Oh, of course. You will be moving to a completely different place; so you have the freedom to construct any type of set up you want.
That makes it much easier for me at least throw out some ideas.
You have been getting some great ideas already, not at all unusual for this forum. Maybe I can speak to some things that have not been mentioned as yet.
Let me tell you what
guided the buildings for my animals. I wanted them to all be in areas that would have some north-wind protection, be down-wind from my home, be high enough in elevation to avoid any flooding and would be close enough together so that tending the needs of all the animals/fowl housed would be easy during bad weather. I also wanted all buildings near the drive that goes thru the property for convenience in re-stocking feed/hay/etc.
I wanted the feed safe & convenient as well, i.e. bags inside metal barrels to keep varments out of it and hay in a loft that the goats/horses cannot reach.
Water buckets are always best hanging on walls so they stay cleaner and feeder bins are best high enough so goats need to step up to reach the hay in them...thus, keeping the hay cleaner too.
I don't raise rabbits; but when I do they will be in a colony on the ground in an area that does not get much sunshine so they can stay cooler during hot weather. I don't raise pigs; but if I did, they would be farther down from the other housing adjacent to some type of marsh so they can stay cool during hot weather. (Would be doing a great deal of learning before starting these projects; so even these ideas are open to change.)
Since you live in Michigan you might want to consider creating part of your "roofing" out of a roofing-type plastic so the sunshine can get thru and help warm the barn during winter months. (I also placed a window strategically so as to get some sunshine into the barn.)
The loft where you store your hay should be well ventilated because some people have problems with hay getting to hot and literally starting a fire. (I placed utility wire as the top part of the sides of my loft directly under the roofing rafters to let any hot air escape. My loft also has one side completely open to the barn and one end completely open for convenience.) If you do decide on a loft, you will need an easy way to get your hay into it. Some people use pulleys for this. I chose to build two 4x4 steps that led to a door in my loft.
Housing for animals is always best if they have a southern exit (to keep the north winds from blowing thru) that is actually connected to their pen (just in case you want to go somewhere and want to keep the animals from free-ranging for a few hours).
The chicken house is something we spent a good deal of time preparing because of the predators we have here. First off we divided the structure that houses our fowl to accommodate the needs of the 3 different types of fowl we have, i.e. chickens, guineas and weeder geese. By that I mean we put up some roosting boards "inside" the chicken house as well as "outside" the chicken house (under extra wide roofing hangover). Then we went entirely around that chicken house and stopped up ALL areas a predator may enter, i.e. between rafters, under walls, thru chicken pen. We used utility wire for most of this but also used plywood to close rafters. Where we could not get the utility wire or board, we made a ball the size we needed out of baby chicken wire and pushed that into the areas. We also put plastic-coated "utility wire" over the entire pen to keep predators out.
Our chicken house is also divided up so that we have a door in the middle and can separate half from the other half. This door
way also has a permanent 2-1/2 ft board at the bottom of it. This means we can hang the feeders in one side and keep the geese out of that food. This also means we can hang lights and set up our extra boards to create a brooder, shut the door and keep ALL fowl out while we raise baby birds we will be putting in the freezer.
One thing I especially like about the way we structured our buildings is that everything that houses animals (as well as the area where we slaughter our meat animals) are adjacent to our garden. This makes it real easy to place their bedding into the garden composting.
Now I've added something that has not been mentioned because I have a Bulgarian Karakachan to guard my animals; and I wanted her to have her own special place in the barn should she choose to use it. I created a 3' x 4' shelf 2-1/2 ft high that she can either get on top of or lay under. (It also serves as a nice place for newborn kids to hide and/or play.)
Lastly I set up freeze-proof water hydrants strategically throughout the property, one for the barn and kiddie pools, one for the chickens/garden/orchard, one for watering the back acreage and one for the front acreage. This set up makes it much easier and has worked well.
Do let us know (hopefully with pictures when you can) where you relocate to and how you've set your place up. Hope all goes well for you. I know homesteading can be difficult when doing it alone; however, I'm up in years and do much around here alone. It is so very rewarding because I cannot step outdoors without seeing God's love all around me.
