My Ugly Barn: A photo tour

We have recently started discussing and planning an enclosed chicken run for our currently free-ranged (29) chickens. While doing some research and hunting around for plans and ideas online, I've been getting slightly disheartened by all of the beautiful barns and chicken coops I've been stumbling across. Working from home as a freelance writer, spending the majority of my time catering to a trying-to-walk infant, and starting the process of homesteading has left little to no time or budget for creating gorgeous coops and pens.

When we purchased our home, it had a barn already on the premises. It's a large barn, but it was created by the previous owners out of scrap materials. You can see billboard signage poking out from under the paint and the back half of the building is a different material entirely. It is an adequate barn, but it's hideous.

When we we moved in I was too far pregnant to be of any help around the property. Projects were prioritized, unnecessary ideas were book shelved. We've been using scraps and materials found around the property to build any new coops or pens to save money. With focusing on raising an infant, even freelancing has been difficult. 

As I've been looking online at different blogs, articles, and coop plans... I've been feeling a twinge of jealousy. Some of these barns and coops are just gorgeous. It makes me sad to look out of the window at my ugly barn some days. It's completely functional, it's just not very pretty. I got to thinking about this and came to the conclusion that we cannot be the only ones. Running a farm is expensive, starting up a homestead is expensive. We cannot be the only ones salvaging material and making pens and coops from odds and ends. 

So, with that in mind, I got to snapping pictures that I have long since avoided posting. I've been careful not to upload pictures that show the ugly side of my barn because I feel a bit embarrassed. All these other blogging sites that have thousands of followers are constantly posting pictures of their photo-worthy barns and coops. I know that there have to be others out there that feel bad every time they look at them and for those of you out there- I give you this post. You are not alone. I may have an ugly barn, but that does not mean that I love my animals any less or care for them in a poor manner. So for all you out there that don't feel your barns or coops are up to picture perfect standards- this is for you! Welcome to my ugly barn! 

My Ugly Barn: A Photo Tour 

This is the front of my ugly barn. This is the view I see from the house.

The back of the barn, showing its location to the house. 

The above two pictures are of the back of my barn. You can see the Goat's tire playground and the back of rabbit run.

This is the little walkway inside of the barn. The windows look into the goat and pig's coops. The couch was originally in the house, but we got a new one. We had every intention on taking it to the dump, but the animals loved it so much that we left it. The goats sleep on it during rainstorms. 

As you can see, the barn built by the previous owners was constructed using found materials- here you can see a billboard sign. 

The chicken coop. They are free ranged during the day, they get locked up at night. 

The side view of the chicken coop. You can see the silkie pen next to it.

This was a room originally full of shelves. When we chicken wired it off for a chicken coop, we took out the shelves and they use the pegs as perches. (it's cute to see a wall full of chickens at night!) 

Some of the nesting boxes in the chicken coop. 

This room is currently used for storage. It is on the front side of the barn. It had a garage door on it when we moved in but the track was broken, so it had to come down. We are currently looking for a new door. 

These windows are also looking into the goat and pig room and also on the front side of the barn. 

This picture is taken from the horses run-in area. You can see the chicken coop in the far left corner. The coops in a row are the rabbit pens and what my kids refer to as "rabbit run." The door on the left leads into the goat and pig room. 

Rabbit Run. 

The horse area. No, we don't feed donkey off the floor. Gristle, the quarter horse, flicks his food everywhere when he eats and donkey hangs out to clean up the mess.

 The front of the goat and pig pens in the former office room of the barn. We made the makeshift doors from billboard signs we found on the property when we moved in. 

The pig pen. 

The side view of the goat and pig pens. 

We had replaced the fridge in the house and had no need for this nasty thing anymore. It became storage for the feed bags inside of the pig and goat room.

So, there you have it. A photo tour of my ugly barn. Hopefully, those of you who have pieced together your enclosures from scrap materials feel a little less alone. Not everyone has a hallmark card version of a barn. This is real life and there's no need to feel bad about it.