Pallet coop question

[3KillerBs]

I'll have to check out the star/square screws, I just got normal Phillips head deck screws, and I definitely stripped one or two. Some of the wood was also nearly impossible to pre-drill through, I've never had that problem before! Fresh battery in the drill and everything, but we powered through.

I see that everyone recommends an impact driver in the coop section - I've never used one, it seems like it would be more for nails than screws?

An impact driver doesn't do nails. It's a heavy-duty tool for driving screws into harder-to-penetrate materials. Our DeWalt 20v makes nothing out of setting self-tapping metal screws into metal roofing.

 

[citymeetscountry]

We just threw together a bachelor pad for our ducks out of pallets. Just a simple A frame/triangle and used 1/4” wire to cover the gaps. I plan to also put some vinyl siding over (we had left over) some of it so it’s not as open but still has ventilation. We did bite the bullet and buy a sheet of plywood to cut for our door, but that was because my husband didn’t want to deal with the hassle of pulling boards apart and constructing. Best of luck! There are so many different ways to construct a pallet coop.

 

[aart]

I'll have to check out the star/square screws, I just got normal Phillips head deck screws, and I definitely stripped one or two. Some of the wood was also nearly impossible to pre-drill through, I've never had that problem before! Fresh battery in the drill and everything, but we powered through.

I see that everyone recommends an impact driver in the coop section - I've never used one, it seems like it would be more for nails than screws?

Some pallets can be very hard wood, and also older wood is often harder.
Takes practice to learn when a pilot hole might be best.

I must be old school, have no problem using philips head screws, just gotta keep your axis' aligned, use the right size, and avoid using cheap screws.

 

[McChooky]

Hey y'all! I got a bunch of pallets to use the wood to build my coop (lumber prices are way too crazy right now!), and all the pallet coops I see just use the lumber itself. I'm curious if there are any downsides I'm missing to using the whole pallet as-is? It seems like an easy way to build the walls. Plus I live in Texas so I'm thinking the gaps (covered with hardware cloth) would be good, but I'm wondering if I'm missing something negative about using whole pallets!

I wish I had ran across this one when I was ready to make one myself. My own coop was harder to build because I was a green horn!(you learn as you go!)This one only takes 4 whole pallets but you could double it in size by adding an extra pallet to each side.

 

[aart]

I wish I had ran across this one when I was ready to make one myself. My own coop was harder to build because I was a green horn!(you learn as you go!)This one only takes 4 whole pallets but you could double it in size by adding an extra pallet to each side.

That looks more like a composting bin than a chicken coop.

 

[springvalley123]

I have had coops made out of whole pallets, in fact my current coop is made of pallets. The plus side, is it's easy to disassemble and reassemble if/when you move. The minus side, if you leave the boards on both sides of the pallet, they're very hard to clean, and you will need to clean them (or try to ) because the chickens will roost on the planks instead of the roosts you make for them. Now that I've removed the higher inner planks it's much better. I have my pallets on concrete blocks to get the right height, and have to cover them to keep poop out of the wholes intrinsic to the 8x8x16 blocks. I put plywood/siding on 2 sides for wind, and have a partial wall on the other side, but I'm in a fairly extreme desert climate. And I drill pilot holes for virtually all screws because I inherited the pallets. I hope your project is going well!

 

[McChooky]

That looks more like a composting bin than a chicken coop.

This only shows the assembly of 4 pallets on legs sorry lol

 

[MadGardener]

Sometimes backing a screw back out and re-driving can help. It was the only way I could replace siding on my woodshed with black locust beams. Pre-drilled the boards to prevent splitting, but dang those beams are HARD!

Recycling lumber is frustrating sometimes.

 

[aart]

Sometimes backing a screw back out and re-driving can help.

Adding some beeswax can really help too.
I have a chunk of it in my tool bag to rub screws against before driving them.

 

[MadGardener]

Adding some beeswax can really help too.
I have a chunk of it in my tool bag to rub screws against before driving them.

I'll definitely give that a try!