Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

There is no darkness duringing the day in there it's pretty well lit with the doors left open
(Dolly playing in the "window" lol)

Yeah, lots of light with the doors open. Thanks for the pics. Best to Dolly.

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

I did not see any windows in that build. I think it would be really dark in that coop all the time. Did you put any windows in your pallet coop build? Were any windows needed?

I ask because in my coop build I put in two small sliding windows on opposite walls to provide cross ventilation and some natural sunlight during daylight hours. I don't need any electricity for lights during the day if I need to do some cleaning or maintenance. And the chickens have enough light to wake up in the morning and move about.

I have large ventilation openings in mine and they let in plenty of light.

 

[gtaus]

The other day I mentioned that I was cleaning up around a house out of town and came back with a trailer full of reclaimable wood. I estimated that the wood was worth maybe $200.00+ at the big box stores. Well, this afternoon, I broke down all that lumber, removing all nails and screws, etc... Probably have about $400.00 in labor reclaiming that $200.00 in wood!

More seriously, it was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, so I put on a Classic Rock station on the radio and went at the trailer full of wood, cleaning one piece of lumber at a time. Took me just over 2 hours to finish off the project. Got to listen to some of my favorite "old" tunes from Rush, Boston, Journey, Pink Floyd, Tom Petty..... Jesh, where does the time go that the music I grew up with is now called "Classic Rock?"

All my experience gained in breaking down different types of pallets, using different methods to break them down, and some of the tools I have purchased to break down those pallets really came in handy when I was reclaiming this lumber. I have become quite proficient in removing headless nails, bent screws, etc... Had a couple situations where the screw head was broken off deep inside the wood - just used the sawzall method of pallet breakdowns to cut the screw and separate the wood. Had a few pieces of lumber where screws were bent and broken so bad at the end of the board, that I did not waste any time and just hit it with my circular saw and cut off the end - nails, screws, and all. Had some OSB that was only good for burning out my stump, so I cut that up into small pieces and threw it in the burn pit.

Point being, I had all the tools and knowledge from breaking down pallets which saved me probably an hour or more on reclaiming all that lumber today. I get satisfaction in reclaiming wood and saving money, but even more satisfaction in realizing that my new skills learned from breaking down pallets saved me a lot of time on cleaning up and reclaiming that lumber for reuse. Old dogs can learn new tricks.

I'm off to go into town. I blew another tire on my cart I hitch up behind my lawn mower. I used to buy inner tubes and patch them up, but I have been finding that the inner tubes I have been getting the past few years are of lower quality and they usually fail at a seam where a patch does not want to hold. So, I am replacing all my yard trailer tires with no-flat solid filled tires one at a time. The no-flat tires are about double or triple the cost of an innertube replacement, but well worth it because I am only getting one season out of new air filled inner tubes. My no flat tires don't go flat, and my oldest no flat tire is maybe 4 years old and as good as new.

Oh yeah, I have 5 of these carts (3 riding lawn mowers) with air filled tires, so I only replace an air filled tire with a no flat tire if/when it fails. It would be too expensive to replace all the tires at once, and would not make any sense to me as long as the old air filled tire was still working. In the past 4 years, I have almost half my cart tires replaced with no flats. I have given up with inner tubes and patches....

 

[Sally PB]

I might not need the chicken wire over the frame, but I think it would make everything stronger to hold up to any snow loads that will pile up around the A-Frame.

Chicken wire over the frame of my run supports a tarp load of snow very well.

 

[McChooky]

Very nice. I was thinking it would make a great grow out coop for pullets...

I want to make a raised coop with 1" hardware cloth floors & a sliding drawer to catch the poop .I haven't decided where to build it yet.

 

[gtaus]

I want to make a raised coop with 1" hardware cloth floors & a sliding drawer to catch the poop .I haven't decided where to build it yet.

