Our New Pallet Coop

[gtaus]

Be forewarned you'll need a plan for disposal of the 'waste' if you break your pallets down

There are many great ways to use that "waste" wood after you break down your pallets. Some of the wood could be used for small projects, like birdhouses. I used a lot of waste pallet wood in my fire ring for campfires. However, recently I built some more pallet wood raised beds and used that waste wood I had on hand to make hügelkultur raised beds, along with logs from trees that I had saved. That waste pallet wood made a great filler in between the larger log rounds.

At one time, I used a couple 5-gallon buckets full of pallet wood bits and pieces and ran them through my SunJoe woodchipper. It made nice wood chips for litter and nest box material. However, it was a lot more work than it was worth on my small electric woodchipper. Maybe a better idea if you have a larger gas woodchipper that can chip up the wood much faster.

 

[RusticRocks182]

You must have the patience of Job! I tried to take apart one pallet for scrap and quickly realized it just wasn't happening. Your coop looks great.

Thank you, no not that patient, but it was a challenge and enjoyable especially after it was completed.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Just completed our pallet coop,all used material other than pressure treated 2x4s on the ground, pallet wood is not for the faint at heart, it takes a lot of time demoing and trying to make odd pieces work into the build,you also loose at least 20% of your pallet from it busting while disassembling. It has been enjoyable, built it in two phases, 7ftx12ft first, then a 7ftx8ft, 20ftx7ft total, I left them where they could be separated or could open up to use as a whole.
View attachment 3870499

Super nice coop you have !!

 

[RusticRocks182]

I second that WOW.

Fantastic job @Bantams182 ! You have a lot of talent and experience, it shows.

Thank you but the pallet build would be easier for me than what I call the pretty coops or modern designs, to me I think those would be more challenging, I don't think I could build one that looks as nice as those. I went for pallet wood to cut expenses, only have around $350 in this coop, that's a few pressure treated 2x4's ,screws hardware cloth and hinges locks and saw blades, bits, tar to cover the screw holes on the used tin that was used.

 

[wrathsfarm]

Thank you but the pallet build would be easier for me than what I call the pretty coops or modern designs, to me I think those would be more challenging, I don't think I could build one that looks as nice as those. I went for pallet wood to cut expenses, only have around $350 in this coop, that a few pressure treated 2x4's ,screws hardware cloth and hinges locks and saw blades, bits, tar to cover the screw holes on the used tin that was used.

That's it, tho. Right there.
Some hard work, long days but in the end a cost effective, spacious coop.

Something to be proud of for sure. Well done.

 

[RusticRocks182]

There are many great ways to use that "waste" wood after you break down your pallets. Some of the wood could be used for small projects, like birdhouses. I used a lot of waste pallet wood in my fire ring for campfires. However, recently I built some more pallet wood raised beds and used that waste wood I had on hand to make hügelkultur raised beds, along with logs from trees that I had saved. That waste pallet wood made a great filler in between the larger log rounds.

At one time, I used a couple 5-gallon buckets full of pallet wood bits and pieces and ran them through my SunJoe woodchipper. It made nice wood chips for litter and nest box material. However, it was a lot more work than it was worth on my small electric woodchipper. Maybe a better idea if you have a larger gas woodchipper that can chip up the wood much faster.

You are 100% correct about wood waste demoing pallets, how well did your wood chipper work? I have been thinking about a wood chipper, use a lot of pine shavings in the coop and run, can you chip small tree limbs with yours,what size wood ?

 

[gtaus]

You are 100% correct about wood waste demoing pallets, how well did your wood chipper work? I have been thinking about a wood chipper, use a lot of pine shavings in the coop and run, can you chip small tree limbs with yours,what size wood ?

The small Sun Joe woodchipper I was referring to is this...

I bought this woodchipper about 5 years ago. I see it is currently unavailable on Amazon, maybe they have a newer model now.

For small branches, less than 1-1/2 inch round, it does a good job chipping up the wood. It makes nice chips that I use in my brooder and nest boxes. If you have small branches in the yard after a strong windstorm, then this little unit makes something useful out of all that wood.

I also have a larger 5HP gas woodchipper that can chip up to 3-inch branches. That, of course, is faster and much more powerful. But it is a real PITA to get started whereas the electric chipper works every time I plug it in.

I have to be honest, however, and tell you that I really don't use either of my woodchippers much anymore. I found I could load up all the free wood chips I can haul in my utility trailer at our local county landfill. It takes me about 20 minutes to fork in a full load of wood chips on my 4X8 foot trailer at the landfill. If I had to chip up that same amount with either of my woodchippers at home, it would take me hours and hours and hours.

To take that scenario one step further, it took me about 30 minutes the other day to chip up some small branches I picked up off the yard and I got about one full 5-gallon bucket of woodchips. A 5-gallon bucket is equal to 0.67 cubic feet. At that rate, it would take me almost 24 hours to chip up enough wood to fill my 4X8 foot trailer that holds 32 cubic feet. That's the trailer that I can load out in about 20 minutes at the landfill with their free wood chips.

Additionally, my chipper blades are only sharp for about 3 hours of run time and then I have to resharpen them. For the electric chipper, the blades are double sided so I can flip them over. Still, I estimate that I have to remove and sharpen those blades every 6 hours of run time.

