Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[Sally PB]

but to me it's a thing of beauty. It's like money in the bank for my gardening efforts.

I agree, compost is gorgeous!

 

[ChicksnMore]

I'm planning on building another coop that will be 3 pallets wide by 4 pallets long. Would like to have just dirt flooring and do a deep litter method on top. My question is, should I atleast place the bottom row of pallets on cinderblocks, to protect from the elements, or placing them directly on the ground suffice? What are everyone else's experience, is what I am asking for. TIA

All my pallet coops were built directly on the ground. So far (10 years or so) all are still standing and only one needed repairs where it touches the ground. It only needed repairs where I keep the water bowl pushed against one wall and dump, rinse it there too. Desert here and very dry normally.

So I'd say it depends on your conditions. With deep litter or high moisture, cinder blocks sound smart.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Thanks gtaus!

I am hoping that this will be the last of my coop building, so I'd like for it to last for quite some time. I can always expand upon it, if/when the time comes, but want the basis to be as solid as possible. OK, time to check out Facebook Marketplace to see who is offering free cinderblocks.

There's an app called freebies alerts also. My local area had someone giving away a bunch of blocks yesterday. Might get lucky and find some on there.

 

[gtaus]

All my pallet coops were built directly on the ground. So far (10 years or so) all are still standing and only one needed repairs where it touches the ground. It only needed repairs where I keep the water bowl pushed against one wall and dump, rinse it there too. Desert here and very dry normally.

I don't live in a desert. I think I would be lucky to get 3 years with wood on ground contact, unless you use treated wood, and then maybe 5-6 years for that. Desert heat and dryness have a big effect on how you might build something.

So I'd say it depends on your conditions. With deep litter or high moisture, cinder blocks sound smart.

Exactly, a deep litter system should always be moist, like a wrung out sponge, to keep the composting action alive. Initially, I though I would use a deep litter system in my elevated chicken coop, but I ended up doing dry deep bedding. I live in northern Minnesota, and I wanted to keep my coop as dry as possible in the winter. Plus, my coop is elevated and has no ground contact for composting. Deep litter would still be possible, but a dry deep bedding works better for me with an elevated coop.

I made a litter well about 12 inches deep in my chicken coop. I have been using paper shreds for the past 2 winters and that works out better for me than wood chips, dried leaves, etc... Every couple of weeks, throughout the winter, I add a fresh layer of paper shreds on top of the old. Come springtime, I have about 10 inches or more of paper shreds to clean out. They get tossed into the chicken run composting system and turn into compost.

If you can find cinder blocks to make a well about 12 inches deep, that would be great. If not, as I mentioned, you could probably use some sacrificial pallet wood lumber to make a barrier wall between the coop walls and the deep litter compost. Then, just replace those sacrificial boards as needed when you clean out the old deep litter.

I used cheap linoleum to line my walls up to 12 inches deep. I have heard a number of people using Black Jack 57 rubber coating paint and swear by it. I got my linoleum on sale for about half the price of Black Jack 57, and it has held up well for me for over 4 years.

I made all those decisions before I got into pallet wood projects. Today, I think I would just use some sacrificial plywood off my pallets or even pallet wood planks instead of buying the linoleum. Yes, wood will eventually rot and will have to be replaced, but you also have maintenance with Black Jack 57 and linoleum as well. At least the pallet wood is free for me.

Bottom line for me is to try to first use whatever free resources I can find. The chickens don't care and I would rather save money where I can.

 

[chickengr]

I'm planning on building another coop that will be 3 pallets wide by 4 pallets long. Would like to have just dirt flooring and do a deep litter method on top. My question is, should I atleast place the bottom row of pallets on cinderblocks, to protect from the elements, or placing them directly on the ground suffice? What are everyone else's experience, is what I am asking for. TIA

I vote cinderblocks. in my climate wood on the ground wouldn't last more than 1-2 years.

 

[chickengr]

Came across this picture that looked interesting. Notice how they only used pavers mainly on the corners of the coop. That keeps your lower base boards up off the wet ground but does not require blocks all the way around 100% of the structure....

