Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Thanks. I guess you can say my mom and I share the poultry. The ducks are my new venture, but Mom didn't mind taking care of them in the mornings for me along with the chickens and sheep.

I meant ducks. Had chickens on my mind because I had to go outside and lock them up for the night. Anyways, nice to have someone else in the family helping.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Sorry it's taken so long! I finally was able to get photos of the duck pool today. The pallet is about 44"x44" (112cm x 112cm) and the kiddie pool is 36" (91cm) in diameter. The pool has about a 1" (2.5cm) lip so I cut the hole smaller.

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I added extra 2x4s to the bottom to support the short slats.

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Eventually I'd like to use 4x4 posts instead of the concrete blocks and add some sort of framing underneath to support the pool. The pool did fall through the hole today, but these kiddie pools are tougher than they seem and I was able to return it to its original shape and use it again. Considering doubling up the pool next time.

Thanks so much for sharing that... absolutely love it and will be trying my hand at making one

 

[electrycmonk]

...the tractor. I only wish...

I saved up for a few years to get that compact utility tractor And attachments too…(you can scroll through all the pic’s I’ve ever uploaded under my user ID page, and you can for everyone that way as well…. You can see a few of the attachments in use in other threads … niffty chick did a wonderful job designing this site and the pics will jump you to the post) I have a few (tractor specific) projects “in work” currently. 1 (tractor specific) finished… and I just finished getting the power cord, breaker, dedicated outlet for the arc welder wired up… I can now prep a few bigger welding projects to then Use them for other “projects.”

Those new pallet wood compost bins are looking great. However, I do have a few questions since you own a tractor with a front bucket. Why do you even need to put that mulch into a compost bin? Could you not just build a large row mound out in the field, and then use your front-end bucket to turn the row mound every so often? That's what I see them doing in commercial operations.

2 1/2 acres is all I have.
At one point we had many rescues large dogs that LOVED to dig into stuff… they broke into one of the small 36” compost er’s many years ago. Yeeaahhhhhh, not gonna have that happen with a row of more of the same.

Sadly I shall admit that the last 2 years the bins only got “turned over” once in the time. Prior years at least once per year was the rotation of the compost. AND of course when it was the fall then a fresh rotation was done with all the dead stuff from the garden at the bottom….

Those wild sunflower stalks gut 8’ tall and have gotten a 2” dia base! So I have a set of forklift forks that clamp onto the bucket and I use them to stack the stalks on in a bundle…. It is fun crushing it with the forks on the bucket in the bin….. very satisfying too!

Back to the dogs… here is Tsyvie (Rescued Old English Sheepdog) he’s now officially geriatric status, yet still loves to bark at and chew up the sprinkler heads when they activate….

 

[electrycmonk]

***FYI ***
This post froze when I clicked on “send” [this was a duplicate of the above post] then I went to look at other threads in here and got that dreaded light blue page of loading timeout error… took nearly 10 minutes to get any of them to refresh correctly. @Nifty-Chicken just a heads up Dude… it’s been quite a while since I’d seen this error on my phone…
In Mozilla browser… so I will keep an eye open for it & snap a screenshot when it happens again. It never happens “just once” usually it’s several days in a row then seems to spontaneously stop for weeks at a time… I dare say it’s been over 4-5 months since the last time i’d seen that error. And they always occur after 9PM CDT or CST. Never during daylight hours.

 

[chickengr]

A friend of mine had an aunt who wouldn't spend money on herself even though she could afford to. She was "too old" to move; such a hassle, and she didn't want to have to look for a place, etc. etc.

She was "too old" to buy a new couch, even though her current one was uncomfortable.

She was "too old" to buy any clothes that would be more comfortable to wear.

My friend bought her a new couch and said, "Auntie, even if you die next week, this will be a nice comfortable couch to enjoy right now."

I say, if I think I'll use it/enjoy it and I can afford it, I should buy it. Both of those criteria have to be present.

I don't need new clothes but I do need new couch and especially new tools

 

[gtaus]

2 1/2 acres is all I have.

Well, shoot. Before I was just envious of you having a tractor. Now I am all upset because I have 3 acres of land and only putt around on my riding mowers and/or my small golf cart from the 1970's!

I think I am going to have a conversation with Dear Wife about me not having a tractor when other people get all the nice toys, I mean working machines to get stuff done that is really important to get done with a tractor. I think I will demand that we get a tractor, too.

I mean it!

More seriously, I did look into buying a tractor a few years ago. But in addition to the cost of the tractor, I had to get a trailer to move it down the road, and then I would have to get a pickup to pull the trailer.... It was more than I was willing to spend.

 

[gtaus]

Sadly I shall admit that the last 2 years the bins only got “turned over” once in the time. Prior years at least once per year was the rotation of the compost. AND of course when it was the fall then a fresh rotation was done with all the dead stuff from the garden at the bottom….

I converted my chicken run into a chicken run composting system. Almost all my organic materials get tossed into the chicken run. However, I built a 5-bin pallet wood compost setup for stuff I don't want to toss in the chicken run for whatever reason. Like certain plants that would make the chickens sick, or food that got really moldy in the back of the refrigerator.

It takes me about a year to fill each compost bin because almost everything goes into the chicken run. I don't bother to turn any of the bins. I just fill up bin one, then next year bin two... until all have been filled - which takes about 5 years. By then, mother nature has pretty much completed composting everything in bin one, so I empty it out and start all over again. I don't know what kind of system you would call that. Maybe a "Fill and Forget" composting method?

It's just not worth my time or effort to turn over the compost bins, ever, because I have way more finished compost in the chicken run than I could ever use. My chickens make great compost in about 3 months. They do all the scratching, pecking, and turning of the litter to break it down pretty fast.

I guess I have 10 little biological tractors turning my compost for 8-12 hours per day! Plus, they add little nitrogen bombs while they work to supercharge the composting. I'm OK with that.

 

[Knobby]

Thank you! Have so much time on my hands lately (broken toe) that I need to find a project to keep me sane. Will try this out, if the weather cooperates.

I forgot to mention, to keep this pallet project related, I broke my toe when I dropped a pallet on it...hehe

 

[Knobby]

Well, shoot. Before I was just envious of you having a tractor. Now I am all upset because I have 3 acres of land and only putt around on my riding mowers and/or my small golf cart from the 1970's!

I think I am going to have a conversation with Dear Wife about me not having a tractor when other people get all the nice toys, I mean working machines to get stuff done that is really important to get done with a tractor. I think I will demand that we get a tractor, too.

I mean it!

More seriously, I did look into buying a tractor a few years ago. But in addition to the cost of the tractor, I had to get a trailer to move it down the road, and then I would have to get a pickup to pull the trailer.... It was more than I was willing to spend.

One of the first things I bought, after our house got built, was a John Deere 2025R tractor with a front end loader, backhoe, brushhog and snow blower. It cost us over $42k for the current setup, but it's been well worth it. I've been able to maintain our 12 acres relatively easily.

 

[gtaus]

I forgot to mention, to keep this pallet project related, I broke my toe when I dropped a pallet on it...hehe

Oh no! Our first pallet related injury!

Well, maybe not exactly the first reported injury related to pallets. Long ago I mentioned that I got a nasty splinter one time by moving some pallets around without using my gloves (because I was too lazy to go get them). Since then, I mention from time to time about making sure you have good leather gloves when handling those pallets. It would be very easy to get your fingers infected by a pallet wood splinter.

Maybe we need to add steel-toed shoes to the protective clothing list as well!?