Thoughts on pallet coop ideas

[talkinboutchickens]

Hey everyone,
sorry I've been posting threads a lot lately, it's just that I always have so many chicken questions and there's always something going on with my chickens it seems
I have lots of future coop plans for my future breeder flock of 7-8 Cochin bantams.
I'm not going to be doing this anytime soon, it's just that I like to plan ahead.

I've done some research and looked on Pinterest for ideas....
Please tell me if my plans are acheivable and realistic or not and if I should change anything about my design.
I drew the text with my finger so sorry about the unreadable text.
This is a bird's eye view of the top.

the tan parts are wood. blue is water. I was thinking about having a slanted roof with a gutter attached and when it rains, it goes down the gutter and into a barrel with little water cups attached. (P.S. water barrel and coop not to scale lol.)
I'm thinking that the watering station is gonna look like this:

And for the coop part.....
Imma cheapskate. But it also is environmentally friendly I guess.
I want to make the coop out of pallets. Plz don't make fun
Maybe once the base of the coop is made I could put a piece of plywood on the bottom to cover the floor, and once the walls are assembled I could put cover the walls in plywood, too? I've seen some vids on YouTube where people cut panels off of the pallets and use those panels for the outside walls. I'm just not sure if I'll aquire enough in order to do that
And then for the roof, I want a clear greenhouse style roof:

The only reason I wanted this is to let extra light into the coop and make it feel home-y (or will it look ugly?)
Alrighty. Then for the inside, I want to install a poop board with roosts of course because I found that me not having a poop board in my other coop with 13 chickens was a big mistake
I'm thinking along the lines of this:

I was thinking about sort of an L-shape poop board with roosts on top and a ramp coming up to the poop board??
And then I really like the idea of installing nesting boxes below the poop boards. But I only need 3-4, and the person in the 2nd pic installed tons of boxes underneath the poop board. How would I only insert a few? How could I utilize the rest of the space underneath? How can I make the poop board where it can slide out for easy cleaning? (does it even need to slide out? How do I clean out the sand then?)
How would I make a door in the pallets? Should the coop be raised? (And how do I do that?? )
Where have you found free pallets?

Thanks so much! Sorry about all my questions in this thread

 

[Debbie292d]

As for the rain barrel waterer, if you'll have water standing for long in there, you can use RV water freshener. We use 1/2 teaspoon in 5-gallon nipple bucket, and a few drops in the other waterers as they'll get green slime otherwise.

For the poop board, make sure it's wide enough so a wide plaster knife or whatever you're going to use can easily scrape it. We use stall freshener on top of the nest boxes where our silkies "roost." We use horse bedding pellets on the floor and in nest boxes. In the nest boxes, we just stir those once a week or two. For the floor, we don't do anything and in the spring we change it out to new pellets. The old stuff goes in the garden, around trees, in compost, etc.

I wouldn't worry about utilizing space underneath inside of the coop as that's foot space for the chickens. Otherwise, you could build a cabinet to keep your chick feed in one spot.

I love your coop, but I'm not much help with the rest of your questions!

 

[aart]

Please tell me if my plans are acheivable and realistic or not and if I should change anything about my design.

You need to draw your coop plans on graph paper to scale with dimensions.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

As for the rain barrel waterer, if you'll have water standing for long in there, you can use RV water freshener. We use 1/2 teaspoon in 5-gallon nipple bucket, and a few drops in the other waterers as they'll get green slime otherwise.

For the poop board, make sure it's wide enough so a wide plaster knife or whatever you're going to use can easily scrape it. We use stall freshener on top of the nest boxes where our silkies "roost." We use horse bedding pellets on the floor and in nest boxes. In the nest boxes, we just stir those once a week or two. For the floor, we don't do anything and in the spring we change it out to new pellets. The old stuff goes in the garden, around trees, in compost, etc.

I wouldn't worry about utilizing space underneath inside of the coop as that's foot space for the chickens. Otherwise, you could build a cabinet to keep your chick feed in one spot.

I love your coop, but I'm not much help with the rest of your questions!

Hi!
I was actually thinking of using pellets as bedding, as they seem way cheaper than other options. That's really cool how you can dump it directly into the garden like that. I use pine shavings and whenever I clean my coops it's such a hassle Do the chickens eat the pellets?
Thank you for your input!

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi!
I was actually thinking of using pellets as bedding, as they seem way cheaper than other options. That's really cool how you can dump it directly into the garden like that. I use pine shavings and whenever I clean my coops it's such a hassle Do the chickens eat the pellets?
Thank you for your input!

