Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Took my usual weekly drive into town today with the old Explorer. Came up empty on everything I wanted to check out in town at the stores. Out of stock or never had situations...

I took my Explorer in town in the off chance that I might be able to pick up some pallets. Drove past both my usual pick-up spots for pallets, and nothing there. Oh well. Somedays you don't have any luck.

Since I had the back of the Explorer empty, I decided to drive past a place that I occasionally get some pallets. Last time I was there, a few weeks ago, there was not anything available. Today, they had a few pallets that were OK so I was loading them up into the back of the old Explorer. I had the back about half full when some guy, who I assumed worked at that place, stopped to talk to me. Assuming the worse, I expected he was going to tell me that I could no longer get pallets there.

To my great surprise, he informed me that they had a mountain of pallets in the back of their property, and they would love for me take whatever I could. Eventually, he was just going to have to pay somebody to haul them out to the landfill and pay for that expense as well. So, I thanked him and told him I would check out the other pallets.

He was not kidding about a mountain of pallets! Here is a picture of about 60% of the pallets they have out back. Lots of great condition wood in that pile mixed in with less desirable pallets. Anyway, I filled up the back of the old Explorer with what I could fit in the car. But there are a number of 6- and 8-foot-long pallets with good 2X4s in that mountain of pallets that I will have to come back later and pick up with my utility trailer.

For those of you who don't mind a little work scavenging though piles of wood to take out the good stuff, enjoy this picture....

Anyways, a busted trip into town turned out to be the best luck I have had in a long time!

 

[ChicksnMore]

Took my usual weekly drive into town today with the old Explorer. Came up empty on everything I wanted to check out in town at the stores. Out of stock or never had situations...

I took my Explorer in town in the off chance that I might be able to pick up some pallets. Drove past both my usual pick-up spots for pallets, and nothing there. Oh well. Somedays you don't have any luck.

Since I had the back of the Explorer empty, I decided to drive past a place that I occasionally get some pallets. Last time I was there, a few weeks ago, there was not anything available. Today, they had a few pallets that were OK so I was loading them up into the back of the old Explorer. I had the back about half full when some guy, who I assumed worked at that place, stopped to talk to me. Assuming the worse, I expected he was going to tell me that I could no longer get pallets there.

To my great surprise, he informed me that they had a mountain of pallets in the back of their property, and they would love for me take whatever I could. Eventually, he was just going to have to pay somebody to haul them out to the landfill and pay for that expense as well. So, I thanked him and told him I would check out the other pallets.

He was not kidding about a mountain of pallets! Here is a picture of about 60% of the pallets they have out back. Lots of great condition wood in that pile mixed in with less desirable pallets. Anyway, I filled up the back of the old Explorer with what I could fit in the car. But there are a number of 6- and 8-foot-long pallets with good 2X4s in that mountain of pallets that I will have to come back later and pick up with my utility trailer.

For those of you who don't mind a little work scavenging though piles of wood to take out the good stuff, enjoy this picture....

View attachment 3472473

Anyways, a busted trip into town turned out to be the best luck I have had in a long time!

Wonderful find!

 

[Knobby]

Just counted my collection of pallets and I am currently at 55. My next project is to try and build a coop for the 6 Pekin ducks that I purchased on Monday. It was an impulsive purchase and I didn't do any homework prior to deciding on raising ducks. I think I should be able to conjure up something that they will like, and I shall share pics once I've completed it.

 

[gtaus]

I think I should be able to conjure up something that they will like, and I shall share pics once I've completed it.

I had ducks and geese years ago. Really enjoyed them. I live on a lake and let my ducks swim out in the lake all the time. In the fall, I let my Mallards fly off south with the wild ducks. In late fall, we harvested our domesticated ducks that could not fly.

