"Hinkel Haus" made of pallets & recycled wood pickets
"Hinkel Haus"
made of pallets and recycled wood picket fencing
From PA!
Hinkel is PA Dutch for Chicken btw! DETAILS FOLLOWING Final coop Pics!
Mostly recycled materials for the coop, 2 paint colors and a sharpie, yup sharpie!
We have to finish our storage "step" under the front door to keep chicken treats, ACV etc.
We will use a rubbermaid container for the inside and more pickets for the exterior of the step box!
OH and some more purdy landscaping!
I cant stress enough how CHEAP AND EASY it really is!!!! Following this coop we did a 2nd coop,
We made it even more cost effective and more functional too.
BUT BEST of all, we made the adjustments we WISH we had made with the first coop!
Pallets are FREE if you look for them!!
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Our daughter, HarmonyAnn suggested pricing on the eggs! LOL
NOT selling for that price!!!! 
Flower box ~ Recycled Pickets!
sign ~ skid leftover!
Run opening is a simple pull up slider, made with picket rails for weight!
Old marble knob & a shim so bears can't lift it up!
Below is Run Door inside
Roosting from above,
AND very annoyed at me for taking a pic in the middle of the night!
Note that we added a light so that we can have 14 hrs of daylight year round for our girls laying!
The light will help keep water from freezing in winter.
ALSO, we have since added a large FUNNEL to the top of feeder, to keep them off and poo out!
But a pc. of alum. roofing bent to funnel shape and zip tied or rivetted works just as well!
We covered our light with this old egg basket!
We have no feather pecking so a reg. bulb works fine, if you have peckers 
.......
but seriously try a red lamp instead!
but I should!
VENTILATION MUST HAVE front and back roof rafters, wire to keep OUT RODENTS!!
we cut a pallet down to save on lumber this made an exact 4x8 base!
(so we can use 1 sheet of thin plywood, and u can use real thin plywood because pallets are strong
and have the extra support, but get the BEST pallets strength wise u can!
Drill holes and use the above carriage bolts to put it together, you can go shorter on the bolts, but we found these cheap!
Of course you can go thicker but don't go smaller Pallets are HEAVY!
Below is the 4x8 1/4 ply, we have it on a hill so had to level it up better so its off the ground,
Should have gotten another layer of cement block!
drill holes!! we used four bolts for a full pallet, on the floor sides and then 3/4 on the wall sides
Little Buddy had to tighten down with the ratchet!! poor thing, not having a good time is he??
Square it up little man! Seriously square the corners as you bolt them together!
The front of the coop we turned the pallets the opposite direction to get the pitch / runoff for roof
and that saved some more lumber on this coop as well.
You can see how we cut this pallet down to accommodate a door!
windows and such can be cut out AFTER the siding is on!
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We USED 2x3's this time to cut lumber costs! see how easy???
just put a roof truss on the 48" mark in the center so u have area to attach plywood
Roof is 2 sheets of 1/2 plywood run opposite of the floor! use extra for nest boxes!
Add the tar paper BUT LEAVE ENOUGH ON EDGES TO COVER TRIM!!!
Add drip edge available in the roofing section of bldg supply stores
ADD DRIP EDGE AFTER YOU ADD THE TRIM.... see several pics BELOW!!!
We sided with T1-11 BUT could have gone cheaper with wire and stucco. Total 5 sheets !
PS the back side it runs long wise, to save lumber, cant see it anyway right??
STOP!!! AT THIS POINT ADD WIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1/4" or smaller wire!
NOTE: SEE THE WIRE
(we have weasels, but keeps out rodents TOO!! and they eat MORE FEED than you will ever imagine!!! )
and
Door made out of left over picket fencing and rails! hubby made this one flush to my dismay!
I like trim around for a finished look! But he said "you told me cheap" lol
We used cheap knotty pin for trim along the roof line.
close up of wire
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Large Dog house conversion for our Silkies
"Romeo & Juliet"
BELOW~ we live in the mnts so the chickens love to dust bath in the peat moss roots, HOWEVER I do have dust baths available with SAND, PEAT MOSS from Lowe's as well as DE,
plus I put food grade in their food on occasion as well as nesting bxs and throw some around in the coop!
ALSO REMEMBER....Oyster Shells and Grit you need both! Crushed oyster shells provide an extra boost of calcium that will allow your chickens to lay nice, hard-shelled eggs.
To give your chickens oyster shells, just offer in a bowl or cage cup in a separate container next to your chickens’ feed. only laying HENS! Instead of chewing, chickens store grit, or small stones in their “crop,” an area of the digestive system where chickens begin to digest their food before it enters the stomach.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/duckling-care-brooder-ideas
TIME TO MOVE OUT OF THE GARAGE!
OUR beautiful Duck House DH made!
PALLETS GOTTA LOVE THEM!
