Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Alternative Pallet Site Saved My Trip!

Since I had to sell my old Ford Explorer to the junkyard for scrap value, I have not been picking up pallets as much as before. That car was perfect to toss in 5 or 6 pallets each time I went to town. I can't do that with the family SUV's because I don't want to scratch or rip the back cargo area or the back seats which I would have to fold down.

Yesterday, I was at Harbor Freight picking up a free 5-gallon bucket. I noticed they had a few nice ~6-foot-long pallets outside for free pickup. They were in great shape, so I decided to hook up my utility trailer today and go back there and pick up those pallets.

Unfortunately, someone beat me to those pallets at Harbor Freight, and everything was gone, including the normal sized pallets that I would have taken in the load. That was a little disappointing, but not totally unexpected. Free pallets don't last long around here.

So, I got another free 5-gallon bucket at Harbor Freight today and then took a swing by one of my other sources of pallets to see if they had anything.

I got lucky. I was able to pick up three 6-foot-long pallets, one of which was all 2X4's including the top planks. I like those all 2X4 pallets because they are usually the easiest to take apart and save all the wood. I also picked up one 8-foot-long pallet that I tossed on top of everything. Nice full length 2X4's on that long pallet. Here is a picture of that...

When I check out pallets, I always look to see if any of them have any special hardware that I can take off and reuse. One of the 6-foot-long pallets had three 10-foot-long black cords with a metal snap at the end. Here is what they looked like...

I already have a couple ideas of how to put to good use. So that was a nice find.

Then I found another 6-foot-pallet with square head (Kreg-type) screws and large fender washers. I don't know what the pallet was used for, but here is a picture of those square head screws and fender washers...

Quick estimate is that I probably have 28 sets of those. I'm sure they will come in handy on a future project. The 2X4's on that pallet were good, but the planks were not the greatest. Anyways, I took that pallet mainly for those screws and fender washers with the 6-foot-long 2X4's as a bonus.

Finally, I was going to butcher some chickens today but got rained out. While I was loading up these long pallets into my utility trailer, I found this small 24X30 inch solid top pallet that should be perfect for a temporary butchering table...

In the end, I think I got lucky and probably got a better load of pallets than I had planned. It's good that I have a few places I can check for free pallets because you never know what might be available.

 

[gtaus]

Pallet Wood Chicken Butchering Table Was a Bust!

A few days ago, I was all excited that I found a small 24X30 inch solid top pallet. I said I was going to make a nice chicken butchering stand using that partial pallet...

I had all the 2X4's ready to build the frame, and another half pallet to put under it to hold a bucket for the chicken guts, etc... Today, I started dry fitting everything together and I had a change of heart.

Did I really want to build another stand for a 1-hour job that I only do maybe once or twice a year? Where would I put the stand when I did not need it - the other 364 days of the year?

The answer came to me that what I wanted was only a very temporary solution. I did not want to have to store a butchering stand for the next 364 days in the backyard. My solution was to simply put that partial solid top pallet on top of some sawhorses to make the table, then I put the bucket on the ground to toss in the chicken's innards. Worked perfectly. Setup in less than 5 minutes, clean up and breakdown less than 5 minutes, chickens butchered, and everything put away. No need to create a space for storing a butchering table.

I thought I'd be clucking about how I made this great pallet wood butchering table and how well it worked for me. I like building stuff. However, it just made more sense for me to plop the pallet on top of some sawhorses to use as my tabletop and call it done. Not much of a pallet project project, but there it is.

I did make good use out of that special hardware I took off those pallets from my last trip...

That rope was about 10 feet long. I wrapped it around a beam to a height where I could clip in the chickens suspended upside down by some twine around their feet. I don't have a killing cone - yet - but I saw a nice YouTube video where they used twine around the chicken's feet to hang the chickens upside down over a bucket to cut their throats and bleed them out. Then you use the same twine around their feet to dunk them in the hot water bath. Keeps your hands out of the hot water. Worked great for me.

Not much else to say except that everything went well. Hated to butcher some ~5 year old hens, but needed to reduce the flock before winter sets in. These hens were no longer laying eggs. I don't have a backyard flock as pets to feed all winter long without getting any eggs. I have a few more birds that we might cull before winter.

I also found out that these laying hens just don't have nearly as much meat on them as the Cornish Cross meat chickens we raised years ago. We plan of making some stew or soup out of these old hens before we decide what to do with the next 2 or 3 hens we need to cull. I hope they taste good. But I fear they may be a bit tough.

“You take an old stewing hen, toss her in a pot with a rock, boil it for hours. When it’s done, you throw out the chicken and eat the rock—it’s more tender!”

 

[chickengr]

Pallet Wood Chicken Butchering Table Was a Bust!

A few days ago, I was all excited that I found a small 24X30 inch solid top pallet. I said I was going to make a nice chicken butchering stand using that partial pallet...

View attachment 4231099

I had all the 2X4's ready to build the frame, and another half pallet to put under it to hold a bucket for the chicken guts, etc... Today, I started dry fitting everything together and I had a change of heart.

Did I really want to build another stand for a 1-hour job that I only do maybe once or twice a year? Where would I put the stand when I did not need it - the other 364 days of the year?

The answer came to me that what I wanted was only a very temporary solution. I did not want to have to store a butchering stand for the next 364 days in the backyard. My solution was to simply put that partial solid top pallet on top of some sawhorses to make the table, then I put the bucket on the ground to toss in the chicken's innards. Worked perfectly. Setup in less than 5 minutes, clean up and breakdown less than 5 minutes, chickens butchered, and everything put away. No need to create a space for storing a butchering table.

