Pallet Chicken Coop!

[BooeyBird]

Recently we have started building a new chicken coop out of recycled materials and free pallets. We started off with around 20 pallets and the coop will be 5' times 4', a little over 7 feet tall in the front and a little over 5 feet in the back. There will be 5 nesting boxes with access on the outside, roost bars, and easy access to cleaning since it will be tall enough to walk in the front part of the coop. I'm not sure what the dimensions of the run will be yet, because I'm not following any plans. This coop will be the home to 6 happy chickens!

Day 1: On the first day, the hardest part was carrying all the pallets to the work space and taking the ones we needed apart. To do the floor we used 5 old 2' by 4's and cut the length of the front and back side to 5 feet and the sides to 4 feet. After screwing them together we took the wood from a pallet and screwed the planks in as the floor. We set the floor on top of 4 cinder blocks so the wood won't rot.


Day 2: On the second day, we had to take apart the pallets with long enough 2' by 4's for the length of the walls. In the back it is about 5 feet and in the front about 7 feet. We also had to cut notches in the bottom to make them fit in the floor (we cut notches in the floor pieces too).

After we did that we put 2 pieces of the same length on top of the wooden posts, this will later be cut at an angle. This is all we got done on day 2.


That's all we have done so far, I will keep you updated from day to day!

 

[Wxguru]

AWESOME start! I am in the middle of a pallet coop build. a 52"x84" with 4' high wall in front and 3' in back (low profile). Foundation and walls are pallets. I have bought treated lumber to frame out the floor and bought good quality studs for framing for roof.

 

[Kelsie2290]

Looks like you are off to a good start! Good luck with the rest of the build and hope the weather cooperates for you!

 

[BooeyBird]

Yeah it looks like it is going to rain all week.

 

[smcgill]

Looking good!

 

[BooeyBird]

We got more work done this weekend! Here is the progress:

Day 3:

We started to put the walls up (The edges are hanging off for now but we will cut them off later).


Day 4:

Next we framed out the room and also added a window to the side wall.

Then we used a piece of plywood that we got for free for the roof. Later we are going to add shingles on the top of it.

We had to tear apart many pallets to get enough wood for the back wall. The pieces on the side are going to be cut off later on and some will stay for a part of the nesting boxes. Then we tore apart more pallets and cut the wood pieces at a slant to fill in the left side wall.

Then with more pallet wood we filled in the right side wall and left a part blank where the nesting boxes will eventually go.

So far we have put up 3 walls, but we still need to fix a few things on them and finish the nesting boxes and window.
Next we need to do the front of the coop and the door.

 

[BooeyBird]

We got a little more done yesterday.. All the hard work is in taking apart the pallets.
Day 5:

We put shingles up on the roof. A few pieces in the back wall are a little loose so later on they will be secured.

We put up the front wall and the little chicken door, which will eventually be a pulley system where I can slide open the door from the outside. The other half of the front will be a door so I can go inside.

 

[BooeyBird]

Day 6:


We finished the chicken door. It has a pulley system that is maneuvered from outside, so you pull the string up and the door opens.


We put some old chicken wire up on the window and put a trim on it. Later there will be shutters.

Next we starting building the nesting boxes. We framed it with 2' by 4's and used slats from the pallets for the floor. For support we extended the boxes partway into the coop and added support beams underneath.

We added the walls of the boxes in at a slant so the roof will be slanted. The front is 18 inches and the back is 12 inches. There will either be 2 or 3 boxes in this area. Eventually we will add more but not all the girls are laying yet.

We made a few chicken ladders. One for the front, and one for the nesting boxes.

Things left to do:
-Nesting box roof
-Door
-Shutters
-Moving the old run onto the new coop