Well after almost a year our pallet coop and run are just about finished finally. Why did this project take almost a year? I tell that story here: http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/ernndbrtts-member-page
I won't go into the detailed story but I'll just say it involved a propane line struck while digging.
Anyway, this weekend my awesome wife and I got all the framing done on the one side, installed the wire fencing on that side, all the posts and privacy fence done on the other side of the 20' x 40' run. We have to add more supports across the top of the fencing for mounting the chicken wire on top, (we have hawks and eagles here), the gate into the run, a door to the coop, roosts, poop boards, a ramp, and nest boxes. I'm playing hooky from work today to finish everything up so my wife who is now quite excited about being able to get our dozen or so ladies and a gent can do so.
For anyone thinking of building a pallet coop..... Make sure all the pallets are the same size!!! It will save you untold amounts of time and frustration. Spend the money on real 4 x 4's for posts if using an enclosed run. Landscape timbers may be o.k. for smaller runs or one gets lucky enough to find perfectly straight timbers, but for me, if I had to do it all over, I wouldn't use them. I also tried post holders I found at a home improvement store. They hold the post with a collar that has a 3' metal spike one pounds into the ground. It sounded like a good idea at the time. They do not pound straight into the ground, they twist, making attaching fence panels quite difficult.
I am not a carpenter by any means, not even close, and my projects usually end up looking like red neck contraptions, just like this one, but as my wife tells me, it's only a chicken coop. It does stay dry inside even with nothing at all covering the windows or doors yet so I guess it will work.
Edited by ernndbrtt - 6/25/12 at 3:51am
