Fire officials say more than 500 chicks and a sheep were killed in a barn fire north of Fredericton Sunday afternoon.

The barn, which was 55 years old, was destroyed, but the farm house was saved, said Nashwaak Valley Fire Chief Adam Russell.

Norm Hamilton, the barn's owner, had just started his nursing shift at the hospital when he got the call.

He says he knew the barn would go up quickly.

"I knew what I was going to see and the thing is, everyone was safe," Hamilton said.

Nobody was in the barn at the time, said Russell. Workers were in the field and managed to get two horses out of a lean-to at the back of the barn, he said.

The farm, owned by an outfitting business, raised pheasants and partridge.

About 425 pheasant and 100 partridge chicks died in the blaze, along with 30 chickens and a sheep.

He runs a small outftting business in the fall and farms hay during the summer.

His neighbour Dave Dunphy was one of the first to arrive, and he says there was little they could do to save the chicks.

"We tried to save what we could ... we pulled the tractor and baler away and I pushed the lawnmower out of the back barn then I went around and drove the horses out," Dunphy said.

Norm Hamilton, owner of the barn, says he was insured and will rebuild. (CBC)

The farm house, which was about 50 metres away, wasn't damaged because the wind was blowing the right way, said Russell.

Four neighbouring fire departments had to be called in to help battle the blaze, which started at the former dairy farm on Route 8 in Nashwaak Village about 4:30 p.m.

Two firefighters were treated on the scene for heat exhaustion, Russell said.

The fire marshal is still investigating, but it appears the source of the fire was a piece of farm equipment, said Russell.

"When the first trucks arrived there was a piece of machinery on fire outside the barn. There was a full load of hay, of fresh hay, that had caught fire as well," he said.

"It was an L-shaped building because of the old dairy parlour and stuff. And the downriver end of the building was completely engulfed."

Firefighters were on the scene for about five hours.

Hamilton says the place was insured and he plans to rebuild.