Kat, The US Dept. of Ag has a variety of free downloadable barn plans,.... http://www.ebackroad.com/0mwpsorg-freefarmplans.html That said, you will probably find that they are commercially oriented, but by pouring over them, you can figure out things like minimum space allotments for stalls and coops based on animal type. You need to figure out some things before you "guess out" your barn. Who and what you are going to keep there, how you will clean it, and finally once you have the size, how you will build it. The "cheapest" way to build a barn depends on local traditions and local materials. Around here, it is ether a pole barn constructed from standing timber like a log home, or a driven post and beam barn, (18" posts consiting of local timber, bottom treated with wood preservative, buried 5 feet in post holes, sheathed with 2' wide locally sawn planks lag bolted to the posts. For example, I have two barns, one for horses, one for "livestock", (really just peoples former pets and assorted characters living out their retirement in comfort). The horse barn in on the edge of a 1 acre corral, the livestock barn on the edge of a 10 acre fenced cross section. Both barns have concrete foundations and concrete floors. Entrance, Passage, stall gates and stall size are set up so that I can clean out the waste and soiled bedding with the Skidsteer. There is a central channel leading to a 3" drain and slurry pond, and a 2" water line, so that the walls and concrete floor can be hosed down clean and sterilised. For bedding, from the local Horse shop, I have gotten one inch thick 4 x 8 compressed rubber mats which line the stalls, overtop wood chips and straw are spread. As a result, cleaning all the stalls in both barns, washing the walls and sterilising the barns are a one person, one day chore, ( including loading the waste in the compost bins). The barns get cleaned out quite regularly, every couple of weeks in summer, every week in winter. You could use rammed earth or a floor instead of concrete, ( a 1:3 or 1:4 ratio of cement, rototilled into the dirt, dampened, leveled and compressed with a vibratory plate compactor). The horse barn is 24 x 24 x 12 high, with a 16 foot loft for hay and feed storage. The walls are 2 x 6 studded on 24" centers, R22 insulated, (gets cold here), sheathed on the exterior with patterned OSB panels, primed and stained, sheathed on the inside with unpatterned OSB stained white. Stalls measure 8 x 8 with 4 x 4 picket sides and a 8' galvansied economy gate. There are 4 stalls on each side with a 8 foot central isle. The hay loft has an 8 x 8 trapdoor in the center providing access from inside the barn, and at the rear, a 6 x 6 door providing access from outside. Also in the hay lofts are a 6" x 8" Barn Owl entrance. Entrance to the barn is through a 12 x 12 tack room, dressing room, where the horses can be groomed, examined, bridled and saddled and the gear can be stored on the walls leaving the floor space open. Each stall has one double pane 4 x 5 foot sash window, and the east wall of the tack room has the door, and two 2 x 4 windows. The south wall has 3 4 x 5 windows. Inside the barn, at the other end, is another sliding door providing rear access to the barn. We currently have one colt, two riding horses and three dog food horses living with us. The livestock barn is similar, except the stall sizes are different. 4 8 x8 stalls line one side, 8 4 x8 stalls line the other. The cow gets an 8 x 8 stall, the two pigs share a 8 x 8 stall, 3 goats share one 8 x 8 stall, 2 other goats have individual stalls, 2 sheep share a 4 x 8 stall, with 4 sheep total in the barn, and the lamma has the last 8 x 8 stall. Unless ill, injured or nasty weather, everybody spends the day outside in the fresh air, and gets called to the barn at sundown. Pretty sad actually, clearing out beetle killed pine in a manly man way, chainsaw, axes and everything, followed around by a mangy pack of animals looking for affection, treats or just to hang around with me and the dogs. Sad thing is, the Belgan Shepard is nuts about fetch, and so is one of the pigs. I am working hard on getting them to take turns, as open competition is not fair to the pig, but then, I have been doing that for three years now to little success.