View attachment 3653551

nice but not predatorproof.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I don't live in a desert. I think I would be lucky to get 3 years with wood on ground contact, unless you use treated wood, and then maybe 5-6 years for that. Desert heat and dryness have a big effect on how you might build something.



Exactly, a deep litter system should always be moist, like a wrung out sponge, to keep the composting action alive. Initially, I though I would use a deep litter system in my elevated chicken coop, but I ended up doing dry deep bedding. I live in northern Minnesota, and I wanted to keep my coop as dry as possible in the winter. Plus, my coop is elevated and has no ground contact for composting. Deep litter would still be possible, but a dry deep bedding works better for me with an elevated coop.

I made a litter well about 12 inches deep in my chicken coop. I have been using paper shreds for the past 2 winters and that works out better for me than wood chips, dried leaves, etc... Every couple of weeks, throughout the winter, I add a fresh layer of paper shreds on top of the old. Come springtime, I have about 10 inches or more of paper shreds to clean out. They get tossed into the chicken run composting system and turn into compost.

If you can find cinder blocks to make a well about 12 inches deep, that would be great. If not, as I mentioned, you could probably use some sacrificial pallet wood lumber to make a barrier wall between the coop walls and the deep litter compost. Then, just replace those sacrificial boards as needed when you clean out the old deep litter.

I used cheap linoleum to line my walls up to 12 inches deep. I have heard a number of people using Black Jack 57 rubber coating paint and swear by it. I got my linoleum on sale for about half the price of Black Jack 57, and it has held up well for me for over 4 years.

View attachment 3654115

I made all those decisions before I got into pallet wood projects. Today, I think I would just use some sacrificial plywood off my pallets or even pallet wood planks instead of buying the linoleum. Yes, wood will eventually rot and will have to be replaced, but you also have maintenance with Black Jack 57 and linoleum as well. At least the pallet wood is free for me.

Bottom line for me is to try to first use whatever free resources I can find. The chickens don't care and I would rather save money where I can.

Love the idea of making a well. I want to go back to deep litter. I haven't used it since my youngest was in grade school...she's in college now. I've been trying to decide if it's worth the maintenance since everything here was built directly on the ground. I have tons of scrap wood, lots of leftover asphalt paint and cooling weather to work in. We're down into the 90's this week.

Spent this morning emptying one of my cold compost bins into an all metal chicken run. Here bins like that don't really compost because they're bone dry almost all of the time. I usually use it to layer into my hot bin where it breaks down fast. The birds are just so dang happy scritching and scratching around in it. It's mostly horse manure which the chickens go nuts for.

 

[gtaus]

nice but not predatorproof.

It was a work in progress, not a completed coop.

 

[Smokerbill]

snip....but I ended up doing dry deep bedding....snip

I guess that's what I have. Six inches more or less of wood chips in the runs, and totally dry because of the metal roof over the area. Chicken poop disappears quickly, but there's sure a lot of dust, which is probably all chicken excrement. I try not to breathe it in. LOL

 

[gtaus]

there's sure a lot of dust, which is probably all chicken excrement. I try not to breathe it in. LOL

I read somewhere that chicken dust is by and large chicken dander. I suppose dried chicken poo might be a bit dusty as well. Although I don't normally consider wood chips to be dusty, well, they are compared to the paper shreds which I now use in the coop as litter.

Last week, I dumped a couple bins full of dried leaves in the coop to mix in with the paper shreds litter, and boy were the leaves ever dusty. Oh well, after a few days the leaves and the paper shreds got mixed by the chickens and the dust settled down.

I clean out my coop twice a year, and I always were a mask. I have found that the paper shreds I now use are less dusty than either wood chips or leaves. But I would use any free litter that I could find, dusty or not.

The only reason I wear a mask when cleaning out the coop is because shoveling up all that old litter raises dust into the air inside the coop. Normally, if I just have to go into the coop for some reason, I don't need a mask because it's not dusty just walking around.

Again, I found that cleaning out the paper shreds litter was less dusty than other types of litter I have used.

Not only am I into free pallet wood, I'm also into using free paper shreds for chicken coop litter as well. Paper shreds make excellent litter, and they compost much faster than wood chips when I toss them out into the chicken run composting system.