Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[MACCanadianCoop]

You can see my coop progress HERE

It's been fun building with pallets, but also challenging. Saving a buttload of money is of course a huge pro, as is the satisfaction of recycling and upcycling so much material.

Some things I didn't realize before this project:
*pallets come in about a zillion different sizes. If you are lucky enough to have a steady supply of identical pallets that's great! If not, be prepared to get creative trying to match them up
*that stuff is like steel! Honest to goodness, some of the wood is so hard it can be quite the task getting fasteners into it
*taking them apart is hard work. If you can leave them whole in your build, do that!

 

[ChicksnMore]

We don't have poisonous snakes in Minnesota. I have seen a few mice running in the chicken coop, but they cannot get into the hanging feeder, so I don't worry much about them. I do have a live catch mouse catcher that I could use if they become a problem. I think it's called the Iron Cat or something like that.

If you have a problem with snakes, is it the deep litter that attracts them or is it just a hungry snake looking for eggs to eat? I would think a compost bin would be even a better hiding place for a snake. At least in the chicken run, or coop, the chickens would be busy turning up the litter all the time.

I guess if I had a problem with snakes, I would be using a very long handled pitchfork whenever I was messing around with compost or litter. Don't blame you for wanting to reduce potential nesting material for snakes.

I think it's the mice and eggs that attract them mainly. The litter means you can't see what's in there though and they do burrow into it.

I haven't figured out a way to hang the feeders high enough to keep the mice out without keeping the chickens out too...I've found mouse poop on roosts set 5 feet in the air with smooth metal on either side.

I do use traps...think they're from tomcat. Metal multi-catch traps that have lasted me years. Afraid to use poison because our cats and chickens all love to catch and eat mice. When I did use poison though, that did the job...the traps don't seem to do the job by themselves. We did find snakes in the coops before we had mice...have found bull snakes curled up in nest boxes many times...lol. Reptiles of all sorts are our most abundant wild life.

We have a king snake living in one of our coops right now...I leave him alone. He's got a hole he comes out of under the water bowl.

You can see my coop progress HERE

It's been fun building with pallets, but also challenging. Saving a buttload of money is of course a huge pro, as is the satisfaction of recycling and upcycling so much material.

Some things I didn't realize before this project:
*pallets come in about a zillion different sizes. If you are lucky enough to have a steady supply of identical pallets that's great! If not, be prepared to get creative trying to match them up
*that stuff is like steel! Honest to goodness, some of the wood is so hard it can be quite the task getting fasteners into it
*taking them apart is hard work. If you can leave them whole in your build, do that!

That's a nice e looking coop!

 

[gtaus]

You can see my coop progress HERE

Looks like a very interesting thread. I'll have to go back over it when I have more time to read the posts. Lots of good pallet project talk going on there.

It's been fun building with pallets, but also challenging. Saving a buttload of money is of course a huge pro, as is the satisfaction of recycling and upcycling so much material.

I guess I'm in a pallet phase right now. I picked up another 6 free pallets from Harbor Freight this morning. I'll break them down this afternoon/evening after it stops raining...

I get a lot of satisfaction out of recycling and upcycling free material. I wish we would do more of that as a society. Unfortunately, there are often rules and regulations that prevent us from taking full advantage of recycling or upcycling what would otherwise be junk material. But, I can still get lots of free pallets.

Some things I didn't realize before this project:
*pallets come in about a zillion different sizes. If you are lucky enough to have a steady supply of identical pallets that's great! If not, be prepared to get creative trying to match them up

Exactly. I am learning that some projects get out of square because the pallet lumber itself comes in so many different sizes. You really have to try to match them up in your build. Also, I am rethinking some of my project designs to specifically overcome the issue of the pallet woods not matching up. I'll let you know how that works out for me.

*that stuff is like steel! Honest to goodness, some of the wood is so hard it can be quite the task getting fasteners into it

Yep. Some wood is hard as steel, and other wood is almost paper thin. If you have a tough time with getting fasteners into wood, I have found pre-drilling my nail and screw holes usually solves the problem.

*taking them apart is hard work. If you can leave them whole in your build, do that!

I have been trying a number of different methods of breaking down pallets. It can be hard work. Some methods of breaking down a pallet work better than others, depending on the pallet you are working with, the condition of the wood, and what you will be using the wood for in your project.