I thought I'd be clucking about how I made this great pallet wood butchering table and how well it worked for me. I like building stuff. However, it just made more sense for me to plop the pallet on top of some sawhorses to use as my tabletop and call it done. Not much of a pallet project project, but there it is.

I did make good use out of that special hardware I took off those pallets from my last trip...

View attachment 4231101

That rope was about 10 feet long. I wrapped it around a beam to a height where I could clip in the chickens suspended upside down by some twine around their feet. I don't have a killing cone - yet - but I saw a nice YouTube video where they used twine around the chicken's feet to hang the chickens upside down over a bucket to cut their throats and bleed them out. Then you use the same twine around their feet to dunk them in the hot water bath. Keeps your hands out of the hot water. Worked great for me.

Not much else to say except that everything went well. Hated to butcher some ~5 year old hens, but needed to reduce the flock before winter sets in. These hens were no longer laying eggs. I don't have a backyard flock as pets to feed all winter long without getting any eggs. I have a few more birds that we might cull before winter.

I also found out that these laying hens just don't have nearly as much meat on them as the Cornish Cross meat chickens we raised years ago. We plan of making some stew or soup out of these old hens before we decide what to do with the next 2 or 3 hens we need to cull. I hope they taste good. But I fear they may be a bit tough.

“You take an old stewing hen, toss her in a pot with a rock, boil it for hours. When it’s done, you throw out the chicken and eat the rock—it’s more tender!”

if I had that old hen I would mince her meat. I remember old hen hamburgers I ate ages ago. they were sooooo tasty.

 

[gtaus]

if I had that old hen I would mince her meat. I remember old hen hamburgers I ate ages ago. they were sooooo tasty.

Thanks. I'll mention that to Dear Wife. She does most of the cooking in our house. I know she has made chicken salad spread for sandwiches before which we really liked.

 

[Molpet]

I cut up a kitty litter jug for a cone when my first 12 week old
CX wouldn't fit in the large metal store bought cone I bought used.

I have an old folding fish cleaning table I use to butcher. It has a groove to catch the blood.
2 of my meat mutt chickens and a turkey, showing blood in groove

Old birds I rest for 7 days and either slow crockpot for ever or pressure cook for a couple hours. Makes great pulled chicken

 

[fuzzi]

I cut up a kitty litter jug for a cone when my first 12 week old
CX wouldn't fit in the large metal store bought cone I bought used.
View attachment 4232428

I have an old folding fish cleaning table I use to butcher. It has a groove to catch the blood.
2 of my meat mutt chickens and a turkey, showing blood in groove
View attachment 4232430

Old birds I rest for 7 days and either slow crockpot for ever or pressure cook for a couple hours. Makes great pulled chicken

View attachment 4232431

How did you get them so cleanly plucked?

 

[Molpet]

How did you get them so cleanly plucked?

I have a yardbird plucker.
I buy myself a big gift yearly since my brother and I decided to not exchange gifts.

 

[gtaus]

How did you get them so cleanly plucked?

First thing that came to my mind as well.

I have a yardbird plucker.

Yeah, I figured. I only butcher, or plan to butcher, maybe 4 chickens per year. I just can't see investing hundreds of dollars in a plucker for 4 birds per year. It sure would be nice, though. If I had meat chickens to process every year, then it would certainly make sense.

Dear Wife is planning on cooking up the two old hens we processed last weekend. She is going to make chicken soup to start with. Maybe making shredded chicken meat for sandwiches after that. In any case, if she does not like the taste/texture of the old hens, I think in the future I will just cull the birds and bury them in a compost pile.

I watched a YouTube video by Joel Salatin on what he does with his old laying hens. He simply culls the old birds and feeds them to his hogs. He does not bother to process old laying hens. I think if I had hogs, I would probably do the same. But we are going to try to stew up the old layers first and see if it any good. I'll update the thread later when we get them cooked up and let you all know what we think.

 

[gtaus]

I cut up a kitty litter jug for a cone when my first 12 week old
CX wouldn't fit in the large metal store bought cone I bought used.

I don't have any kitty litter jugs, but I have a stack of free 5-gallon buckets from Harbor Freight. I found this YouTube video on how to make a nice killing cone from a bucket...

Because you have to bend the plastic into shape, you need to use a newer bucket. Old buckets might be too hard and brittle from sun exposure, etc... and will just break when you try to bend the plastic into shape.

 

[gtaus]

I have an old folding fish cleaning table I use to butcher. It has a groove to catch the blood.

I have a folding table that I could have set up. But I did not want to have to clean it all up afterwards to get the chicken guts off. So, I just used that partial solid top pallet I picked up a few weeks ago. When I was done with it, I just hosed it down with the garden hose.

I used a cutting board with grooves in it to catch any blood. However, I discovered that by hanging the chickens upside down by their feet over a bucket, then slitting their throats, that all the blood was drained out of the birds into the bucket before I brought them to the butchering table.

Looks like you have a pretty nice setup for butchering chickens. Do you have meat chickens that you process? I see you invested in a chicken plucker, so you must be much more serious than me. The only investment I have made is I bought a turkey fryer last year to heat up a large pot of soaking water. That worked well for me this year. Of course, I can use the turkey fryer for other things as well, so it was not a dedicated purchase just for processing the few chickens I have to butcher each year.