Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Sally PB]

Personally, I believe in a variety of food for my chickens is the best way to go. Also, I can tell you that giving my chickens fresh greens in the winter makes the egg yolks more a darker orange as compared to a pale yellow. I like to think the eggs are better when I fed the chickens barley fodder, based on the darker color of the yolk. But that may or may not be the case.

I need to grow some fodder for my chickens again. I've grown it before. It's as much for entertainment as for nutrition. I take out a pad of greens with roots, pull it apart, and toss pieces out. A chicken will grab it and run, like they caught the pass and are going to take it to the house.

Oh, I meant the chickens get entertainment out of it too.

 

[gtaus]

I need to grow some fodder for my chickens again. I've grown it before.

The tower system I use makes it so easy to grow the fodder. Less than 5 minutes per day growing about 9 bins of fodder on the racks. It's really that easy.

The only problem I have ever had was that one winter, during COVID-19 lockdown, I got a "bad, old" bag of barley seed that ended up growing more mold than fodder. Turns out that the mill got an old supply of barley grain from a farmer's warehouse silo and was already old stock. That was all that was available that fall. So, disappointing for use as fodder. I ended up mixing the dry barley seed into my chicken scratch and used it that way. It was good enough for use as dry feed, just no good for making fresh green fodder.

This winter I seem to have gotten a good fresh bag of barley as I don't see any mold growing in my fodder bins. The quality of the seeds makes all the difference in the world.

One winter I got some - just OK - barley seed that had only a small issue with mold. I solved that issue by putting a capful of bleach into my initial soaking bin. It killed the mold spores but the seeds themselves grew into beautiful fodder. Sometimes old seed can be salvaged and used as fodder. Obviously, a fresh seed without mold spores is much better.

I really have no way to judge the quality of the seed I buy at the mill until I actually try to grow it into fodder. Basically, if I see lots of mold in my first few fodder bins then i just give up on that stock and mix it dry into my chicken scratch. Nothing gets wasted. Moldy fodder gets tossed into my compost bins, so that does not go to waste either.

For me, growing fodder is just something extra and nice I do for my girls. Do they need fodder? No. But they really do enjoy it. The biggest difference I notice is that the egg yolks get a darker orange when they are on fodder supplement. I think that is a good sign.

 

[BDutch]

Robinia pseudoacacia is BLACK LOCUST. I think it can last about 50 years as it is toxic and do not rot.

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Why would anyone put toxic wood in a children's playground?! Seems to be a no-brainer that is a very bad idea. Are you sure about the toxic bit? I mean, when I lived in Europe, German people, for example, loved their children as much as everyone else. I cannot imagine the German people allowing toxic materials in their kid's playgrounds. Or parents anywhere, in any country.

Black locust is not toxic for humans! It has a natural toxic in the wood against fungi. That’s why it lasts a very long in the ground and wet circumstances. The natural toxic is not harmful ! The toxic makes it necessary to use stainless steel. Normal screws get rusty in no time.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Robinia pseudo acacia is Black locust (didn’t know the English name initial))
Here they don’t sell sell it much at the DIY /timber shops. Mainly in specialised garden and outdoor building shops.

For some black locust ideas without paint or chemical treatment : http://www.robiniawood.nl/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/1606-RW_catalogus.pdf

In the Netherlands , Belgium and Germany they make a lot of children’s playgrounds with black locust. They often don’t use the neat poles, but the strangely bend stem /thick beaches. So every article is unique.
Playground inspiration;
https://www.acaciarobinia.nl/
https://robiniaspeeltoestellen.com/winkel/

If I remember right black locust is being used for reforesting some areas because it'll grow new trees from its roots. It's a pretty hardy tree too.

 

[chickengr]

...



Why would anyone put toxic wood in a children's playground?! Seems to be a no-brainer that is a very bad idea. Are you sure about the toxic bit? I mean, when I lived in Europe, German people, for example, loved their children as much as everyone else. I cannot imagine the German people allowing toxic materials in their kid's playgrounds. Or parents anywhere, in any country.

it is toxic for bugs, not children, lol. kids pick up flowers and "drink" nectar from them (I loved it when I was a kid).

 

[chickengr]

If I remember right black locust is being used for reforesting some areas because it'll grow new trees from its roots. It's a pretty hardy tree too.

it is a weed tree, lol. you plant 1 and in a few years you have a forest that you cannot get rid of.

 

[gtaus]

Black locust is not toxic for humans!

it is toxic for bugs, not children, lol.

OK. Thanks for clarifying that issue. I don't pretend to know lots about trees, especially trees that I am not familiar.

I live in Zone 3B. From what I read online, Black Walnut trees grow in Zones 8-11. Probably why I really don't know much about them.... Also, discovered that you should not try to compost Black Walnut. Any leaves and twigs from black walnut trees should never be added to your compost heap because they contain a toxic called juglone that is toxic to many plants. Good to know, I guess, just not very relevant to me where I live.

 

[gtaus]

I reported that I had a bad winter cold over the Holidays, and was down for almost 2 weeks. Although not yet 100%, I was out in our (unheated) garage this afternoon looking around to see if I could clean up some neglected mess and maybe add a little organization to what I want to keep in the garage. That's a never-ending battle that I'm sure many of you can relate to.

Well, it was only 29F in the garage, so I did not stay out there too long. But I managed to consolidate some feed from various buckets into one large container. A modest start in cleaning up the garage.

