How many of us dream of getting away from it all and living the good life, producing all our own food? It’s true that for most it remains a fantasy, but it may be possible to live some of our dreams. With an allotment or a large enough garden we can certainly grow most of our own vegetables, but how about converting your shed into a mini-barn or hen house?
Barn
If you are thinking of using your shed as a barn, then the chances are that you are planning to keep a goat. Goats make excellent animals to keep at home. They do not need many adaptions of your shed, but they will need plenty of space outside and very secure fencing as they are good escape artists and they eat everything.
As goats are farm animals, there are many regulations concerning their welfare and treatment. If you want to have milk from your goat, you will need to breed from her regularly.
Hen House
A small shed is an ideal size for a hen house. You can either convert the shed into a coop and build an outdoor run for the birds (probably the easiest way) or you can remove the outer walls of the shed and replace them with dense wire netting to form the run, and then build the coop inside.
The Essentials
A hen house needs an external area for the birds to peck around and strut their stuff, and an indoor area to shelter safely at night. You can check out www.mychickencoop.com.au for all of the essentials and supplies that you’ll need.
Inside, they need poles for roosting. They also need the temperature to be in the goldilocks zone—not too hot and not too cold. In hot conditions, it is a good idea to provide a fan.
Of course, they need water and food. It is best to provide these in specially designed feeders for poultry, rather than just putting bowls on the floor where they will rapidly get filthy.
Don’t economise when it comes to the latches. Foxes are very smart and a simple latch may not keep them out for long.
The Desirables
The hens will decide where to lay their eggs, but you can make it easier for them and yourself if you provide nesting boxes that are accessible from the outside of the coop. Cutting a hole requires a decent jigsaw—read this for some information about these tools.
Keeping the coop clean is a never-ending task. One thing you can do is to put a board underneath the roosts to catch droppings. Then you can just take them outside and hose them down.
A place beside or in the run to store the wood-shavings or straw that you use in the coop would save you many journeys.
New Use for Old Shed
There is a great deal to enjoy about keeping animals at home. If you have a shed which is past its best, it can still make a very effective home for your new garden occupants.
Ben Lewis is a homesteading, homeschooling Dad of 3 who is loving life! He writes about daily life and the projects he and his family are working on.
I’ve always had a secret dream of having chickens, but it’s just never been possible for one reason or another. From reading this post, it seems like it might be more work than I’d be able to keep up with. Still, I can dream about those fresh eggs…
I think it would be a wonderful idea to have a coop for chickens, but don’t know if I could build a hen house. To be truthful right now I probably don’t want the extra work of keeping it clean,etc.
I really enjoyed reading this post and thank you for the wonderful ideas. We need a new hen house and this gives me a lot of great ideas. Have a nice week.