Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[CKfarm22]

If you can swing a hammer, cut some wood, or drill some screws, chances are you can make a pretty decent chicken coop for a lot less than buying a prefab coop. I know that the pallet wood I use in my projects is of higher quality than the wood that is used in the prefab kits sold in town. BTW, last year when I looked at the price of the prefab kits here at our Fleet store, it was about $800. And those coops could house maybe 3-4 chickens at max.

Well, I think anyway someone gets into having a backyard flock is probably a good thing. You live and learn. From the feedback I hear from other members, they usually outgrow their prefab coops in a short time. At least by then they have a better understanding of what they need/want in the next chicken coop. Then they use the prefab coop as a grow out coop for the next flock of chickens after the brooder.

I spent almost a full year researching chicken coop designs before I built mine. As much as I like my chicken coop build, there are a few small things I would change on that build.

However, now that I have gotten into pallet projects, I think I would build a pallet shed/chicken coop. My chicken coop will only ever be good as a chicken coop. I like the shed conversions because if you ever stop having chickens, you still have a nice shed for your outdoor tools and equipment. At least, that is where I am leaning if I ever build another coop.

That’s pretty much my current coop, TBH. We built it 8x6, it’s basically a shed. If we ever decide to not have chickens, my boyfriend will most likely use it as a shed. The poop board is removable, and the nesting box… well storage for something of his.

 

[gtaus]

I used hex top screws so it was so easy to take apart and reuse everything.

Yep, I build lots of stuff with the idea of making it easy to take apart later if I want. Screws are great. Plus, a drill or impact driver is a big labor saver over swinging a hammer. Lots of projects I just use drywall screws because they are the cheapest. The hex top screws cost much more where I live so I only use them on selected projects.

 

[gtaus]

I used hex top screws so it was so easy to take apart and reuse everything.

Yep, I build lots of stuff with the idea of making it easy to take apart later if I want. Screws are great. Plus, a drill or impact driver is a big labor saver over swinging a hammer. Lots of projects I just use drywall screws because they are the cheapest. The hex top screws cost much more where I live so I only use them on selected projects.

 

[gtaus]

That’s pretty much my current coop, TBH. We built it 8x6, it’s basically a shed. If we ever decide to not have chickens, my boyfriend will most likely use it as a shed. The poop board is removable, and the nesting box… well storage for something of his.

That's a really nice shed/chicken coop conversion. I like the idea of having a chicken coop/shed that can still be useful if a person stops raising chickens. When I built my chicken coop, I really did not think ahead in that respect. I have a very nice chicken coop for me, but it won't have a second life without chickens.

 

[chickengr]

I have a lot of geese and ducks. I will probably use pallets for their nests.

 

[CKfarm22]

That's a really nice shed/chicken coop conversion. I like the idea of having a chicken coop/shed that can still be useful if a person stops raising chickens. When I built my chicken coop, I really did not think ahead in that respect. I have a very nice chicken coop for me, but it won't have a second life without chickens.

We all got to start somewhere! We didn’t really even think about it possibly becoming a shed one day. We. ore so thought of, we wanted a coop we could walk into and be big enough for if we wanted to add more chickens to the flock!

 

[Sally PB]

Hubby is working a few hours this week, and he had to stop by the shop to talk to the boss about what they needed him to do. It was after our dentist appointments, so I was with him.

I saw a nice 4x8 pallet with full length 2x4s without cutouts. And, the boards on the top were nailed (not stapled), and set with almost no space between them. A lot of wood, in other words. I told the boss, "I have lust in my heart for this skid!" He laughed, and asked why. "So I can build stuff for my chickens!"

He said he might be able to help me find some pallets... Oh, be still, my heart!

I have to add... my dentist is too young to know the song, In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. I filled in that hole in his music education.

But... I feel old now.

 

[gtaus]

Could not believe my eyes this afternoon at our local Fleet store. They had a small 4X4 foot chicken coop prefab for sale for $1299.99!

Well, I guess it only takes less than 60 minutes to put it together with a "screw gun" as they advertise. Believe me, I was there in person and it's only 4X4 feet although it looks bigger in their advertisement with small chickens outside.

Maybe I'm just the other kind of chicken owner.., the kind that wants to save money where I can. Honestly, if you can pound some pallets together, you would have a stronger chicken coop for free. I encourage people to build their own coops, pallet wood or not, for a fraction of the cost of this kit.

 

[CKfarm22]

Could not believe my eyes this afternoon at our local Fleet store. They had a small 4X4 foot chicken coop prefab for sale for $1299.99!

Well, I guess it only takes less than 60 minutes to put it together with a "screw gun" as they advertise. Believe me, I was there in person and it's only 4X4 feet although it looks bigger in their advertisement with small chickens outside.

Maybe I'm just the other kind of chicken owner.., the kind that wants to save money where I can. Honestly, if you can pound some pallets together, you would have a stronger chicken coop for free. I encourage people to build their own coops, pallet wood or not, for a fraction of the cost of this kit.

6x8 coop costed us about 1,500 and we built it how we wanted hehe

 

[gtaus]

I was in town today and stopped by our Home Depot to check out if anything interesting would jump out at me. As I have mentioned before, it pays to always check out the cull wood bins selection. Today I hit a jackpot!

I found 2 full 4X8 foot sheets of 5/8 inch particle boards in the cull bins marked down from about $40.00 per sheet to only $2.00 per sheet! Our Home Depot does not sell these boards locally, but they used it as product shelving, so it was discounted down to almost nothing just to get it out of the store. That's my kind of deal!

I would have loved to keep them in 4X8 sheets, but I had to have the guys cut them in half, to 4X4 sheets, so I could fit them in the old Explorer to take them home. At that price, I was going to take it however I could get them home.

Bonus find: I got another one of those Ryobi value kits on markdown. They claim to have $90 of value packaged in a kit and sell them for $20.00. Probably a decent price at $20.00, but I found them marked down to $5.02 per kit today. Plus, I got a 10% veteran's discount on top of that.

At that price, I will be tossing one of these kits in each tool bag I have. They should be plenty good for any pallet projects and such I will be working on this spring and summer. I wanted some multi-tool blades, but if you bought them separately, you would be spending close to $20 just for the 2 multi-tool blades in this this kit. So, I got those multi-tool blades and all the other stuff in the kit for only $4.52 plus tax. Excellent use of my money!