Spring Barn Cleaning

We’ve been here nearly 2yrs. and it’s the first time we’ve ever REALLY cleaned the barn! We are knocking down cobwebs & wasp nests…many have probably been there for 20yrs. by the looks of things. As you can see in this pic, we use metal cans to hold grain for the chickens. The "henhouse" where our hens lay their eggs and we collect them, is actually inside the barn. Daniel took off old metal garage door brackets & will take it to the scrap yard to get some money from it. He’s been picking up a lot of things around the property and taking it to scrap yards. This property had been used for more of a junk yard by previous owner so it’s taken a lot of work to get it cleaned up and looking like a ranch. Although, that is the reason we got such a great price on it…so really can’t complain!

I used an old broom and swept down the cobwebs from the walls of the barn, clearing the way to see the old wasp nests. Jessie knocked them down and broke them up. Some were just old ones but a few had larvae in them so we were glad to get that done before they grew!

Jessie then organized old cages in the corner & we hope to do a few repairs to the barn in the future. We’ve had some young men come out to the ranch and give us a hand from time to time. They helped last fall to put up a few pieces of tin that had blown off the roof of the barn in a storm before we had bought the property.

We plan on replacing some old wood, sealing up some nail holes in the tin, which you can see in this pic and putting in a few windows to let some light and air into the barn. We don't have electric out to here, so that's made it a bit difficult to keep egg production up in the winter. But, that is also a plan for the future, along with water "pumps" closer to our stables.  To the right of this pic, is the door that leads into the hen house.

 

 

Currently, there is a small back door in this corner, but we hope to put in a double door in the middle of the back of the barn. Above you can see part of a rafter, which will make a good storage area in the future for square bales. Right now we have the 2 huge round bales of coastal hay stored in the barn.