I just stumbled upon this post as I try to prevent the recurring problems from Barn Swallows again this year. Unfortunately, the image is no longer available and I cannot see how you hung the netting. We have a colony of Barn Swallows that roost at our apartment building each year. The landlord hates them, but a former tenant had posted signs everywhere about how it was illegal to remove the nests. It was only through my own research that I realized it was only illegal while eggs or babies were in the nests, and those tenants moved out this winter. In addition to nesting on top of our buildings lights, covered walkways, and eaves, my apartment and the one next door have outdoor entrances from our gorgeous courtyard and patio which have covered stairwells. Each year, the swallows fly through these two stairwells like its the Lincoln Tunnel, dive bombing anyone who tries to walk on the stairs. They build their nests on the outlet boxes or porch lights. The first summer we lived here, I thought it was really neat to have such a close view of their lives, as I would often sit on my steps and could watch the babies as they grew, taking great care to be quiet and non-threatening. However, I also found that my porch steps and exterior wall were covered with bird droppings. They are also very very noisy when there is an entire colony of them outside of your windows. All of the "teenage" birds hang out in one of our courtyard trees outside of my window, which my cat loves but can actually drown out any conversation or television in our living room. Then I experienced what I thought were bed bugs in our house. I had tiny bites head to toe and could constantly feel them crawling on me despite rarely being able to see anything. It got so bad that I was getting the bites infected from itching all the time, and I couldn't sleep because I could feel the bugs crawling on my skin as soon as I tried to relax. I finally captured a few and took them to the University's Department of Entymology, who identified them as bird mites. That experience was HORRIFIC. I was ready to burn our entire building down after reading that the bird mites multiply much more quickly than bed bugs and are nearly impossible to remove. Luckily, the mites died off when the birds finally left for the season, but I can no longer sit outside on my wooden stairs because I fear contracting them again. The next spring, I tried the knock-down method, just on my own stairwell. I would open my screen door 2 inches and use a broom handle to knock down the nests up to 7 times a day. The swallows became very agitated, and and two attacked my daughter's head when she got home from school one of the days. I couldn't sit inside and repeat this process forever, though, and they got their nest up one day while I was off at a 12 hour work shift. The outlet covers they use are too high up to see into, and I knew that some other nests already had eggs, so I couldn't knock it down, more out of compassion than fear of charges. This will be our third summer here. Our elderly landlord has given up trying to prevent them from nesting even in the building entryways. I have removed my porch light cover so there is no solid surface to nest on, but the outlet box cover is too high up and I can't put a ladder on the stairs to reach it. I have considered trying to throw a cotton ball soaked with peppermint oil up there (it has worked in the past for mice and spider problems), or hanging a bunch of cut aluminum as a mobile at the top of the steps (I have heard that the reflections off the metal scare birds off), but I simply can't go through another year of this if those methods don't work. I saw that I could use something to create a 45% slope where the nest to prevent them, but again... getting up there is an issue. I am curious to see how you used the mesh. Could you please share the picture again?

The original decline in populations of the Kirtland's Warbler was due to loss of the early successional jack pine habitat, through decades of fire suppression, these birds depend on. Fire opens the jack pine's cones causing seeds to come out and germinate after a fire. The young growth of pines that followed is what the Kirtland's Warbler depended on. Once the population of Kirtland's Warblers declined from loss of habitat, added pressures from parasitism of their nests by Brown-headed Cowbirds added to their declining population. So, the Kirtland's Warbler was not on the "brink of extinction" due to cowbirds, but originally was due to loss of habitat that cause their population decline in the first place. In addition to cowbird parasitism the Black-capped Vireo experienced declining populations due to loss of habitat via urbanization, fire exlcusion, grazing, and brush control. The Golden-cheeked Warbler has suffered tremendous habitat loss of its Ashe juniper habitat due to the expansion of the cities of Austin, San Antonio, and Waco. Add to that parasitism by cowbirds, and you get the same story as for the Kirtland's Warbler. These three species, both with normally limited distributions due to extremely narrow habitat requirements, make them susceptible to habitat loss and the added pressures that brings on their populations. The moral here is that other causes, primarily loss of the species primary habitat, are the reasons for the initial decline of these species. Then, the impact of cowbird parasitism is enhanced because the species impacted have such low populations from habitat loss, they can't make up for the loss of parasitism by cowbirds. Thus, wildlife biologists and land managers institute cowbird removal programs within the species last remaining breeding habitats so that populations can more easily recover as new habitat is created to aid in recovery. One should study up on it. And a final note (which has been mentioned on this and other forums) Brown-headed Cowbirds are a protected native species. Any killing of these birds, however deemed "right", is illegal without a permit. If you are going to write about killing them or other species besides starlings, house sparrows, and rock pigeons that are not protected, you should be prepared for people responding to your posts with less than sympathetic views. BN

Thanks everyone. The puzzle pieces are falling in place. I think that the circling hawks I saw may well have been parents teaching their youngsters to hunt, judging from the calling to one another and the fact that two of these hawks appeared to be a slightly different color and a bit smaller than the other two. I'm feeling greatly relieved to think that the swallows and hummers are safe somewhere else. The hawks don't lack for food this year. Some of the rabbits are really huge and a single one would feed a family of hawks. Last year a neighbor's dog killed the fox babies in the den at the edge of the woods behind our meadow. :-( Needless to say the parent foxes went elsewhere to raise young this year, and this left a plentitude of rodents and a predator niche that the hawks are now filling. Also our cat has grown too old to hunt as she once did and the two neighbor cats are rather clueless when it comes to prey. So the hawks are seemingly reaping the rewards. We have had a multitude of robins this year as well, and they have raised several batches of fledglings. I'm surprised that they too have not flown off in fear of the winged predators, and also surprised that the overpopulation of moles have left them worms to eat. But I'll just enjoy watching the hawks and robins, since they are the most ubiquitous right now.