Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[chickengr]

I tried the MHP last year, worked very well for my two broods.
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We each should use what works for us.

my chicks always figure out how to poop in water.

 

[chickengr]

I'm getting ready to go out and upgrade my chicken coop. The "door" on the coop that opens up to the day run is screwed into place. I have to go into the run and remove four screws to take it off in the morning, and in the evening I put the piece of plywood back in place, driving a screw into each corner. It's getting to be a pain.

Today I'm going to make/install a sliding door, attached to a rope outside of the run that I'll use for opening/closing. It will make life a little easier for me, and maybe better for the chickens too.

All materials (except screws) are free scavenged stuff. I may or may not use pallet wood, just depends on how my mental plan progresses. I'll post an update later.

waiting for the pics! I don't understand "the rope thing".

 

[chickengr]

I have a similar setup but my sliding door and the rope are all inside my coop. I normally get lots of snow here in northern Minnesota and I knew that I would be better off with the sliding door inside the coop, as well as the rope system because I did not want to have to deal with a frozen rope and stuck pop door on the outside.

I designed my coop to have the big doors in the back. I have to open them to access the food and water the the pop door rope - which are all inside the coop. I don't actually have to go into the coop to service the daily food and water, and the rope is right at the inside door opening.

My sliding pop door has only frozen shut a few times over four winters, even though it is inside the coop, but I can only imagine how much it would freeze if the sliding door was on the outside.

But I can understand what a pain it would be to have to screw on/off the pop door each time. Is there some reason you did not put the door on a simple hinge and then use a hook and eye to hold it in the open position?

can you post a pic of your rope system?

 

[Smokerbill]

waiting for the pics! I don't understand "the rope thing".

The rope connects to a block of wood that's attached to the top of the door, is routed up through an eye screw attached to the rafters above, then goes through another eye screw near the east side of the day run.

Pulling on the rope opens the door. Right now I tie the rope to the mesh wall of the run, but that will probably change in time. It's a work in progress.

There's a lot of friction between the rope and the eye screws, which makes the door more difficult to lift than it should be. I plan to replace the eye screws with pulleys of some kind in the future.

 

[gtaus]

I would have chicks sitting on the top of the jar and pooping down

That's never been a problem for me. If it was, I think I would try something like this...

I have a hot glue gun that would attach a funnel to the jar just fine. It would be pretty hard for a chick to get on top of that funnel!

 

[gtaus]

my chicks always figure out how to poop in water.

Unfortunately, mine do, too. That's why I keep two waterers in the brooder and clean them out about twice a day. Chicks just make a mess out of the water. They get better as they get older, but those first weeks I do a lot of cleaning out the waterers.

 

[gtaus]

can you post a pic of your rope system?

Well, it's nothing special. Just a rope through some hook eyes. I pull on the rope and the pop door goes up. I have a little loop in the roop at the end that I slip on a hook to hold the door up.

It's nasty cold with rain and snow right now. And I'm under the weather myself. Slept 13 hours and still not feeling great. If you still need a picture, maybe later in the week.

Here are some Google pictures almost exactly the same as my setup.

Rope attached to screw eye on the pop door...

Use more screws eyes to direct the rope to my door...

Then have a loop in the rope or a carabiner to put on a hook to hold the door up. It's just that simple.

 

[gtaus]

There's a lot of friction between the rope and the eye screws, which makes the door more difficult to lift than it should be. I plan to replace the eye screws with pulleys of some kind in the future.

Yes, but in your system, IIRC, you have a very big pop door made from heavy cement fiber board. My pop door is less than half your size and it's just a piece of lightweight (in comparison) plywood.

I have no problem pulling up my pop door with the rope system through those screw eyes. Because my pop door is so much smaller and lighter, I have no need for pulleys.

I think @chickengr needs to understand the difference.

BTW, I liked the photo of the wood pulley that I posted. I have a lathe, so it would be super simple for me to make a wood pulley like that on my lathe.

Another thought came to mind was to cut out a circular piece of wood and sandwich it between some larger discs. You would not need a lathe for that to cut a groove. And scrap wood should work just fine.

Something like this...

With the inside grove just being a smaller disc. I think that would be easy.

But, like I said, I have a couple of pulleys I kept from my riding mower that look like this...

The center hole got reamed out from wear and tear on my mower deck and the hole was off center, so it was throwing the balance off my riding mower deck belts and needed to be replaced. Otherwise, the pulley was in great shape. Something used like that would be great for your pop door.

 

[Molpet]

I forgot I have been using these small nipple waterers. I haven't had chicks in the house since 2020.
https://www.premier1supplies.com/p/..._-T6bXsZuyz94GWgOerw_DEqoIE-63yxoCfa0QAvD_BwE

 

[chickengr]

The rope connects to a block of wood that's attached to the top of the door, is routed up through an eye screw attached to the rafters above, then goes through another eye screw near the east side of the day run.

Pulling on the rope opens the door. Right now I tie the rope to the mesh wall of the run, but that will probably change in time. It's a work in progress.

There's a lot of friction between the rope and the eye screws, which makes the door more difficult to lift than it should be. I plan to replace the eye screws with pulleys of some kind in the future.

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thank you.