My "I know nothining about coops or chickens" recycled pallet coop :)

[jnbyoung]

I'm now 4 weeks into my chicken owning adventure.
My husband helped me build this coop. I've been reading many many many coop design posts and dreaming of my 'perfect coop' but for now, this is what we were able to accomplish in a few hours.

Since the original build, which was mostly just a box without even a top and no door, I added a drop down ramp/door that I close at night with a locking eye hook. I've also put in more roosts and I had originally closed the back off like a box, but no one wanted to sleep in it, so I removed those boards and opened it back up. Now if it's a little cooler at night, I find my girls (well, we think most of them are girls) all cuddled together back there, so I think that's working out ok.

It's very hard to clean right now but they also spend very very little time in it, as they are free ranging on almost a 1/2 acre all day. Since they started doing that, I find it's much less maintenance but I'm still trying to figure in things like an egg door and an easier way to clean the box in the back. Right now it has about 6 inches of pine shavings for bedding, and I'm turning it and sprinkling DE in there and around the coop and I'm noticing nothing bad as far as smells or insects, so I'm pretty happy so far.

I think we've spent more on hardware and hardware cloth than anything else, but it's been a fun project. I've already informed my poor husband that I'll be searching out a couple MORE pallets in order to rebuild this coop to be what I'd like it to be on a permanent basis.
Thanks for looking!

 

[CoopCrazy]

Hey it works .. Maybe switch out the bottom for hardware cloth and dont worry about shavings, that will make it much easier to clean

 

[joebryant]

Great little temporary house for the chickens. Looking forward to seeing pictures of the "permanent" pallet housing, my favorite posts.

 

[jnbyoung]

I actually do have hardware cloth on the bottom (thanks to reading many posts here about it!).
The back half or so is a solid floor (mistake) with a deep layer of pine shaving bedding in it.
I've seen the chickens in there a few times, not sure if it was because they were cold or not, but the majority of the time I check on them before bed and they are up on the roosts in various groups.

Most of the poop falls right through and I have sand and some DE mixed in underneath so I can rake it out when it dries a little. The problem I'm finding is that the chickens poop is too big to fall through now

so I'm kind of scooping it out every other day.

I've got a neat plan for a new coop with a small attached run that I'd like to get done by the fall, just so they have some outside space that can be walled in for warmth in the winter/rainy weather.

And you can also see I've tried my hand at making a PVC pipe feeder - that's worked out pretty well actually. Thank you BYC!

PS - Its amazing what you can do with a reciprocating saw, a screwdriver and a stapler

.

 

[3chimama]

That looks great. I am thinking of using some pallets for a place for my pullets...