Country Living in a Cariboo Valley

Homesteading in BC

Building a Barn – Part 1

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One of the reasons we moved out to the Cariboo region of BC was to have some acreage way out in the bush, raise a few animals and have a huge vegetable garden. Here’s how we went about building a barn, which was really needed here on our property.

 

 

A owner built barn for chickens, goats, sheep, cows and horses

Building a Barn

Since there wasn’t a barn here when we arrived, we had to build one. We tossed around a few ideas – we wanted it to be inexpensive but solid.

We wanted to custom build it for what we would use it for (pigs, laying hens and some meat birds, livestock feed storage).

So we thought and thought and thought some more. One night after a few drinks (funny how ideas sometimes flow better when the wine is flowing), we had a bit of a “Eureka” moment.

 

 

Rafters sit on top of barn log walls.

 

Why not do a barn built in two stages? This would spread out the cost over a couple of years, plus it would enable us to move our laying hens down there sooner rather than later and get them settled in.

We could get a couple of feeder pigs in the Spring to raise over the summer and then butcher in the fall.

 

A weaner pig in his pig pen.

 

Putting pen to paper, we came up with a “half barn”. Since we would also need a place to store either extra vehicles or our future tractor, we would end up with two sections with a breezeway in between.

Sounded perfect. And so we began. Graham excavated and poured footings. Then he stuck those saddle things in the concrete.

We got some logs from when the barn next door was taken down, so he used those for the posts. The above picture shows what the first “half barn” looked like with the rafters up.

Cutting a slab of pine with a table saw.

He cut all the wood (except for those logs from barn next door) to size with his sawmill. Then came the strapping and you can see him trimming the strapping in the picture.

Putting a Metal Roof on the Barn

Next came the metal roof. Metal roofs are great – zero maintenance ever and they last more than 50 years. I think it took us four hours to put it on; it is not that hard to do.

It’s not a job you want to do if there is any wind; then an easy job turns into a nightmare. Also that last sheet is a bugger to put on and it helps if you have a couple of ladders for doing it.

 

Adding sheet of tin roofing to a barn.

Although our “half barn” may look a little strange right now, building this barn in two stages was a great idea.

It enabled us to at least get enough built to move our chickens into their new coop. It also split the cost of materials, so that we didn’t go in debt to build the barn!

 

One half of a barn sits in the field, with log framing and a tin roof.

 

Building a Chicken Coop

Here’s a picture from the other side. You can see the chicken coop starting to take shape.

We put tar paper over the insulated chicken coop. Eventually we were able to put wood siding over the black paper.

 

A chicken coop is built in one part of the barn.

 

Now things are starting to come together. Those fence posts you see will be two separate runs for our layering hens.

We wanted two runs, so that the chickens can be in one, while a bit of rye grass or alfalfa is growing in the other.

The ultimate goal is to have greens growing in either run, and rotate the hens between them. This will allow them to nibble a bit, and when it’s eaten down, they get moved to the other run.

See the 2 little tiny doors? One on the side and one on the front (with black tar paper).

We can just close off whatever door we like, and choose the run we want them in. The upper hole is for the window, one on the side and one on front.

 

A simple home made greenhouse with squash growing inside.

 

The Half Barn – Building a Barn in Two Stages

Here it the “half barn”. This picture was taken from our porch. This is pretty much the way we thought the barn would stay until the following year, except we wanted to finish off the siding. Chickens on one side, and our 2 piggies on the other.

See the temporary Greenhouse we set up in our first couple years? That would disappear the following year, when we figured out how to build a Greenhouse for under $200.

The roof panels of the one in the photo would become the roof for our permanent Greenhouse!

Back to the barn building – that Fall, our parents came for a week. They like to keep busy and love to help us with a project.

 

Adding a second half to the existing barn. Logs cut and dug into the ground.

 

So my Dad got busy doing firewood while Graham and his Dad figured well why not put up the other “half barn”?

 

Closeup of log framing for the barn with cross bracing added.

 

Check out the posts and bracing. Those are very sturdy posts – they won’t have any trouble supporting the roof and the amount of snow we can get in a winter.

 

Adding slats of wood to barn roof, in order to attach tin roofing.

 

There goes the strapping, then comes the metal roofing. The metal roof sheets didn’t cost a lot and are well worth the investment.

 

Shell of barn finished in winter, with an old truck parked inside.

 

The Finished Shell of the Barn

And the outer shell is completed before the snow flies. There is even storage for this winter for Graham’s old beauty.

