Deconstruction begins - Warning some graphic pictures

[TwistedSerpent]

So I started cleaning out the junk in the shed thats going to be my chicken coop. I pulled out a lot of the old wood and tin that was siding the inside. The floor is actually wooden pallets pieced together, for my coop I'm thinking the deep litter method is the way to go on bare ground. I am planning on not replacing the panels I took off unless I am convinced that I need to insulate it. The shelves I will probably keep and setup as a roost area.

The smell in here is kind of musty/skunky, which I just shrugged off as it being old air from the trash and garbage that was left in there for who knows how long. In the process of taking the floor pallets off I ended up uncovering an actual dead skunk. Nothing more then bones, dried skin, and fur so at least I wasnt hit with rot plus skunk.

And of course I have a fascination with skulls

Does anyone have any ideas of what to use these floor pallets for, besides firewood? Would having them under the roost even in a deep layer been be benefitial?

Also does anyone treat or seal the inside of their coops? Or is untreated wood fine?

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I used them as the floor of my playhouse coop. Cover with a thin sheet of plywood or OSB and then vinyl flooring on top. Deconstructed to use the wood in building nestboxes, roosts, brooder, broody hutch, etc....

I think skulls are cool too.

 

[Imp]

That's kind of cool. My chickens dug up a possum skull a couple years ago. It's now deck decor.

Imp

 

[ekemily]

I like finding skulls too. I usually throw them in a big ant bed for however long it takes them to eat the skin/brains. They do nice finishing work!
We had a bunch of old pallets that we used to make a board walk through some swampy woods.
That looks like it's going to make a great coop!
-em

 

[DarkWolf]

Use the pallets as building material.. It's a shame to waste them.. Just pop the boards off and use them as needed.

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

Ya might not want to reuse the skunky one though....

They look like pretty nice pallets.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

Everything has kind of been stewing in skunk for awhile unfortunatly, we will see though how hard it will be to get the smell out

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

Odoban works really well. My 4 year old niece was pilfering through some of my brother's hunting stuff a few months ago, and she spilled doe pee (good lord that stuff stunk up the whole house!) all over our carpet (and herself). The kid took a bath - maybe even several. The carpet in the bedroom got hosed down with Odoban, and we let it air out for a couple of days. No lingering doe pee odor. I'm a believer.

 

[justbugged]

I would try DE for the smell, and the bones would be a great homeschool project. Get a kid to put the bones back in the order that they were originally. That was something we wanted our kid to do with a raccoon. It would have counted as a full quarter of science at our house.

 

[TwistedSerpent]

I did keep the skull, I would be all for cleaning and reassambling the skeleton however if you smelled it you would choose for the next specimen too. The degreasing and whitening process should take care of the stench of the skull though.