FYI, did you know that a 5 gallon bucket holds almost exactly 25 pounds of chicken feed? I bought a few 50# bags of chicken feed before I got sick and had them sitting in the garage. I don't like to keep any edible feed, scratch, etc... in just feed bags in the garage because that invites mice to come into the house, so to speak, because my garage is attached to the house. Mice can chew through any feed bag that I have ever had.

Normally, I dump the feed into a large garbage can container with a good lid on it. But, during this period, it was more than I could handle to lift a 50# bag of feed. So, I scooped out some feed into a five gallon bucket, and then another. What I found out was that each 5 gallon bucket held a little more than half the feed from the 50# bag. I just slapped a lid on the buckets and called it a day at the time. Today, I felt good enough and dumped those buckets of feed into the one large bin.

You can never have too many 5-gallon buckets and lids in your shop/garage/work area!

More related to pallet projects, I have been storing these empty 5-gallon buckets under my pallet wood modular workbenches I built late last fall. Those workbenches have wheels to roll around the garage. I was thinking that maybe I should just store my chicken feed, scratch, and other grains in buckets inside/under the workbenches. That might free up more space for me in the garage. I have to do some more measuring, but if I can store the feed and grains in 5-gallon buckets under the pallet wood modular workbenches, then I could make more workbenches and put them where I currently have my big bins of feed. That would be a win-win for me.

EDIT: I normally heft up even a 100# bag of cracked corn by myself. But during this period, it was just difficult to get out of bed and walk to the backyard to feed the chickens. I did not have the strength to lift even the smaller 50# bags. So, I had to make some accommodations until I felt better. Good for me in that I may have stumbled on to a solution for a problem that I did not know I had!

 

[gtaus]

Just wanted to give a shout out to our local Harbor Freight store. Not only did I get lots of free pallets from their parking lot his summer, but I also purchased a number of tools and supplies that I used on my pallet projects. I saved lots of money by building my new raised beds and planters out of that free pallet wood. I also saved money on lots of the small supply type items I bought from Harbor Freight. If you are careful in what you buy, you can get some pretty good stuff at a lower prices than Menards or Home Depot. But, you have to know what you are buying.

Harbor Freight also has a membership program that you or may not be aware of. Last winter, I bought a one-year membership for $30.00 just to give it a try for the first year of the store opening. Their membership is called the Insider Track Club (ITC) membership. Every month they have a new list of items marked down in price just for the ITC members. I saved more than my initial $30.00 on those deals. But, and here is what they don't tell you, I got a $20.00 store gift certificate on my birthday and just recently they sent me another $20 gift certificate for my annual membership. I don't know if they do that all the time, but I got $40 back in HF money just for buying into the $30 ITC membership.

Sometimes they have special items as give aways to ITC members. Like a free 5 gallon bucket with a small purchase, or free flashlights just for coming into the store. I also got a few 4 inch magnetic parts holders for free that I use all the time. Just this past week I got an $18.00 set of step drill bits for free for making a $25.00 purchase. That was nice.

One time I got a free $30.00 brad nailer/stapler for making a $15.00 purchase as an ITC member! I am anxious to use that staple gun on a pallet project. I am planning on making some pallet wood bins and fastening them with that staple gun. Should work out great. They did not have the staples I wanted in stock at that time, but I got a raincheck. I would check in with the store every week or two and talk to the manager. Long story short, one of the managers gave me another 50% discount for having had to wait so long. Menards sold the same staples for $20 a pack, but Harbor Freight had them for $10.00 (on sale) and I managed to get them 50% off the sale price. So, $5.00 for a $20,00 pack of staples for the gun!

Another thing to consider is getting a Harbor Freight credit card for store purchases. You get 10% off on your first HF credit card purchase. At the time, I was buying a nice wood workbench with drawers and vise for $150.00 and a few other items on my list. So, I banked about $20 on the initial purchase with my HF card. After that, you still get 5% on all purchases with your HF card. In the past year, I got about $25.00 back just for using my HF card to buy things I needed. In comparison, my normal bank credit card has a 1.5% cash rewards program, but that is straight cash that can be spent anywhere. Your HF card rewards are only good at Harbor Freight.

The funny thing is that I was like many people and did not consider Harbor Freight for anything other than disposable products and supplies. But now that they have a store in our town, I am finding that many of their HF brands are the same exact brands made in China and sold elsewhere at big box stores under other brand names for 2X the price.

Anyways, just wanted to pass along that I was able to save lots of money at Harbor Freight this past year, and I imagine anyone reading this thread about pallet projects is looking to save money where they can.

As you know, I'll pass on good info from other stores like Menards and Home Depot as appropriate. I'm all into finding good deals and saving money. Kind of goes with my idea of using free pallet wood or reclaimed wood to make projects that I use. Later....

 

[BDutch]

it is a weed tree, lol. you plant 1 and in a few years you have a forest that you cannot get rid of.

If you leave the roots of the black locust unharmed it doesn’t grow invasive like bamboo does (proliferate?).
The blossom scents very nice and is great for honey.

Black walnut is something quit different.

My husband did a forestation project in Hungary, mostly with Black locust. So the trees can have cold as wel as warm temperatures. Its origin is somewhere in N-America.
In our previous house we had a wooden floor made from black locust. Very hard and beautiful wood.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinia_pseudoacacia