I am hoping some people will post more pics of pallet projects that require minimal breakdown. It is a lot easier if you don't have to breakdown a pallet for your project. Having said that, I am currently building pallet planters and I am using a circular saw to cut the slates off the pallet. Takes me only a few minutes to get slates for the planters that way.

There are advantages and disadvantages to the different methods of breaking down pallets. I will probably discuss my experience with the methods I have used in future posts. The more methods I try, and the more different pallets I break down, I am learning what ways will work better for that type of pallet. I can't yet say one method works better than all others, because, in reality, it depends on many conditions of the pallet.

The pallet wood may be free, but you have to be prepared to put in some sweat equity into the project because you usually have to breakdown and process the wood before you can use it in many projects. For the home DIY'er, it probably worth the effort.

Thanks for the response. I hope you finish your pallet coop build, and post a picture(s) of your project on this thread too.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Here is a link to my pallet coop build
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ild-8x4-coop-for-about-250-pic-heavy.1373989/

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

That's a nice e looking coop!

Thanks, I hope so!

 

[gtaus]

Have you used a Pallet Buster or Pallet Pal to breakdown your pallets? Here is a YouTube video of a DIY made Pallet Buster that costs about $20 to make at home. You will need a welder for the job. Here is the video...

 

[CaliforniaMountainChicks]

I’m not currently working on any pallet projects but I do have a couple in mind that I want to work on after a few other things are completed! I really like the storage system you made with the pallets!

I want to make a 3 step compost system

As well as some raised beds

 

[gtaus]

Here is a link to my pallet coop build
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...ild-8x4-coop-for-about-250-pic-heavy.1373989/

Very nice. I'll copy a picture from that thread to encourage others to check it out...

 

[gtaus]

@CaliforniaMountainChicks posted...
I want to make a 3 step compost system

That's how I started making my compost bins. I added a rail system on the front where I can slide in 2X4's and 2X6's to raise the front as the compost bin fills up. I have no intention of turning my piles, so once a pallet compost bin is full, I just move on to the next empty bin. I have 5 bins, so when the 5th bin gets full, I plan on harvesting the compost from bin #1 and start over.

@CaliforniaMountainChicks posted...
As well as some raised beds

Thanks for that picture. Dear Wife has me making some planters for her, but we (not me) have not yet decided what we want! I like the design you posted. Looks simple and functional.

 

[gtaus]

Yesterday I made a few pallet planters for Dear Wife...

The first one was too big (24X24 inches), so I made a second planter (16X16 inches), and that was too small.

So, I'll be making another planter, maybe this time 12X24 inches rectangular, and hope that passes her inspection.

What I liked about the bigger 24X24 inch planter is that I was able to find some dark pallet wood and alternate that with lighter pallet wood. I did that on all 4 sides and I think it looked good. Just too big, I guess.

I then made the smaller 16X16 planter, but learned a valuable lesson. The pallet 2X4's in the smaller planter were not all the same size. So, my planter got out of square. I had to cut the final wall piece on each side on a taper, and finish it off with a planer to fit. Not a huge problem to overcome, but the top of the planter was a good 1/4" wider than the bottom. Does anybody care? Probably not. But having to cut the wood on a taper and plane it down to fit burned up extra time. Lesson learned - next time make sure the 2X4's are all the same size.

Benefits to this design is that the 2X4's inside the planter are hidden, so I was able to use the parts of the stretcher that had the cut-outs for the forklift. No waste on those 2X4's with this design. Also, on each wall side, I added the wood from the outside, left and right, and worked my way to the middle. The last piece of wall board will probably have to be cut down to size, but that was easy. Even on the smaller planter that got out of square, the last wall piece just had to be cut down on a slight taper, and planed to fit.

I topped off the planter with 45 degree cut 1X4 planks. I simply took the measurement of the side (24 inches, for example) and added 1 inch for hangover to each side = 26 inches on the long cut. Then I used my miter saw to cut 1 board with the 45 degree cuts, and used that board as a template to cut 3 more exact sized boards. That saved some time and energy as no measuring was required on subsequent cuts.

I don't plan on staining or painting these planters. But would ask for some feedback on that issue. If they only last 3-4 years, that will be good enough for me. I might line the inside of the planter with a plastic garbage bag before filling up with soil, that should help preserve the wood a bit longer.

Any feedback appreciated. Thanks.