They wouldn't eat any more pellets than they would wood chips. Probably some on accident possibly but I doubt once they taste one they'd never do it again lol. We use them in our brooders too. They're too big for the chicks to eat, but even if they were they'd have probably did the same as the older ones and never do it again. We've been doing the coop with them for about 8 years, and the brooders just this past year. We wouldn't do it any other way!

 

[saysfaa]

flock of 7-8 Cochin bantams,,,
coop out of pallets....
cover the floor, and...walls ... plywood, too? [or] cut pallets
And then for the roof, I want a clear greenhouse style roof:
The only reason I wanted this is to let extra light into the coop and make it feel home-y (or will it look ugly?)...

Pallets are definitely achievable either as frame to cover with plywood or disassembled for the boards to cover the frame. Some of them look very nice, although usually in a rustic way.

It is much faster and much easier to cut the boards off the frame of the pallets but pulling the nails/staples out is doable. Some types of pallets are easier to disassemble than others.

A clear greenhouse style roof is nearly always too hot for much of the year. In some climates, it might not be too hot if the sides are open enough but then you don't need the extra light.

The most common size of pallet in the US is 40"x48". Some are 42"x42", 44"x44", and 36"x36", the free ones are most likely to be one of these sizes. There are other sizes, some completely custom and some just somewhat less common. I think your drawing shows the coop being one pallet per side and the run being one pallet wide by three pallets long. Assuming a 40"x48" pallet and the long side being horizontal, that gives you a 4'x4' coop with additional 4'x12' for the run. Using the minimum recommended space and assuming none of the floor space is taken by a feeder, nests, ramp, or storage, that is enough for four birds; maybe five since they are bantams. Since it is a breeding flock - do you want the hens to raise the chicks? That will go better with more than the minimum space.

I was thinking about sort of an L-shape poop board with roosts on top and a ramp coming up...

Figure 2' wide poop boards (otherwise, the poops tend to not land on the poop board).

How could I utilize the rest of the space underneath?

The best use is probably for storage. Chickens do not stack well - they don't like to walk around under low shelves.

How can I make the poop board where it can slide out for easy cleaning?

I don't know.

(does it even need to slide out? How do I clean out the sand then?)

The ideal is a coop large enough to walk into with enough open space to manage a broom or shovel.

How would I make a door in the pallets?

I would leave one side open for ventilation anyway so would frame a door made of hardware cloth (or metal lath) there.

Should the coop be raised? (And how do I do that?

I wouldn't but it could work. If you did, one way would be to set the whole thing up on cement blocks.

Where have you found free pallets?

I haven't looked for any but the diy section in the self sufficiency section has a thread called "Show me your pallet projects" that talks about where to find them.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Since it is a breeding flock - do you want the hens to raise the chicks? That will go better with more than the minimum space.

Probably not bc I will feel awful taking away tiny baby chicks away from the moms. So I'm just going to incubate them with my incubator.

 

[Debbie292d]

Probably not bc I will feel awful taking away tiny baby chicks away from the moms. So I'm just going to incubate them with my incubator.

I agree!

We just got tired of raising their babies for them at 4 weeks old when the hen chooses to go back to being broody again (silkies). Her chicks are just left roaming the yard by themselves and aren't allowed to go in the coop because the other chickens will now pick on them without a mom to protect them. I've tried putting them back under her even or putting her outside with them. Doesn't work, she pecks them like they're strangers. So then we had to build a grow-out coop for them, x3 times we did this and said never again! We only incubate since then.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

I agree!

We just got tired of raising their babies for them at 4 weeks old when the hen chooses to go back to being broody again (silkies). Her chicks are just left roaming the yard by themselves and aren't allowed to go in the coop because the other chickens will now pick on them without a mom to protect them. I've tried putting them back under her even or putting her outside with them. Doesn't work, she pecks them like they're strangers. So then we had to build a grow-out coop for them, x3 times we did this and said never again! We only incubate since then.

That's unusual how the hen did that, usually silkies are great moms I heard
I will only incubate from now on as well probably. Also, chicks raised by broodies in my experience are feral, unruly, and untamed

 

[SoCal Chicken Mama]

Debbie, I agree, for the coop you need a solid roof for the shade and to keep weather out. The green corrugated roof would let in way too much sun. And ventilation is key. Big vents up high (so winds don't blow on them when it's cold, or windows you can open with hardware cloth screens on them. The pictures you show look like a walk in coop, so you don't really need the shelves to slide out. It looks like there is sand on the poop shelves, so you would just rake the poop out (I use a child's rake and a cat box sieve. But the holes are almost too big, you might want a regular (large) sieve that everyone knows is dedicated for chicken poop! A child's sandbox sieve could work.You'll still have the urine smell, others have recommended a coup freshener called PDZ. I haven't tried it yet, I'm a newbie and I only have 4 half grown chicks.