Building Our First Barn

It's time to build the animals a a real home.  Yes animals.  Our neighbor asked us if we wanted her chickens:)  Of course we said yes.  Now we have 4 chickens and our 6 female goats, does.

We are using 4x6 posts and 16 foot fence boards to build it.  The finished barn will be 12x32.  It is 7 1/2 feet tall on the back side and slants down to 7 feet tall on the front.  The slant lets the rain fall off and not puddle on the roof.  All wood is pressure treated.


First pole is in and of course the nosey noses are right here with us:)

Cocoa Nut wants to drive:

In the background you can see their old kennel which we split to accommodate the chickens:  Using a string line from the corner poles to make sure the rest of the poles are in line:

The troubles found a shady spot:

The back of the barn is up.  The poles are 8 feet apart and we are only running the fence boards about halfway up for more airflow and light.  The top board is for the roof.  The excess 4x4's will be cut down to meet the top boards.

Moving right along.  Mike used the nail gun which made it really fast:

Using a strap make sure our numbers are even when building the roof.  Sometimes you need a little push or pulling with wood.  Cocoa supervising.

It's starting to look like a building:)

Working our way to the back side with the strap while adding the beams for the roof.

Rafters(joists) and purlins.  The joists are 2x6 pressure treated wood.  They hold the building together from front to back.  The purlins are 2x4's. Those give you a place to screw the metal roof panels into.

Mike screwing in the panels:

Almost finished:

The barn is complete.  We moved all the Igloos and the chicken house inside.

 And of course the goats have to check out the chicken house.  Oreo front and center:)  BTW, in real time she just had twin babies yesterday:)

Crazy goats.  There are 4 of them inside this little house:

What a nice place for the goats and chickens.  Mike built chicken boxes for the chickens to use.  We also added one of the kennel panels to store some hay in.  The goats can eat through the metal fencing and not make such a mess of the hay.  That little room will also be used as the future breeding pen to keep the mamas and babies separate and safe until the babies are strong enough/fast enough to be with the rest of the herd.

And:

I think it was all too much work for the girls.  They need to rest, lol.

My stencil came:)  I think it's cute!!

And this makes me happy:)

That was our first barn.  Next story is about our new Boy.  See you tomorrow:)