Are pallet coops safe?

[LindaB220]

I can imagine the look on their faces. One reason I can't wait to get our chicks and/or the 2 older pullets as well is just to witness their personalities. We've been formally trained by our cats to handle clashing personalities but I can imagine what's in store for us with chickens. Would a tarped roof over some trusses (with hardware cloth covering the roof as well under whatever actual roofing we put on) be ok & good enough? I don't know if we could afford metal roofing for the large run we're going to build.

Sounds good!!! Another thing, if you have a small car, how about a piece of foam, on top and add a couple of pallets and really, really tie it down good. Take a few trips but maybe not as expensive as renting a truck. LUV to see it.

 

[FDaniels]

Hey knowing my redneck self I'll think of something. I can usually come up with anything to build if you hand me a hammer, zip ties, some wood & nails. My only problem is I tend to overthink something when I start a new project. I think about it so much until I'm so frustrated that I decide not to do it. I'm trying not to do that with this but it's knocking. what kind of sand do we use for the dust bath? And how much is wood ash or is it possible to find that for free somewhere? Could we put the grit & oyster shells (do the shells come in bags at TSC?) in regular chicken feeders? And how often should we give them heads of lettuce or cream corn, veggies/fruit? Should it be like an everyday thing at certain times?

 

[WYNot]

Course sand. Not the playground stuff but the stuff you mix with concrete.

Wood ash we get from our wood stove. We have a furnace but easier to just use the wood stove. And I like the wood heat better.

As for the ratio... nothing set in stone. About 60:40, sand:ash? We didn't keep track just put it in and mixed. The sand allows water to drain easily and just enough ash to give them some dust. Wish I could give you more details.

Yes, the grit and shell could go in regular feeders. I just used those small metal ones because they don't take up any room and they don't go through much. I've had to fill those metal feeders maybe once every couple of months.

Frequency of scraps... Again, really depends on your circumstances. During the spring, summer, and fall I won't buy them fruits and veggies; what they get is just excess from the garden and kitchen. During the winter I do give them something fresh once or twice a week. It isn't something you have to do. They are just spoiled and it is something we are able to do. It is more of a treat than a necessity. That head of lettuce I gave them this morning is only maybe a fifth eaten. They are ranging the yard and woods and ignoring it. Earlier this week, we had a couple of small zucchinis that were getting a bit soft. Wife is out of town on business and I don't eat them so I cut them up for the chickens.

Your mileage may vary. I'm pretty sure there are those on here that will say feeding them that way messes with the proper nutrition the chickens should be getting from the bagged chicken food. But last I checked, wild birds and critters don't live on bagged, nutritionally balanced diets. If I were raising large numbers of animals for profit, I'd want to be as efficient as possible, thus the bagged food. I'm not. I'm raising chickens for personal use; eggs, meat (eventually), and amusement. As long as they have free access to the basics (layer pellets, grit, oyster shells) adding other foods to their diets in moderation won't hurt them. I think the variety makes them happier, more content, and makes for better tasting eggs.

Hey knowing my redneck self I'll think of something. I can usually come up with anything to build if you hand me a hammer, zip ties, some wood & nails. My only problem is I tend to overthink something when I start a new project. I think about it so much until I'm so frustrated that I decide not to do it. I'm trying not to do that with this but it's knocking. what kind of sand do we use for the dust bath? And how much is wood ash or is it possible to find that for free somewhere? Could we put the grit & oyster shells (do the shells come in bags at TSC?) in regular chicken feeders? And how often should we give them heads of lettuce or cream corn, veggies/fruit? Should it be like an everyday thing at certain times?

 

[rcjsmom]

My first coop was all pallets. Worked great. Used 2x4s to secure tops and corners. Did buy some pieces from Habitat restore for door, etc. Bought plastic roofing panels from lowes. Wanted them to stay dry.

 

[rcjsmom]

For overhead, I used some scrap 1x2s in 6'-12' lengths and made Ts. with part of the vertical board sticking up past the horizontal board. I used 2x4 welded wire and covered the whole pen area. The vertical top piece would go between the slots of the fencing and hold it off the ground. We have quite a few hawks and this prevented chickens from disappearing. Found the wire on craigslist so it wasn't too expensive, but it takes quite a bit. I used zip ties to secure to the vertical walls of the run. I can attach pictures if that will help.

 

[rcjsmom]

Quote:
We had a week of temps well below 32 F during the day and below zero at night. I got some of that electric pipe tape, wrapped it around a metal bowl, using tape to secure it up and down the bowl exterior. Set that bowl inside another galvanized bowl to keep it off the bedding in the event it should fall off and/or short... and to keep it away from critter access. But I had to run a really long outside extension cord to the coop. With working away from the house, there was no way to keep water liquid with daytime highs in the single digits. I had previously used a plastic heated bowl (1 gallon), but it only kept the water closest to the bottom liquid. The top froze over. This method heats the whole bowl, which kept 2 gallons of water liquid. Now, I live just south of Kansas City, so we have way more extreme temps than you will. Because I left the cord out, I used some old fence pipe and some pvc pipe from craigslist and ran the cord inside the pipe just for peace of mind. I also keep the water bowl inside the stall area, which some people discourage. The inside bowl did not typically freeze if it was just down to the mid 20s overnight and then warm up to 32 or higher during the day. Without electricity of some sort, you're alternative will be to bring it out regularly during those time periods.

 

[FDaniels]

I agree about variety. We're actually both vegetarians and we've been wanting chickens for a long time so that we can have for sure cruelty free eggs and some more "babies" to raise and love on. We're also looking into getting a couple of goats (a wether & a doe) so that we can have milk year round from the doe. Course I'm still trying to figure out the best & safest way to rehome her kid(s) somewhere that will treat them as pets and not use them for meat. So I'm still in the research phase for the goats.

 

[ShrekDawg]

I wouldn't recommend citrus, read somewhere it's bad for them. As someone mentioned, in sure there's a list on here but also, I'd recommend going to mypetchicken.com they've got a pretty good care guide on their site and it has a list of bad foods, as well as other helpful information. There's a page on introducing older birds to chicks too it's similar to what others have said, put hardware cloth in the run or coop for a few days or weeks so they can see each other then take it out when they're older/seem to be getting along