Here you can really see the breezeway between the two “half barns”. We are loving the way it is turning out.

There will be a couple of rooms for meat birds (where the truck is parked now), plus we will design those rooms so if we eventually want a cow or horse in there, we can easily accommodate them.

We will also have a feed room. We will close in the upper portion and use it for hay storage.

Here’s the next chapter on the second part of How to Build a Barn. We built separate rooms and made an awesome swinging wall.

If you need to build a barn or are waiting to move to your bare land, here is a good resource. How to Build Small Barns & Outbuildings will take you step by step through the process.

 

Building a Barn – Part 2

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Here’s Part 2 of how we built our barn (in two sections!) Read Part 1  about how we started building our barn if you missed it – we explain why we decide to build our barn in two stages. If you are looking at how to build a barn, you will get lots of ideas from these posts!

 

building a barn, how to build a barn

 

 

Building a Barn

Here’s a picture of how our barn looked at the end of that first year. We got farther along on the building than we thought we would. You can see the chicken coop on the left is completed. Behind the coop, is our feed area. To this day, it remains open although we had intended to close it in by putting siding on the outside walls. We will likely still do that at some point, it just has not got that high on our priority list.

The right hand side of the barn (where the old truck is) has been completely closed in. We turned it into a large room where we can raise our Cornish Giant meat chickens. Here’s how we did that:

 

building a barn, raising chickens

 

 

We framed in that right side, allowing for one window on the end and two windows along the side. There are also a total of 3 man doors. This room is now being used for a variety of things.

Let’s look at WHAT we use this room for during any given year. It’s important to plan ahead when  you are figuring out the blueprint for your barn. Try to cover all the possibilities so that you can build it to adapt to what you will use it for.

When we raise meat birds, we set up heat lights and they grow out in that room. When we raise weaner pigs, they start off in this room. We get them around the end of March and there is still far too much snow on the ground for us to have them outside.

 

building a barn, how to build a barn

 

We throw lots of hay down on the dirt floor and the weaners stay in there for probably 4 or 5 weeks. At that point, we move them out to a pastured area and they sleep in their own little house. Since we have quite a few predators here in the Valley, there is no way we would put small weaner pigs out in the open right away. They are probably about 30 pounds when they arrive and they are far too small to be able to fend off predators.

 

building a barn, raising pigs

 

Once the weaners are moved out, we open up the big end doors and clean out the room. The photo shows Graham’s old truck being stored in that room for winter.

Note: If you have a dirt floor in your barn, you may want to put down a layer of sand on top of the dirt. Then throw your hay on top of that. It makes cleanup easier it – is quite amazing. The used bedding hay lifts right off the sand – much easier than with a dirt floor.

 

building a barn, raising meat chickens, raising pigs

 

We let the room air out for several weeks. Then we can set up the heat lamps, feeders and waterers for the meat birds. Once they are grown out and sent to freezer camp, we clean the room out again. Actually the room gets cleaned out probably three times while the meat birds are there, as they generate a lot of manure!

After the room is again thoroughly cleaned out, it is usually late Fall. Time for cleanup and putting things away. Many items get put into this room for storing over winter.

If we put the old truck in there, we simply put our tools in the bed of the truck. Then the truck stays there until mid-March, when we take it out and get ready for pigs again.

So this “meat bird room” is more of a multipurpose room and it is great to have a room like that in your barn. Use it seasonally like we do for different things, but try to plan ahead for various uses. This way, you can make the appropriate changes to your barn building plans.

 

building a barn

 

 

 

Back to the building – friends in the Valley had a lot of extra insulation laying around that they weren’t going to use and they were happy to pass it along to us. Here you can see that the meat bird room is now totally framed in and insulating can begin.

 

building a barn

 

 

Here’s that room being insulated and then covered with OSB. This room should be quite warm during early Spring when the weaner pigs arrive.

 

forge, building a barn

 

Homemade hinges for the two large doors that Graham made with a forge.

 

building a barn

 

Here’s how it looks with those end doors open. That thing on the inside left wall is the greenhouse (the one we had under the porch) – we used to store the pieces in this room for Winter. The lumber that you see in the breezeway is all the wood we reclaimed from building the shop foundation. Graham will reuse this wood, to do some framing for those gable ends down at the barn.

If you need to build a barn or are waiting to move to your bare land, here is a good resource. How to Build Small Barns & Outbuildings will take you step by step through the process.

 

 

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