But ducks are a lot more messy than chickens. My duck house/coop lasted for the summer, but I tore it down and burned it that fall (I only had the ducks for the summer months). If I did it over again, I think I would have a duck house that was sitting on natural dirt to soak up the poo, etc... Also, it would have to be easy to clean out. I had a wood floor in my duck coop, and I think that was a mistake. No matter how much I cleaned the duck coop, it still smelled from the wet wood floor.

If you make a duck house with a wood floor, maybe you could just set the house on some pallets, and then remove/replace/burn the pallet floor when it gets too dirty. I bought brand new plywood for my duck house floor and ended up burning it. At today's prices, that would be a shame. I'd find some way to use those pallets if you need a floor in your duck coop.

Looking forward to pics of your duck house build. Just some ideas I found online...

 

[Knobby]

I had ducks and geese years ago. Really enjoyed them. I live on a lake and let my ducks swim out in the lake all the time. In the fall, I let my Mallards fly off south with the wild ducks. In late fall, we harvested our domesticated ducks that could not fly.

But ducks are a lot more messy than chickens. My duck house/coop lasted for the summer, but I tore it down and burned it that fall (I only had the ducks for the summer months). If I did it over again, I think I would have a duck house that was sitting on natural dirt to soak up the poo, etc... Also, it would have to be easy to clean out. I had a wood floor in my duck coop, and I think that was a mistake. No matter how much I cleaned the duck coop, it still smelled from the wet wood floor.

If you make a duck house with a wood floor, maybe you could just set the house on some pallets, and then remove/replace/burn the pallet floor when it gets too dirty. I bought brand new plywood for my duck house floor and ended up burning it. At today's prices, that would be a shame. I'd find some way to use those pallets if you need a floor in your duck coop.

Looking forward to pics of your duck house build. Just some ideas I found online...

Wow, thank you for sharing your experience with ducks and the pictures! I was considering building a multi-use, multi-level coop to house both chickens and ducks. The bottom coop would be on a dirt floor and used for the ducks, while a ramp led up to the top tier for the chickens. What do you think about that idea? I also planned on digging up a miniature pond inside the run area for the ducks to use. I do have a 2 acre pond that is being planned on being excavated and developed, but I am hesitant on letting the ducks free roam since we have coyotes, hawks and eagles that roam around.

 

[gtaus]

I was considering building a multi-use, multi-level coop to house both chickens and ducks. The bottom coop would be on a dirt floor and used for the ducks, while a ramp led up to the top tier for the chickens. What do you think about that idea?

I never had ducks and chickens at the same time. So, I have never even thought about housing them together under one roof.

I also planned on digging up a miniature pond inside the run area for the ducks to use.

That sounds like a good idea. Ducks need lots of water. At least the ducks I had did.

I do have a 2 acre pond that is being planned on being excavated and developed, but I am hesitant on letting the ducks free roam since we have coyotes, hawks and eagles that roam around.

I protect my laying hens by having them in a chicken run with bird netting on top to prevent an attack from above. I lock up my hens at night in a Fort Knox coop. It would probably take a hungry bear to get into that coop.

I don't free range my hens, but I bring the free range to them in terms of grass clippings, leaves, weeds, food scraps and just about anything else organic gets tossed into the chicken run. I converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system and my chickens spend all day outside scratching and pecking in the compost litter looking for bugs and worms to eat.

I kept my ducks and geese under cover and protected from predators when they were small, but as they got bigger, I let them swim in the lake and free range as much as they wanted. I have hawks and eagles overhead all the time, but they never attacked my full grown ducks or geese. I put the ducks and geese in a locked coop at night to protect them from predators as they slept.

I know some people around where I live that wanted to let their chickens free range. They only have chickens for a few months because it's basically free chicken lunch for the hawks and eagles where I live. So, I don't free range my chickens and I have laying hens for years.

A 2-acre pond sounds like a great idea. I suspect that once the ducks are full grown, they will be able to be outside without as much worry about hawks and eagles. At least, that was my experience.

