questions about pallet coop.

I have never built a pallet coop, but I built a pretty good sized compost bin from pallets and I used large deck screws.

 

our coop is built out of 4x14 oak pallets my hubby brought home from work. We laid them down flat, side by side and put a landscape timber up through them then screwed that fast making a 8x14 wall out of two pallets. Then we used 6 inch lag screws two bolt the wall panels together at the corners. 3-4 lags in each corner. They were terribly heavy this way it took three guys to stand a wall, then two held it while three stood the next wall, again two holding it while the last guy lagged them together.

 

Having almost finished my pallet coop, I'll offer some suggestions....

#1- Most important!! Make sure all your pallets are exactly the same. The same size, the same construction, and above all, in good shape, meaning if they have been broken and pieced back together with extra wood don't use them as they will create headaches, bigtime!! Mine were not all the same, some were pieced together with extra wood and that's why mine is still not completely done yet!!!

#2-I do not believe bolting them together will make enough difference to justify the extra time it would take to do it... Once they are all up and covered in plywood or OSB, they become very sturdy. I was on the roof of mine this weekend putting shingles on and it never even wobbled, I am NOT a small man ;o) Mine withstood a 60 mph wind storm yesterday so I guess I can attest to the sturdiness of this method of construction.


#3-Using a 2x4 between them is the best way to attach them together is the best way to do it, NOT the way I did mine but wish I had. It adds rigidity you just can't get with most other methods. Picture a pallet/2x4/pallet... And it saves the hassle of trying to fish a landscape timber or 2x4 inside them, it depends upon the size of you pallets if anything nominal size will even fit between the slats.

#4-Pre-drill all your screw holes... This one you'd learn very quickly on your own if you're using hardwood pallets ;o)

#5-Cut your windows and doors out of the pallets before you put the sheeting up. It's much easier to cut the windows through only the plywood or OSB than both. I heeded this advice except I decided to add an extra window and even with a sawzall, it wasn't fun.

#6-Make sure there are no protruding nails on any of your pallets where you will be attaching plywood or your 2x4's to, they really throw things off.

#7-Relax, it's a chicken coop, it doesn't have to be perfect, unless of course you're in a neighborhood where folks have the right to complain about such nonsense as what your chicken coop looks like;o)

Sorry if this was a bit long winded I hope it helps.

Here's some pictures of mine, almost done!!!

 

wow Ilike that pallet coop!!! I think i can do that. I can get free pallets from a friends, hubby's work. I already have 5 that I did not tear up for under our porch coop.. I'd like to have more then 1 coop, esp if i'll have more chickens someday

 

Thanks!

I started mine by screwing 2 pallets together side by side on saw horses, then setting them off to the side to make more walls. Then when I had my lower "walls" all built I started connecting them together. This worked o.k. but it did makes things quite heavy and hard to move around, especially the upper "walls".

I believe I wasted a lot of time because my pallets were NOT all the same.... This is perhaps the MOST important aspect of building a coop out of pallets if you want it to be easier to build. Take the time to be picky about the pallets you get. The problem I had was that all the pallets we have at work are on a 2- 53 foot semi trailers and there are many different varieties and sizes so it would have taken considerable time to go through all those pallets to make sure they are the same. It would have been time well spent because constuction then could have proceeded much faster.

The pallet barn I will be building for the goats we are getting will be done differently... I will start with 1 pallet standing up with a 2x4 connected to it going to the ground as a brace. I will then screw an 8' 2x4 to the side of the pallet, then connect another pallet to that to make a corner and continue the same process from there.

I will make the floor for the new one the same way only I will remove the bracing 2x4's and let it all fall to the ground and start building the rest of it on top of that.

 

What a great idea - making a coop out of pallets. I can get them free as well. We just finished our first coop - it will have 7 or 8 chickens, max. When we want to expand, I am definitely going to try this!

 

i havent built a a coop out of pallets but i did get some pallets from my work, took them apart to build the ends of my roof! they work great and free usually!!

 

Quote:Im so going back to my friends husbands work next week to get more pallets LOL!! the smaller onces I got are perfect condition. I can build a small coop out of that !!!! heck I"ll just get a SLUE of them and build a couple coops LMAO!!!! oh god I see "CHICKEN MATH" and COOP MATH forming

 

build it oversize then if your math is off a little you can still add a few more chickens