put in a front stall wall and a solid door. I also decided to cut another door to the outside, added a new screen window on the east side and repaired the other window on the east side. So now i have two exits to the outside, two new windows, and 3 large pens and one small pen. It is so bright inside and airy with the new screened window. Once I finish whitewashing everything it will look fantastic. (well as fantastic as a barn that is well over 100 years old can look) 

I still need to add exterior trim to the windows, fix all the cedar shingles that were displaced during construction, restain the barn, and finish the roofing job I started two summers ago. 

I also learned something new about goats. If you are doing a project near them they are curious and want to 'help' Every day when it was time for milking they would walk around looking at what i had done the previous day. They would try to pick up my tools when i was in their pen working on something, and I learned to leave nothing within their reach (which was higher than you might think for NDs) We actually had a good time on 'our' project. 

And i sold 4 more silkies this week - hooray!


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Congrats! Any pics?


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## Randi (Apr 22, 2011)

:clap: Pic's we want pic's :clap:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

That is wonderful...... :hi5: :clap:


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## PznIvyFarm (Jul 25, 2010)

While looking at my photobucket acccount, i found a really 'before' pic. This is what it looked like when we moved in (and the downstairs was full of junk, scrap wood, metal, garbage, etc)










Here is my 'after' I think maybe a year later (barns are both still unpainted)









And today, slightly different angle but the same side. It needs more paint b/c i had to replace a bunch of cedar shingles. Maybe next week, i'm thinking it's a good kid project. Also ignore the leaning fence, i need to fix that also, the goats have been scratching along it and with all the rain, the posts just came out of the ground.


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## PznIvyFarm (Jul 25, 2010)

For the goat's side of the barn, I have a before pic from last summer, when i still had the duck-sized door (and my poor preggy girls couldn't fit thru anymore) I couldn't find a pic from when we moved in, it was all tall weeds and a giant rotting woodpile back there.










And today. I enlarged the door on the left last year, the left window and upper window were already there, I added the door and window on the right side. It needs some work on the eaves, the trim is loose, and you can see where the goats have been gnawing on the siding. Once i repaint it, i have some anti-chewing stuff to put on.


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## Burns Branch Boers (Apr 11, 2011)

Your barn is very cool!!! Mine is all metal and most where we live are so seeing yours (especially seeing it transform into a beautiful barn) is very neat!


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## PznIvyFarm (Jul 25, 2010)

And the inside. I'm not going to bother with 'before' - it was a total disaster and I have changed the floorplan numerous times as I added more usable space.

Here are views of the girls pens from inside - it needs a new coat of whitewash, i did it for the first time last year and it didn't stick as well as i had hoped, but it did brighten things up alot.



















And the little pen under the stairs - big enough for quarantine or temporary separation, or a couple babies.



















And the new buck's pen.



















and the view inside, looking toward the doe pen










And the girls lounging in their bathtub after a hard day "helping" me


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## Randi (Apr 22, 2011)

How COOL is that!! Love the pix


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## PznIvyFarm (Jul 25, 2010)

Thank you.

Our house was built in 1829 and I think the barn is close to the same age. There is another barn with a cement floor that is larger and my husband suggested we tear the older barn down and rebuild a shed for his stuff (like the mower) I quickly said i'd take the older barn, that it was historical and I liked it. 

It wasn't until i looked back at the first pic of what it used to be like that I realized how much work i've put into it over the years. (as well as into the house) Last year I replaced the upper floor in my husband's barn. It has a metal roof that was leaking and the previous owners stapled plastic sheeting to the underside (the ceiling of the lower floor) to hold in leaks. So the floor was rotted, the beams (some of them) were bad. We had a contractor seal the leaks and fix the beams for structural purposes when we first moved in (7 years ago) but left the upper floor as unusable. I had to tear out all the rotted stuff, replace with plywood, and then my dad helped me build stairs (it had 2x4's nailed to the wall for a ladder) It is now a great storage area. I love that over the years I have learned to do most of my own work, we only have a contractor for the really hard stuff.


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## freedomstarfarm (Mar 25, 2011)

Wow it looks like you have done a ton! Looks great!!!


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## GotmygoatMTJ (Apr 25, 2009)

Its beautiful! I love the chicken 'loft'! I'd love to see pics of that!


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## potentialfarm (Apr 11, 2011)

When I was reading your orginal post & you mentioned that the chickens were "upstairs", I was thinking just "upstairs". The chicken loft & ramp is wonderful!!! VERY creative! I love seeing other people's creative ideas.
Now I'm thinking about what I can do with the second floor of our garage. Just need to move hubby's wood-working stuff to the shed... :wink:


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## PznIvyFarm (Jul 25, 2010)

That ramp to the second floor is the only time I ever found trigonometry useful in 'real life' ..........I knew the height and the angle I wanted, so i used that to calculate the length of the ramp. (so i tell my kids when they bitch about math class that they will use it) Most of the chickens don't bother with the lower part of the ramp, they fly up to about where the covered section is (which is there so they don't fly over the fence) I used to have netting across the top but I removed it last fall in anticipation of stringing new fence. I'd like to avoid it b/c the snow sticks to it, drags the netting down, and pulls the posts out of the ground, so if I don't want that to happen I have to go beat the snow off during every snowfall.


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## DJ4wd (May 26, 2011)

That's awesome! I love the way its being used as a dual purpose barn. I like the long walkway for the chickens, and the fact that its a working barn. Not one that is bright, shiny, and full of rules lol Our chicken coop is the same way, as in its a working barn. Great job, looks great!


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## HoosierShadow (Apr 20, 2010)

I Love it! What a cool barn, and your right a lot of historical value there! Looks like you've done just great fixing it up!


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## PznIvyFarm (Jul 25, 2010)

Thanks. 

I always say i am never moving again. Between the barn renovation and the house renovation, i am too old to start over. I had found some old pics of the family in the barn at one point, put them away for safekeeping, forgot about them, and ran across them a couple months ago. One of the former owners comes up from Arizona every year and i contacted her to let her know i had them. She is coming to visit next week and I can't wait to show her around and see what she thinks about what we have done.


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## Boergoat1234 (Jun 8, 2012)

Very creative! :thumb:


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