FWIW, we have wild ducks and geese nesting on our shoreline every spring. I see lots of baby ducks and geese swimming around with their parents early in the year. But often times, they don't survive the summer to be full grown. It is my understanding that large fish, like a Northern Pike, will attack and eat a baby duck or goose swimming in the lake with their parents. Nature can be cruel...

Point being, if you dig out a pond and stock it with some fish, just make sure you get some kind of fish that will not eat your ducks!

 

[chickengr]

IIRC, Justin Rhodes had a number of YouTube videos on using his chickens in mobile coops to work up a piece of land that he soon later used as a garden bed. We all know, that given a little time, the chickens will eat and scratch everything down to bare dirt, fertilizing the ground with their poo as they work.

For tougher bush, or for faster conversion, Justin would use his pigs to turn up the grounds.

Are you going to use your pallets as fencing, or the coop, or maybe both?

my land is sloped so no mobile coops possible. I plane to make a pallet coop, maybe a few of them will help to keep fence (mesh). it will be a temporary/summer coop. well locked at night.

 

[chickengr]

Wow, thank you for sharing your experience with ducks and the pictures! I was considering building a multi-use, multi-level coop to house both chickens and ducks. The bottom coop would be on a dirt floor and used for the ducks, while a ramp led up to the top tier for the chickens. What do you think about that idea? I also planned on digging up a miniature pond inside the run area for the ducks to use. I do have a 2 acre pond that is being planned on being excavated and developed, but I am hesitant on letting the ducks free roam since we have coyotes, hawks and eagles that roam around.

don't keep ducks and chickens together. I did it and chickens were sick till I separated them.

all my coops are on bare dirt. the best choice ever. I had 1 concrete floor coop and it was a nightmare. the same thing with raised pallet coops.

 

[ChicksnMore]

don't keep ducks and chickens together. I did it and chickens were sick till I separated them.

all my coops are on bare dirt. the best choice ever. I had 1 concrete floor coop and it was a nightmare. the same thing with raised pallet coops.

All mine are bare dirt also. So easy to clean and care for. I've wondered if colder areas need flooring for warmth reasons though. Here it's always cooling that we worry over and build for.

 

[gtaus]

The snow finally melted in the chicken run so I went outside today and started cleaning up the winter damage - meaning that my bird netting has fallen down, guide ropes broken, etc... Happens every winter. Not a big issue because my chickens don't go outside if there is snow in the run. But now I've got to put everything back together with the bird netting on top of the chicken run so I can let the girls out during the day.

I am thinking of upgrading my chicken run this year with some pallet wood framing along the top of the fencing and across the run where I can attach the bird netting. Problem is that each section of my chicken run is 13X13 feet and I am trying to use my 4-foot 2X4's from the pallet breakdowns. Obviously, I need a board stretcher to go from 4-feet to 13-feet long to span the distance.

If anyone has some good advice or suggestions on how to turn shorter 4-foot boards into 13-foot boards, please let me know.

My current idea is to try some dowels and wood, gluing the ends together. Another thought is cutting a half lap in each board, gluing them together, and then driving a long screw down into each piece. I saw one suggestion about using pocket hole screws, but I never had much luck with pocket hole screws and wood end to end butt joints.

I prefer to make the simplest joint that will hold the wood together. It's does not have to be super strong because the bird netting weights next to nothing. The weight of the wood itself, over 13 feet, will be the issue. Considering that, I might put some vertical support posts in at the mid section around 6-1/2 feet.

I have lots of those 2X4's with the cut outs in the wood from the pallets. I don't use them for much. I was looking through them in the garage this evening and thinking maybe I'll rip them down to 2X2's before joining them together. Since some of those 2X4's have nails in them, I'd have to use my demolition blade in the circular saw. Don't want any accidents on the table saw and ruin a good expensive blade on free pallet wood.

I did find one good YouTube video on splicing dimensional lumber to make longer boards for rafters and joists. Not sure I can apply it to my pallet wood needs, but I'll post the link to the video anyways....