Cost = Roof & hardware!
Big Blue with FF all over him checking out the new house in his run!
Here are a few pics and IDEAS from our run!!
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Below you can see FIRST the chicken LOL but do you see that Fire pit, my kids idea... why???
A piece of charcoal attached to the wall inside a coop/run can give your poultry access to a natural substance that will help absorb toxins and help to keep the digestive system in balance. The same with the ASH and they will dust in the ash as well, heard it helps keep mites/lice at bay!
Keep chickens from getting bored prevents ALOT of issues you can have,
like pecking, egg eating, and health issues!!
Most people think we are nuts but we have alot of items hanging, like baskets, wind chimes, bells, (no whistles) yet.... : ) we have plenty of ROCKS AND CEMENT BLOCKS which are EXTREMELY important for beak rubbing and plenty of area for scratching to keep those nails trimmed! My kids love turning things over in the run so the girls can eat all the bugs and follow the kids from rock to rock to stump to stump.
We have plenty LOW roosts, signage they LOVE to sit on, chains hanging from trees, and I even snack the birds with cheap canned corn and take the label off and throw the shiny can in the run, they love to play with them
and it is said to help scare HAWKS away,
hear u can use Cd's or anything shiny!
Grass is GOOD!!!
HOWEVER: long fibrous strands can get stuck in chickens' crops and lead to sour crop/impacted crop.
Never feed grass that has been treated w/fertilizer, pesticides
Cut grass into very small pcs less than 1"
FEEDING station.... LOL or should I say SNACK SPOIL station?
we cut a bunch of logs from the woods and set up a train of tree benches for all the kids to sit on with the birds.... but we noticed that they prefer my stool!
Yes they have a favorite.... WARM Oatmeal with raisins off a SPOON!!
http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/2012-christmas-chicks-photo-shoot
Silly Harmony Ann "scolding" our chickens, one at a time she says! We have spoiled them so rotten they all want to sit on your lap at the same time. In this pic I was trying to get a good shot of her holding her chickens and ended up with a GREAT picture! She was scolding our Roo "Melvin" for jumping on top of her pretty "Ducky" light Brahma hen! As you can see, she also has the "addiction"! We make oatmeal with cooked raisins at least twice a week for them and the kids started a meal worm farm! Everyone even my older sons love the chickens!! Little Lucas just has to feel feathers on his face at every turn!
Update on chicken girl......she is making a homemade bator this weekend with her daddy.... she says she doesn't like mine! She read how to make a bigger better one. So I bought the parts for her... I am going to let her do a member article on its making, incubation, and the life of the chickens..... she will be 8 and already read so many books and read on-line... she says its a documentary!!! This morning she said she is working on a drawing of body parts lol so much for Barbies!!
True Chicken addict... when your kid comes running into the coop w/o shoes and you give your flip-flops "up" for them!
Teaching chicks to JUMP for raisins!! 4' yup yup jump 4' we measured!!
Well They did it!!!
Harmony and Daddy made the Cooler bator!! Hatched 25+ Chicks too! 100% on local eggs! 1st hatch too!
Need to clean up the info, but its there! http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/incubator-incubator
This is WHAT A BROODER that is too small looks like!!! Since I am on light duty (ugg) I need to enlist hubby to make a HUGE brooder out of anything he can find tomorrow!! Oh My Brahma love!!! and a few odd balls!
LOOK bator station ready! Bators all cleaned and bleached packed and running for new serama eggs!! I am to get a batch today and then the other person said next monday... ugggg, two bators AGAIN, but they are up and holding well!
DID ANYONE SAY ADDICTION? Harmony was like "Mom sterilize the candler too" really? Miss Messy 8 year old !!
Bigger Brooder CHECK!!! with some supervision our daughter Summer 12 and little guy Lucas 5 made it, (mom had to do the cutting of course)
But they did awesome, and actually had a great time building it, they wanted to color the brooder with markers, they only have the top finished,
I said no when they went to start coloring the inside, LOL..... Dont want those peeps drunk on fumes! ITS HUGE 4.5' x 3'
Below is a pic of the one half, they venture over to the other side too!
Thanks for letting me share them, my Facebook friends just Do NOT understand!
Stay tuned for Springs Pallet breeder pens!!
and
Double rabbit hutch turned serama coops!!
and
HAWKS oh MY! ~ Sally Sunshine's Chickens, Swaps & Shhhtuff! ~ CoolerBATOR ~ "Nasty Chicken Butt"
Hatching 101 ~ Guide to ASSISTED Hatching ~ Mushy Chick Disease ~ Duckling Care
Pallet Hinkel Haus ~ Hatched ~ PINTEREST Chickens ~ A Good Scolding Never Hurt Anyone!
DONT FORGET VOTE BYC Member Award You can find me in: Incubating Diary-Notes Thread
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