Have you used a coop with a sliding drawer to catch the chicken poo? I have not. But, I have heard that sliding drawer is often the weak point in those prefab coops. If you make a coop with a sliding clean out drawer, I would make sure it's extra strong and will hold up over time.

 

[McChooky]

Have you used a coop with a sliding drawer to catch the chicken poo? I have not. But, I have heard that sliding drawer is often the weak point in those prefab coops. If you make a coop with a sliding clean out drawer, I would make sure it's extra strong and will hold up over time.

Still trying to figure out the best way to catch the poop. Building a chicken tractor now.

 

[gtaus]

Still trying to figure out the best way to catch the poop. Building a chicken tractor now.

FWIW, my take on this issue...

A mobile chicken tractor lets the chicken poo fall on the ground, and you just leave it there, moving the tractor every so often. No need to catch the poo.

Deep bedding/Deep litter, clean out the coop maybe once or twice a year. The poo automagically disappears into the deep litter and dries out. I clean out my deep bedding in my coop twice a year and throw the old bedding into the chicken run to compost. I have used wood chips, dried grass, leaves, and lately I use paper sheds. Deep bedding/Deep litter should have no smell.

Pull out drawers, you will have to clean out the drawers probably weekly, maybe sooner, depending on how many chickens you have and how deep the slide out drawer is. Like many things with chickens, if it smells bad, it's time for intervention. Before I started using deep bedding in my coop, I was cleaning out everything at least weekly, and it still would smell bad to me.

Here is a pic of a pallet chicken tractor...

Lots of designs for pallet chicken tractors on YouTube and other online sources.

 

[McChooky]

FWIW, my take on this issue...

A mobile chicken tractor lets the chicken poo fall on the ground, and you just leave it there, moving the tractor every so often. No need to catch the poo.

Deep bedding/Deep litter, clean out the coop maybe once or twice a year. The poo automagically disappears into the deep litter and dries out. I clean out my deep bedding in my coop twice a year and throw the old bedding into the chicken run to compost. I have used wood chips, dried grass, leaves, and lately I use paper sheds. Deep bedding/Deep litter should have no smell.

Pull out drawers, you will have to clean out the drawers probably weekly, maybe sooner, depending on how many chickens you have and how deep the slide out drawer is. Like many things with chickens, if it smells bad, it's time for intervention. Before I started using deep bedding in my coop, I was cleaning out everything at least weekly, and it still would smell bad to me.

Here is a pic of a pallet chicken tractor...

View attachment 3247699

Lots of designs for pallet chicken tractors on YouTube and other online sources.

Sorry but I'd wind up in the ER if I was around dander much so I don't have any walk in coops.

 

[gtaus]

Sorry but I'd wind up in the ER if I was around dander much so I don't have any walk in coops.

Understand. We all have unique situations that may affect how we chose to care for our backyard flocks. If chicken dander is your concern, then I can see where a mobile chicken tractor might be the way to go.

If you are considering a pull-out cleaning drawer below a coop so you don't have to go inside the chicken coop, I can understand. However, although I have a (elevated) walk-in coop, I built my coop so I can access everything from the outside. I gather the eggs from the outside, and the feed and water, which are kept inside my coop, are accessed by opening up the back door and I don't have to go into the coop at all.

I normally only go into my coop twice a year when I clean out the old deep bedding. For that biannual cleaning job, I recommend wearing a dust mask because it will raise lots of dander in the air. I don't have any allergies to chicken dander, but I don't like breathing in any dust into my lungs. In fact, when I first mow the lawn in the spring, I often wear a dust mask because the mower will kick up lots of dirt dust from dead grass and dead leaves over the winter. It's important to protect those lungs even without allergies and such to worry about.

Anyways, I recommend that people find a backyard flock setup that works best for them first, and then the chickens as second consideration. Most of the time, I am convinced that the chickens probably don't care. But if you want to enjoy your backyard flock for a number of years, you want to create a setup that works best for your needs.