"(remember what the chickens eat, we eat)" Yeah, and when I started raising chickens and saw that chickens eat where they poop, I started only eating chicken from the grocery store, because I saw how they were raised, and they don't poop in their food. If you are what you eat, I don't wanna be chicken poop! LOL

If you plan to open the entire area under the roof, you will have to create new foundations and a new supporting structural system. Have you compared the demolition and new construction costs with demolishing the building and building a new barn? Is the zoning for your property such that you can build a barn?

I'll be doing one here shortly only it will be living space. They are going to have the slab leveled as it is sloped and walls framed on a stem wall. If you have an older bungalow, your slab might not have a pitch to it like newer homes.For the miniscule pitch if it has one, you might want to keep it that way if you plan on re-converting to an original garage.

Finally famous! Now I'm waiting for the Nobel Prize money to roll in. I've had dogs for decades and do not clean up after them. It takes about 4 days on my yard for the flies and roly polies to take care of it. After 3 days you can step on it without it sticking to your shoe (ask how I know). After 4 days it has melted down below the surface into the soil. I'm not saying yours will do this right now, but it makes a nice goal. I believe the keys to this is to be fully organic with your fertilizer and to cut herbicide and insecticide down to absolute minimum - as needed only. The sooner you start with organics the sooner your yard will regain its health. I'm talking weeks, not years. The application rate for organics is normally 15-20 pounds per 1,000 square feet. If you have not used any organics in awhile, it would be best to start with 5-10 pounds per 1,000 and repeat in a month. That will build the population of microbes your soil need to process the organics quickly. If you do too much too fast there will be the slightest hint of spoiled milk (spoiler - it's not slight). In two months you should really notice a difference in your soil and in the lawn. Morph's favorite organic fertilizers are soybean meal and Milorganite. Mine are alfalfa pellets (rabbit chow) and ordinary corn meal. It all depends on what you can find at your local feed store under $10 or $15 per bag.