Obviously, for me, having access to all the free wood chips I could ever use from our landfill is a much better option for me if I need a large quantity of woodchips for something like the chicken run. If I only need a bucket full of fresh woodchips, for the brooder or the nest boxes, then my little electric Sun Joe chipper works fine.

As far as using the electric chipper to chip up pallet wood bits and pieces (less than 1-1/2 inch) it did a good job, but very slow. I think it took me almost an hour to chip up a 5-gallon bucket of pallet wood bits and pieces and it yielded about half a 5-gallon bucket of chips. I only did that one time. After that, I just saved those pallet wood bits and pieces, and larger pallet wood cut offs, and dumped them in my hügelkultur raised beds. For me, that was a better use of my time and labor.

My last option for using any wood on my property is to burn it. But even then, I use it to burn out stumps, so it still has some value to me in burning it. I always have a stump or two that needs to be burned out every summer. I just roll one of my fire rings to the stump and set it up there as a campfire. Probably takes all summer to burn it out a little at a time, but that's OK with me.

 

[Sally PB]

Speaking of chippers... I spent nearly $1000 on a DW chipper a couple years ago. I've used it 3? 4? times. Hardly worth the cost. I thought I'd use it more.

But now that I have it, I'll keep it.

 

[gtaus]

Speaking of chippers... I spent nearly $1000 on a DW chipper a couple years ago. I've used it 3? 4? times. Hardly worth the cost. I thought I'd use it more.

But now that I have it, I'll keep it.

Yeah, 4 years ago I found out that our county landfill has all the free wood chips I could ever use and since then my chippers have seen little action in the past few years. Before that, I used them a lot. But it's hard to beat FREE wood chips if you can find them locally.

I paid about $150.00 for the Sun Joe electric chipper about 5 years ago and over $1,000.00 for the larger gas chipper I purchased maybe 20 years ago. I have not used my gas chipper in 2 or 3 years.

I use my electric Sun Joe chipper to process small branches I pick up in yard cleanup, maybe once a month in the summertime, but only for small jobs. It does make nice brooder and nesting chips.

If a person's main goal is to process waste pallet wood, buying a woodchipper might not be cost effective. I would consider any number of other options to use waste pallet wood before trying to chip it up again, like I did, one time only with electric chipper and then decided it was not worth the effort.

 

[Krugerrand]

The small Sun Joe woodchipper I was referring to is this...

View attachment 3873366

I bought this woodchipper about 5 years ago. I see it is currently unavailable on Amazon, maybe they have a newer model now.

For small branches, less than 1-1/2 inch round, it does a good job chipping up the wood. It makes nice chips that I use in my brooder and nest boxes. If you have small branches in the yard after a strong windstorm, then this little unit makes something useful out of all that wood.

I also have a larger 5HP gas woodchipper that can chip up to 3-inch branches. That, of course, is faster and much more powerful. But it is a real PITA to get started whereas the electric chipper works every time I plug it in.

I have to be honest, however, and tell you that I really don't use either of my woodchippers much anymore. I found I could load up all the free wood chips I can haul in my utility trailer at our local county landfill. It takes me about 20 minutes to fork in a full load of wood chips on my 4X8 foot trailer at the landfill. If I had to chip up that same amount with either of my woodchippers at home, it would take me hours and hours and hours.

To take that scenario one step further, it took me about 30 minutes the other day to chip up some small branches I picked up off the yard and I got about one full 5-gallon bucket of woodchips. A 5-gallon bucket is equal to 0.67 cubic feet. At that rate, it would take me almost 24 hours to chip up enough wood to fill my 4X8 foot trailer that holds 32 cubic feet. That's the trailer that I can load out in about 20 minutes at the landfill with their free wood chips.

Additionally, my chipper blades are only sharp for about 3 hours of run time and then I have to resharpen them. For the electric chipper, the blades are double sided so I can flip them over. Still, I estimate that I have to remove and sharpen those blades every 6 hours of run time.

Obviously, for me, having access to all the free wood chips I could ever use from our landfill is a much better option for me if I need a large quantity of woodchips for something like the chicken run. If I only need a bucket full of fresh woodchips, for the brooder or the nest boxes, then my little electric Sun Joe chipper works fine.

As far as using the electric chipper to chip up pallet wood bits and pieces (less than 1-1/2 inch) it did a good job, but very slow. I think it took me almost an hour to chip up a 5-gallon bucket of pallet wood bits and pieces and it yielded about half a 5-gallon bucket of chips. I only did that one time. After that, I just saved those pallet wood bits and pieces, and larger pallet wood cut offs, and dumped them in my hügelkultur raised beds. For me, that was a better use of my time and labor.

My last option for using any wood on my property is to burn it. But even then, I use it to burn out stumps, so it still has some value to me in burning it. I always have a stump or two that needs to be burned out every summer. I just roll one of my fire rings to the stump and set it up there as a campfire. Probably takes all summer to burn it out a little at a time, but that's OK with me.

I have the Harbor Freight version of that:
https://www.harborfreight.com/14-amp-1-12-in-capacity-corded-electric-chipper-shredder-69293.html

I use it on lightweight stuff like raspberry canes and end of year peonies. Then the stuff goes into the compost nicely.